1 comments about With Our Own Eyes: Eyewitnesses to the Final Days of Amelia Earhart.

1. I am interested in Amelia Earhart and her disappearance mystery for 21 years. I have read this book and my impression is very positive.
   During decades there were a lot of books, articles etc. written about this subject (Earhart's disappearance), but alas too frequently they were overflooded by rumors, baseless guesses, stretches and speculations without any firm factual support.
   The Mike Campbell's book is principally different. It is based on firm first-hand evidence from many independent sources, whose credibility gives no food for doubts - there are former US Soldiers, who really were on the place of events and saw what they saw.
   The book is free of guesses and speculations - authors doesn't builds some "versions" or "theories" but just presents the data obtained by them during many years from many independent sources, with extensive details, and the book includes many written reports and official documents.
   As result the book gives a very complete and convincing picture about What Happened with Amelia Earhart. The book is written with clear accuracy and respect to facts and to the "subject" of the book - the great heroine of 20th century and US history, whose name alas was already too frequently used for unfair speculations of any sorts. Mike Campbell's book makes an extremely good job for to correct this sad error.
   I would highly recommend this book for anybody interested in this great mystery.
   Alex V.Mandel

5 comments about Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer (Modern Library Exploration).

1. Charles Hall is the most extravagant figure in arctic exploration. His life is a poem. His biography is excellent. But, I have read a lot about arctic and antarctic exploration. Several books thrilled me. Not this one. It is OK but there are better ones.
   No 1. The Arctic Grail by Berton
   No 2. Endurance by Lansing
   No 3. Last Place on Earth by Huntford



2. What causes a merely modestly successful, married middle class businessman during the American civil war era to suddenly decide to head up an artic rescue mission (and then return yet again for another try). And then later still, successfully campaign to be chosen by Congress to lead the then most ambitious ever official U.S. expedition to the North Pole itself? His character.

   Hall took his Christianity very seriously. All of the crew of Franklin's famous expedition of a decade past were lost and Hall decided to dedicate himself to help, even though his limited means meant that he must hitchhike a ride out on a whaling ship, then set himself ashore alone, and live cheaply on the polar wasteland among the Eskimos from whom he meant to learn Franklin's fate.

   Indeed Hall, way way out there in icy nowhere land, after learning the Intuit language, did find out valuable clues from conversations from native elders while spending a few winters sharing this people's dangerous way of life, their igloos, their hunger in bad times, and their raw meat diet in better times.

   Because he kept a daily diary we get whole amazing story.

   Hall managed to learn enough of the truth to allow him to lead a dangerous trek for to collect valuable Franklin expedition artifacts. Upon returning the second time to civilization, his book and lectures were enough for him to win commandership of an official American expedition to hopefully attain the Pole itself, President Grant in enthusiastic support!

   Farthest North? Well the tale of Hall's third trip is a very good one and a final mystery is produced for our consideration thanks to the author's own modern day travel up the High North where he takes samples whose later medical analysis yields astonishing results.




3. As a resident of Barrow, Alaska, the farthest north community in the United States, I share some of the goals and fascinations of Charles Hall, which come out in the book. "The Arctic will get into your blood Earl. You'll be back." That is what one Inupiat Eskimo leader told me back in 1969, during one of my first short visits to Barrow. And I did come back and have lived here full time since the mid 1980s. The Arctic, its extreme environment, and its Native people, can get in one's blood. I feel very fortunate to be able to live here.

   When I was in Cincinnati, I talked with a local librarian who said that Charles Hall used to camp outdoors in a local park in a tent in the dead of winter, just to toughen himself up for Arctic exploration.

   As noted in the book, Hall should also be remembered for working closely with the Native peoples of the Canadian Arctic, as he searched for traces of the Franklin expedition. Many other Arctic explorers had only fleeting contact with the local people, if that. And Hall had to hitch-hike on various ships during his early exploration. When he finally got a ship of his own, then he died under mysterious circumstances. That is tragic and a dreadful way to end one's lifetime dream.
   So read this book, and enjoy its excellent perspective on the Arctic and its people, and the dreams and determination of one man, who did all he could to learn more about our northern lands.




4. This true accounting about the obsession Charles Francis Hall, a somewhat obscure Cincinatti businessman, had for Arctic exploration and its ultimate personal tragedy is fascinating.

