Eric Hansen is an American travel writer, most famous for his book '' Stranger in the Forest: On Foot Across Borneo'', about a 4,000 km trek through the heartland of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. He lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. For 25 years he has traveled throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, Australia,

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

, and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. He lived in the

deserts A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

jungles A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

rain forest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

s and islands of the Middle East and Asia throughout the 1980s and has worked as a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

, a buffalo catcher, a pig farmer, a wild dog hunter and as a

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

's 'Home for the Destitute Dying' in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. His articles, photographs, and reviews have appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', '' National Geographic'', ''

Travel and Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark rig ...

'', '' Condé Nast Traveler'', and '' Outside'', among other publications worldwide. Hansen is a graduate of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

, where he studied

industrial art Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...

and

environmental design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...

. Hansen was interviewed by

Michael Feldman Michael Feldman (born March 14, 1949) is an American radio personality. He is the host of ''Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?'', formerly a radio show distributed by Public Radio International and now a podcast. His former announcer, Jim Packa ...

on the latter's ''Whad'Ya Know?'' radio show.

Awards and honors

'' Stranger in the Forest'' (1988) was ranked #50 in '' National Geographic Adventure's'' "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time" (2004). ''The Bird Man and the Lapdancer'' (2004) was included in '' Condé Nast Traveler's'' "The 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time" (2007).

Works

*'' Stranger in the Forest'' (1988) *''

Motoring with Mohammed Motoring may refer to: * ''Motoring'' (film), a 1927 British comedy film * Motoring (TV series), a Canadian automotive television program (1988 to present) * 310 Motoring, an automotive customization garage based in Los Angeles, California * M ...

'' (1991) *'' The Traveler: An American Odyssey in the Himalayas'' (1993) *'' Orchid Fever'' (2000) *'' The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer'' (2004)

References

Sources

External links

National Geographic's 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time

Condé Nast Traveler 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time

Interview with Eric Hansen - Rolf Potts Vagabonding

Radio Interview - NPR

Article: Yogurt

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Eric American travel writers American male non-fiction writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)