This thin volume is an exploration of tropical forest diversity through a survey of one plant, rattan, which is the commonly used name for over 550 different species of climbing palms from the subfamily Calamoideae. The incredible diversity of this floral subfamily means it can be found in almost all types of forest in the tropics, especially in the Southeast Asian archipelago. More importantly, rattan has a vast number of practical functions ranging from its use in the furniture industry to even more practical roles in storage, housing, and even food, making this multipurpose plant ‘the most important and widely used non-timber forest product’ (p. 21) in the world. It is because of the centrality of rattan in traditional Southeast Asian life that this book provides an excellent introduction to the influence of plants in the history and life of societies in the region.

The book contains twelve chapters. Each chapter is about ten pages in length with the focus placed on a very specific issue related to rattan, ranging from its ecology and management in forest communities to the history of villages that harvest it. Most of the observations and analysis come from over thirty years of fieldwork that the author, Stephen F. Siebert, has conducted in three distinct communities. The first two of these communities are in Indonesia on the islands of Sulawesi and Sumatra; the third is in Leyte, the Philippines. In each society Siebert has seen the destruction of the forest, which has led to a transformation in the ways that villagers can interact with and use the resources around them in a traditional manner. The final chapter focuses on the pressures that many of these communities are facing with rising globalisation as well as deforestation reducing the natural forest cover they traditionally utilise.

Siebert writes in a relaxed and welcoming style. He often refers to his own distinct memories of experiences in these communities, and this enlivens the experience for the reader. These tales range from buying a rattan backpack when meeting anthropologist Harold Conklin in the 1980s to finding tiger tracks under his house in Sumatra. Throughout, Siebert also often weaves in references to his native state of Montana, in the United States, reflecting that the audience for this book is one that is relatively unfamiliar with rattan and rural life in Southeast Asia. An example is chapter 7, a short survey of the history of Moa, a rattan-collecting village in Central Sulawesi, during which he patiently and clearly discusses a variety of issues ranging from coffee and cocoa cultivation to attempts by international aid agencies to provide the village with potable water. While the focus on rattan is sometimes pushed to the background, the book provides a broad survey of how various changes in agricultural production and access to the outside world have affected traditional communities. Among these is the introduction of electricity to a village, which, although it allowed schoolchildren to study at night or listen to Bon Jovi on cassette players, also led to less traditional interaction among the villagers. Central to most of the descriptions is Siebert's desire to express concern for rural communities in Southeast Asia for a distant audience that may not be familiar with its richness and diversity.

The nature and culture of rattan is a pleasant introduction and appreciation of an often-overlooked plant, and the role it plays throughout Southeast Asian society. It is accessible and acts as a bridge to more complex ethnographic work as well as focused taxonomies of climbing palms. In doing so, it provides a glimpse into the changing economy and lifestyles of many traditional Southeast Asian communities. It will make any reader appreciate their next stroll through a marketplace or trek through a forest in Southeast Asia in a more nuanced manner, but will not shake their theoretical understanding of the region.