   The author Loomis trys to convey the environment of thought that created the appeal the Arctic had for Hall. The sentiment was much more pervasively Christian during the 1860-1870s when Hall made his 3 trips to the north and was able to get farther north than any Westerner had until then. In the Afterword, Loomis describes some of the appeal the vast, unexplored Artic must have had for Westerners. The Artic was both magnificent and terrifying, it was as Byron wrote "All that expands the spirit, yet appals." Loomis explains that the public had an asthetic of the sublime and this went a long way to explain to me the attraction Polar exploration must have had for Hall. But as a modern day mountaineer Fred Beckey said, "Man is not always a welcome visitor in a kingdom he cannot control."

   The American explorer Kane, who died at age 36 was so revered by the American public for his exploits, that when his body was brought to New Orleans and then went up the Mississippi to it's ultimate burial location, people lined the river the entire way to bid him farewell. This helps explain the regard the public had for explorers (especially the ones who wrote accessible books).

   Hall leads the first two expeditions in search of one of the overriding mysteries of the time, what happened to the members of the British expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The last and fatal voyage was in search of the North Pole. However, because of the funding by the US government of the expedition, the loss of Hall and loss of the ship itself, there was a US Naval inquiry. Because of the quasi-Naval nature of the expedition, there was insufficient discipline on the expedition and the loss of the leader under strange circumstances caused most discipline to evaporate thus dooming the expedition.

   Loomis undertook his own mini-expedition 97 years after Hall's death in 1871. He visited Hall's gravesite and performed an autopsy with very interesting results.

   The book is well written so that during the narrative when the details might seem tedious, they are not. Exhaustively researched and well presented with essential maps, photographs and a list of the crew on the last voyage.

   Read and enjoy.




5. Chauncey Loomis' Weird and Tragic Shores is indeed all that. It tells the story of businessman and amateur explorer Charles Francis Hall. He goes in search of traces (possibly survivors?) of Sir John Franklin's expedition. The third trip goes wrong and Charles Francis Hall dies and is buried in the North. This book is driven by the personality of Hall and it is quite the personality. He is obsessed, unlucky, amateurish at times, belligerent, and stubborn, but the best word that could be one used to describe him is one that is applied to the Arctic itself, weird. The author captures the personality vividly with contemporary accounts, particulary those of Hall himself. It is an interesting book of a footnote character in the great age of Arcitc exploration, and sometimes through these footnotes in history one can see the truth behind what drives the explorers in its rawest form. An entertaining addition to the annals of history of the North.

3 comments about Once Upon an Island.

1. This is a MUST READ for anyone here in the Pacific Northwest or planning to cruise up into the Candian Gulf Islands.
   
   It is a tribute to a couple with a dream, more his than hers at first, love, hard work and support of a community known as Ganges.
   
   I read this book back in 1968 and was delighted to find it again today.
   
   If you have a chance to got to Wallace Island, walk ashore and see the old buildings that they built. You can go back in time and recapture each chapter in your own eye.
   
   
   Many of us today wish we could do what that they did back then. Would you be willing to take the risk?
   
   This would be a wonderful gift to give to any boater, since it is a treausre to have aboard!



2. This was one of the best reads I have had in a long time. David Conover lived his dream and was kind enough to write a book and share his trials and tribulations. "Once Upon an Island," is a pleasure to read. I agree with the other reviewer that it was hard to put this book down. I turned the pages with anticipation, waiting to see what new adversity the family would undergo, and how they triumphed. This is great movie material--too bad Hollywood wastes their time with special effects movies.



3. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I READ IT IN ONE NIGHT. IT IS THE STORY OF A YOUNG COUPLE WHO SCRAPED TOGETHER ALL THEY HAD TO BUY AN ISLAND. THE STORY TELLS OF THEIR FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF TRYING TO MAKE IT AND BUILD THE PRIMITIVE ISLAND INTO A HOME AND EVENTUALLY A SMALL PRIMITIVE RESORT. THEY TELL OF THE BEAUTY AND PRIVACY AND PEACEFULNESS OF THEIR OWN ISLAND AND THEIR DAILY LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF FIXING IT UP TO BE HABITABLE. I WILL PROBABLY START READING IT ALL OVER AGAIN!

