5 comments about Kabloona.

1. I read this book and thought, yes this Frenchman makes many derogatory and embarassingly insensitive remarks about the Inuit. However, contrary to what one reviewer said below in "Good descriptions, bad insights, July 27, 2005", the author slowly develops a great respect for the intelligence, culture and abilities of these people so much so that he begins to emulate them. It is a subtle conversion story wrapped in a fabulous adventure; thoroughly enjoyable and well worth reading.



2. The audio CD is outstanding...indeed the best I have ever listened to. For one thing, the narrator is marvelous in recreating both the 1930's world of France and Frozen Canada. I can't think of any other book or audio that so successfully transported me into an alien culture. Considering that there are quite a few films and books about Eskimos, why buy this one written 70 years ago? Answer: the literary quality of this work surpasses the prose of the last quarter century. When you listen to the narrator weave his tale, it mirrors the experience of hearing a tobacco chewing explorer slowly recounting his adventures in the wild. The story dives deep into the interior life of the author as much as it details an ethnographic examination of (primitive) Inuit life. The myths and values of the Eskimos contrast sharply with the borgeouis morals of a gentleman of Paris. For example, in Eskimo culture, there is little concept of private property...that's why an Eskimo man will let you borrow his wife or a snow knife. Language in the arctic is far more concrete. A polar bear is HE WHO HAS NO SHADOW. Far away, in the cold Arctic, author Grontran De Poncins learns what it means to be human, a man preeminently. This is a romance, a classic reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe. If you buy the audio CD, you will not be disappointed.



3. This is a magical book which I first read when I was young. It inspired in me dreams of adventure which I did not follow, but which became a part of my inner life. Now that I am old, I am reading Kabloona again so that I can remember that I once was young.



4. My good friend and I were talking a while back after I had watched the movie The Fast Runner, which he had recommended. Talk got around to my deciding to send him my old childhood copy (out of print, I believe) of Peter Freuchen's Book of the Eskimos, and his deciding to send me his old childhood copy of Kabloona. Neither of us had ever heard of the other's book. I must say, as much as I've always liked Freuchen, I got the better of the deal!
   
   What a wonderful book. So well written, such nice storytelling, so enjoyable, refreshingly honest, and unexpectedly insightful. It is haunting. It really is in a class by itself, although I have trouble putting my finger on exactly why this is so. All I know is that I did not want it to end, as I'm sure the author did not want his time in the North to end. And, like him, I don't think it will be the same if I go back and try it again. And I know I also had a strange feeling throughout which only later I identified as a form of envy, envy for the experiences this man had and for his ability to experience them so deeply. I've seldom felt envy mixed with awe and admiration like this before.
   
   Of all the book, I was most deeply moved by his account of the priest out in the middle of nowhere who had survived and kept warm in incredible cold merely through the power of faith and prayer. Humbling.
   
   A man comes out of nowhere, lives these experiences, writes this incredible book, and disappears back into nowhere. Amazing. Read it.



5. I looked up at the bookshelf over my computer and spotted the battered 1941 edition of Kabloona that has been in my family for 40 years since I first read it in the village of Coppermine (now Kugluktuk) when I was a 12 year old boy in 1961. I decided to do an AMAZON.com search to see if anyone else knew of this marvel that had so enchanted me as a child, and found the site you are now visiting.
   
   We were much more civilized in the Coppermine of 1961 than the same village the author had visited 20 years earlier. We had electricity, and communication with the outside world by a Morse code key at the Department of Transport office, plus we had a scheduled visit by a single-engine Otter every two weeks. It was a magical time for me (adults found it a difficult time, but they simply did not understand things)
   
   The book Kabloona gave me insight into the minds of the people around me. We were a community of 200 Inuit (Eskimos) and 35 whites. The whites had as many of the amenities of civilization as they could garner, but the Inuit lived much as described in De Poncin's book.
   
   I was enthralled by the awesome hunters with their dog sleds and their magnificent huskies, not show dogs or racing dogs, but working dogs that made the difference between life and death. The men would bring back the carcasses of seal and caribou, and the furs they had trapped. The women sewed the furs into beautiful garments that kept man, woman and child warm in intolerably hard winters. It was also the women's job to butcher the carcasses, which they did with incredible speed and skill using only the ulu, or woman's knife. I regularly witnessed the activities of this way of life. De Poncin described all this in his book, but he also gave me insight into the underlying culture I was immersed in.
   
   You can't live the life I led 40 years ago as a boy in the high Canadian arctic, but you can vicariously journey there to an even more primitive time, and enter into the incredible peace and stillness of an arctic winter night in an igloo, or the warmth and safety of a house made of snow as an unbelievable storm rages outside around you.
   
   I recently spoke by satellite telephone to a man in Coppermine from my home in Missouri where I now live, and found that the village I once knew is now a very different place. But you can go back to an earlier era with De Poncin. I assure you, you won't regret your wonderful voyage with him.
   
   I don't know if I'm permitted to speak of it here, but I have described my life in those years in the Arctic in a book, The Boy Who Fell To Earth. It is available at Amazon.com for those would like to buy a hard copy, or can be read for free on my warmbooks.com web site.

