J. Maarten Troost
Author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
About the Author
Series
Works by J. Maarten Troost
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1969 or 1970
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA (resident)
Netherlands (birth) - Birthplace
- Groningen, The Netherlands
- Places of residence
- Netherlands (birth)
Tarawa, Republic of Kiribati
Fiji Islands
California, USA
Prague, Czech Republic
Canada - Education
- George Washington University (MA|1995)
Boston University (BA|International Relations) - Occupations
- consultant (World Bank)
author
anthropologist
essayist
travel writer - Organizations
- World Bank (consultant)
- Short biography
- Jan Maarten Troost (known professionally as J. Maarten Troost) (born 1969 in The Netherlands) is a Dutch-American travel writer and essayist.
From 1992-94, Troost worked as a correspondent for The Prague Post, where he wrote about everything from the dissolution of Czechoslovakia to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has also worked as a consultant to the World Bank.
Troost was born in Groningen, The Netherlands in 1969, and is of Dutch-Czech descent. He was educated at Boston University (B.A.) and The George Washington University (M.A.). He has lived in the Netherlands, Canada, the Czech Republic, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the United States, where, after a long stint in California, he presently resides in the Washington D.C. area with his wife and children.[from
J. Maarten Troost in Wikipedia retrieved 11/25/17]
Members
Discussions
Memoir-couple move to isolated tropical island atoll in Name that Book (May 2012)
Reviews
Headhunters on my doorstep : a true treasure island… by J. Maarten Troost
I read all his books despite the fact that his self absorption is maddening and this one was not that different. To travel so many places and spend all your time loooking inward is strange- but- here and there you get a glimpse of Stevenson or the South pacific
This is not a fun book like all of the author’s books from Oceania—you will learn he’s sadly and desperately recovering from alcoholism, which isn’t much of a surprise if you read his prior books. So trigger warning. He takes a solo trip to follow Robert Louis Stevenson’s travels to his final resting place in Samoa, with stops in Kiribati and islands in Micronesia. Having listened to his other books, this is a sharp departure from his fun-loving days in Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Fiji. But it’s still him doing half-witted things like a very short swim with sharks. His candor and insight are appreciated. It’s a well-written book. By the way, if you haven’t guessed by now, the titles of his books are only very remotely related to the substance of his books, here even less so. I hope his recovery continues.… (more)
Troost—somewhat addicted to travel—jumped at the chance to move to Kiribati (pronounced kir-ee-bas) when his girlfriend got a job there. Troost is funny—and he can put a hilarious spin on just about the worst things imaginable (except he’s very serious about the tribute to the victims of one of the worst WWII battles there). Thankfully he has this outlook on life because Kiribati sounds about like the worst place on the planet to live. One of the most surprising things to know is that this island surrounded by beautiful blue ocean tends to be subjected to years-long droughts. Be aware the dogs are brutal, and are treated in kind unless they are eaten. So big trigger warning there. This is an excellent book, though, about what it’s really like living in so-called paradise.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 6
- Members
- 3,693
- Popularity
- #6,861
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 160
- ISBNs
- 52
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 8