5 comments about Diary Of A Lost Girl.

1. beautifully written bio by poet and author kola boof. she tells of the details of her life in unflinching honesty. from the brutal murder of her parents she witnessed as a small child to her scary yet exciting encounter with osama bin laden. she tells of a side to him no one knows--a sensitive romantic flip side to his public persona. her views as a womanist are also insightful and enlightening. she brings to light the color caste systems nobody talks about today. nonficfan



2. I'm so sad for Kola Boof.
   
   The "stalkers" who go around posting lies about her book on the internet have invented a new one only this time it's about LA MAISON ARABE, the hotel-restaurant where Kola Boof lived with Osama Bin Laden in 1996.
   
   The stalkers don't know much about the restaurant or its owner Prince Fabrizzio Ruspoli, and they must be related to Peter Bergen, as they're posting more misinformation such as claiming that Kola Boof referred to the estate being a "hotel" back in 1996. SHE DID NOT.
   
   Kola Boof's autobiography states two things--that LaMaison Arabe was being "renovated to become a hotel" in 1996 when she was there and that while she was there--it was a "bed and breakfast" for the elite. Those are factual statements and Prince Fabrizzio Ruspoli himself appears in Ms. Boof's autobiography and has not sued her, but in fact has spoken to the U.S. State Department on her behalf, so once again the San Francisco Tag Team is off the mark.
   
   Kola Boof's autobiography is a CLASSIC. It's full of spirited truth and she tells her truth from the guts as well as the heart.
   
   Haters fail to mention that La Maison Arabe was a restaurant in the 1940's and CLOSED in 1983. It then became a Private Estate providing "Bed and Breakfast" for the guests of Prince Fabrizzio Ruspoli.
   
   Ms. Boof's representation of the hotel is accurate and her autobiography is a gem.
   
   



3. The most essential element of the Kola Boof story is her claim to have been Osama Bin Laden's mistress. Despite relentless self-promotion, her first three books garnered little notice. It was her 2006 autobiography, with its bizarre portrayal of Bin Laden as a sexual predator who digs the B-52s and lusts for Whitney Houston, that propelled Kola Boof's name into the news and onto tens of thousands of websites. The less-than-discriminating decision last year by editors at Harper's magazine to run excerpts from "Diary of a Lost Girl" triggered a spasm of news coverage in the United States and Europe. Media interest in Boof has all but died out now, but without Osama, she never would have had the ride that peaked with cable-news interviews on Fox and MSNBC.
   
   No one, of course, has been able to interview Bin Ladin to confirm Boof's intimate portrait, and her account of the rest of her life before she launched her Internet career in 2002 is similarly devoid of factual claims that can be verified. In one telling area, however -- the alleged Bin Ladin interlude -- "Diary" is actually quite explicit about real names, places, and dates. That particular information, it turns out, is surprisingly easy to check...and debunk.
   
   Boof sets her months-long encounter with Bin Ladin at La Maison Arabe, a very real luxury hotel in Marrakesh. Boof relates how he installed her at the hotel and lived there with her off and on for months. She names the proprietors, Fabrizio Ruspoli and Philippe Cluzel, as "wonderful, friendly people." When her relationship with Bin Ladin was publicized a year after 9-11, Boof writes, Ruspoli saved her from being stripped of her American citizenship by assuring government officials that Bin Ladin had held her against her will. While she was at La Maison Arabe, Boof writes, the managers would tell other guests she was an American celebrity, and so she would overhear her fellow lodgers mistaking her for Whoopi Goldberg, or alternatively, Naomi Campbell. Her stay at La Maison Arabe ended, she says, when Bin Ladin abruptly kicked her out of their suite in June of 1996.
   
   Those who are intrigued by these specifics might, quite naturally, google La Maison Arabe. And at the hotel's website they would find, on a page dedicated to reviews by the international travel press, that La Maison Arabe did not welcome its first guest until January of 1998.
   
   For those still having trouble deciding what to make of the Kola Boof story, this is a highly relevant point: she states unequivocably in her "autobiography" that Bin Ladin checked her in to La Maison Arabe almost two years before there was any hotel to check in to.
   
   It's not a question of a true story and a misremembered year, either. In early 1998, Bin Ladin was hiding out in Afghanistan and issuing his fatwa against America. At the same time, Boof writes, she was traveling the world as a spy for Sudanese anti-government rebels.
   
   Osama is a double-edged sword for Boof. She succeeded in getting noticed by building her public persona around him, but as simple inquiry reveals, that also makes her story a transparently phony one.
   
   www.lamaisonarabe.com



4. I never cared much for Kola Boof's story until I stumbled upon the massive details that the media has deliberatley not reported as they've tried to portray this woman, and to a lesser degree Ayan Hirsi Ali, as "crazed agenda-driven reactionaries", "liars" and "nutcases". There's tons of stuff that I've since found on the internet about Kola Boof, but this book is heartbreaking, its gut-wrenching and I have to say that it absolutely rings very true.
   
   In fact, I'm convinced Kola Boof's autobiography is so truthful and honest that "certain people" with their own political agendas simply can't take it, and like so many courageous black women before her, Kola is getting a mixture of stereotypical racist and sexist reactions because the plight calls into question the status of black females worldwide as well as African versus Arab relations and to cap it off she's not a sympathizer of Palestinians (after reading the book you'll understand why) and has supported Israel, which is very unpopular with both liberal white democrats and the Pro-Muslim Black community in America.
   
   As a black woman, I cursed, laughed and cried reading this book. It really meant something to me and I thank Kola Boof for being the bold "mentally unhinged" firebrand that she is. I don't ever review books on AMAZON but I had to review this one. Deserves a 10 plus.



5. I hadn't heard of Kola Boof until a few weeks ago, when the news came out that bin Laden had a "thing" for Whitney Houston-- according to his former mistress/sex slave. Always interested in the subject matter of Islamic terrorism, I ordered this book. I am so glad I did, too.
   
   Kola Boof is a wonderful and HONEST writer. This is really one of the most passionate and honest memoirs I have read. She writes of her childhood growing up Muslim in Sudan-- the child of a Sudanese and an Egyptian. She shares her memories of her parents' love and her parents' murder. She shares her pain at being subsequently abandoned by her grandmother. Of the horrors she saw perpetuated by Muslim Arabs.
   
   It's really an incredible book. Kola Boof's story is more of a testament to her life and her life's calling-- which is to educate the public about Islam and Islam's aim for Islamic rule and a return to the Caliphate. The author has seen unbelievable evil including rape, murder, beatings, theft. She talks about the slaves that the Muslims kept (her father was unhappy about this and spoke out-- that's why he was killed). She shares all of this with the reader eloquently and passionately. She will not be silenced.
   
   Kola has denounced Islam and considers herself an African Woman and believes in "the Goddess". She is a feminist. However, because she criticizes Islam, she has been virtually ignored by the press and ignored by the Democratic party, although she is definitely a liberal democrat herself. The author points out the hypocrisy today within the Democratic party and the party's hypocritical tolerance for those who are intolerant of all, while being intolerant of those who just wish to speak the truth, share their stories, and share their information. This book is for EVERYONE, however. Please don't dismiss it because of your political leanings. This book is too important.
   
   Some might find Kola a bit strong. This is her strength, though. She will not be silenced in the face of injustice. Her past could have cowered her, instead it gave her unbelievable strength. She is definitely a woman to be admired and listened to.

2 comments about Hermann Buhl: Climbing Without Compromise.

1. Hermann Buhl: Climbing Without Compromise does a great job of engaging the reader on several levels. Firstly, the photos are absolutely stunning. I've seen books with only photos, not as good as those included here, that retail for more than this book. The second way this book engages readers is through the well-told story of one of the most interesting characters in mountaineering history. Finally, and perhaps best of all, by using extensive source material from Hermann Buhl directly, this book actually comes across as a personal introduction to the legend, Hermann Buhl, himself.



2. Hermann Buhl was one of the greatest mountain climbers of the last century and this book consists primarily of excerpts from his climbing diaries, starting from his earliest climbs as a teenager in the Dolomites, continuing through his major triumphs, including, of course, the conquest of Nanga Parbat that made him world famous, and ending with his ill-fated attempt on Chogolisa. There are also several biographical essays, including contributions by his daughter and a long-time climbing friend, and many of the diary excerpts are accompanied by further editorial details about the circumstances of the climbs. The ugly politics that were involved in the Nanga Parbat climb and their effect on Buhl are also discussed in the commentaries.

   Although it is not as detailed an account of Buhl's climbing life as "Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage", this newer book has several advantages over Buhl's autobiography. The perspectives offered by the third-party commentators are very useful. There is a full description of Buhl's final climbs and untimely death. "Climbing Without Compromise" is nicely illustrated with black-and-white and color photographs that make a great contribution (although the story would be easier to follow in places with the addition of some maps). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, one gets to read Buhl's story in his own words. According to the editors Messner and Höfler, Kurt Maix, the editor of "Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage", re-wrote considerable portions of Buhl's text using far more flowery and poetic language than Buhl himself would have chosen. In any event, the two books, while overlapping to a degree, do complement each other as well. (And where there is repetition, the English-language reader will benefit from having access to two translations.)

No comments about Women Explorers (Women Who Dare).

5 comments about Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine.

1. Frequently overshadowed by his mentor and climbing partner, George Mallory, Sandy Irvine is long overdue a biography worthy of his accomplishments. I can understand the frustration that people have with encountering someone not driven by ego or the incessant need to belittle others. In that respect perhaps Sandy is a bit too normal by modern standards and can be accused of being a little too nice. Nonetheless in his short life he still managed to accomplish some very great things and this book does a wonderful job of highlighting those moments. It is not perhaps all one could hope for in a study of the 1924 Everest Expedition but then no other book has set a suitably high standard to be considered authoritative. As a collection of data which many overlook this has to be considered a must read for the Everest fanatic.



2. I'm afraid I have to disagree with other reviewers of this book. The writing is often awkward and grammatically challenged (to use a current euphemism). And Sandy Irvine comes across as a rather ordinary young man, self centered, good at sports, and good with his hands, but lacking in any sort of intellectual sophistication. It was this very sophisitcation and intellectualism that made Mallory the interesting figure he remains. Had Mallory been a mere hearty, he would have far less interesting. In contrast to Mallory, Irvine strikes one as eactly what this biography tries to convince one he was not, i.e., a follower who had little idea of what Mallory was leading him into.

   Because of Irvine's commoness and the bad writing (Where oh where was an editor!?), this is hardly worth the time, and certainly not worth the money.




3. This is a very well-written and researched book. It provides an introspective and analytical look into the man of mystery on the expedition...Sandy Irvine. The photos, family anecdotes, and treasure trove of memorabilia recently discovered provided a full and satisfying read. You can't know all about the 1924 expedition until you know about what made Sandy Irvine tick.



4. Fearless On Everest: The Quest For Sandy Irvine is an intensely personal, candid, and informative account of the life of a young man who died at the age of 22 while on an expedition to climb Mt. Everest. Written with a narrative smoothness that completely engages the reader's attention, biographer and Irvine family member Julie Summers includes newly discovered letters and photographs and specifically addresses a long-debated question in mountaineering circles: Why did George Leigh Mallory choose the young, less-experienced Andrew Irvine as his partner on so hazardous an enterprise? Also very highly recommended for mountaineering enthusiasts are three related titles from Mountaineers Books addresses the doomed Mallory-Irvine expedition: Ghosts Of Everest: The Search For Mallory & Irvine (699-5, $.....); The Mystery Of Mallory & Irvine: Fully Revised Edition (726-6, $.....); The Wildest Dream: The Biography Of George Mallory (741-X, $......).



5. Julie Summers sensitive telling of the story of Sandy Irvine is not only a great read, but is written with intelligence, grace and wit. Irvine's personality looms large in the book, and the reader is easily captivated by his infectious personality. Explorer, lover, adventurer, journalist -- one can easily imagine Summer's Irvine on the silver sceen, portrayed by Harrison Ford or Mel Gibson. This wonderful book will be enjoyed by climbers, mountaineers, armchair explorers and laypeople alike. A real tour de force, the only question that arises after reading is: who is going to option it, and when is the movie coming out?

No comments about "Catch 'em Alive Jack": The Life and Adventures of an American Pioneer.

No comments about Sir Peter Blake: An Amazing Life.

No comments about Chrome Horse Chronicles: One Man's Motorcycle Travels Through North America.