5 comments about Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945.

1. Talk about one's world being turned upside down. One moment four young military doctors are enjoying good marriages and pleasant military postings in exotic locations, and in the next they are thrust in the midst of horrific battle and subsequently imprisoned under grotesquely inhumane conditions. That these men were able to endure such horrid conditions and go on to live important, useful, satisfying lives is awe inspiring.
   
   In light of Japanese Premier Abe's recent denials of Japanese Imperial Army atrocities concerning so-called "Comfort Women," this reading takes on special significance. This story is further evidence of the shameful brutality foisted by Japan during its brutal and unprovoked aggressions during the 1932-1945 wars it foisted upon its much weaker Asian neighbors and, ultimately and self-defeatingly, with the U.S. and its allies.
   
   If you can find the CD version of this book on tape, it is well worth purchasing. The narration is superb.
   
   --Bill Todd-Mancillas
   Communication Studies
   Ca. St. Univ. at Chico



2. I had seen this story on cable and bought the book afterwards. It is a very moving story and written so well. I have to say I am ashamed of the way the US treated these people during their horrible ordeal.



3. The title and synopsis of "Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945" led me to beleive that I would read about the in-depth personal experience of four US doctors as P.O.W.s. However, the book does not read like a memior or biography, but rather like any third-person account written by a historian from a distant vantage point.
   
   That is not to say that "Conduct Under Fire" is a bad book, but the fact that the title men are hardly mentioned throughout the greater part of the book is a serious flaw. John Glusman does provide the reader with background information of the four doctors, one of which is father, Murray Glusman. Unfortunately, the details of the doctor's personal experiences were infrequent once the book covered the time frame of World War II. In fact, I could not help but wonder if the author's research into his father's time as P.O.W. was limited to rummaging through sparse stash of old letters and a fireside chat with his old man. Glusman (the author) does record the harsh condition of Japanese P.O.W. camps for American troops based on the writings of others, but the reader is left to assume that the doctors' tenure as P.O.W.s was identical to that experienced by thousands of other American P.O.W.s. While it the suffering they endured at the hands of Japanese was certainly horrific and they deserve our respect, "Conduct Under Fire" lacks a unique element that could have distinguished it from numerous of other P.O.W. books.
   
   If you are simply looking for an account of Japanese prisoner camps or even of the struggle against Imperial Japan, then "Conduct Under Fire" is worth the time. Glusman does give remarkable detail to the pre-war climate in the Phillipines and Shanghai, the seige of Bataan and Corrigedor, the American submarine campaign that strangled Japanese shipping, and the B-29 raids that led to massive firebombings and yes, the atomic bombs.
   
   Although "Conduct Under Fire" promised to deliver an account of the war through the eyes of the author's father and three other doctors, the reader is left with text that could have been placed by a historian far removed from the horror.



4. This book is terrific. It is a well researched piece of scholarship and heartfelt. The author is not judgmental towards the Japanese despite their treatment of his father. As a result, the author's descriptions of the Americans "conduct under fire" shows how brave they really were.
   I could not help but get angry when I read that these men have had no proper compensation for their loss or even an apology from the Japanese government.



5. A half-century after the end of World War II we now see an extraordinary tide of books revealing the under-side of the conflict. The passing of time, the opening of previously restricted documentation, and a less romantic view of events have conspired to produce this literature. Among them are Ghost Wars, Fatal Voyage, Burma Road. These well researched volumes open to the reader the true character of war unembellished by governments eager to maintain the spin of patriotism for the sake of public morale. The latest and most formidable book in this genre is Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese (N.Y.: Penguin Group, 2005). John A. Glusman, editor in chief of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is the author and son of one of the four doctors. He sets the story in the larger context of the war in the Pacific so it is not simply the chronicle of medical doctors working in prisoner of war camps in the Philippines and Japan. A narrow focus would have been sufficient to describe the bravery and skill of the doctors in their years of suffering as and with POWs. But Glusman opens for the reader the larger picture of the military and political events that inevitably had a profound impact on the POWs. It was a fate of the POWs not only to deal with often sadistic Japanese captors, but they also were faced early on with the results of the U.S. failure energetically to prosecute the Pacific war in favor of the European theater, the frightful toll of more than 10,000 prisoners who died when US submarines sank Japanese ships ferrying prisoners to Japan, and the terrifying effects of fire-bombing of Japanese cities where additional POWs lost their lives. In the midst of this harrowing period, the US doctors heroically saved lives, improvised medical procedures without even minimal supplies, and managed to maintain the highest vision of their vocation. Glusman has honored his father and the thousands of POWs by telling this honest story. He also boldly reminds us all of the frightful cost of war on the human spirit in a time when inevitably warfare's result is annihilation of everything human.

3 comments about Soul Snatchers: A Quest for True Human Beings.

1. The world is filled with strange and interesting people, and you don't have to go far to find them. "Soul Snatchers: A Quest for True Human Beings" is personal account of the wanderings of Robert W. Morgan and his time going across America over the span of two decades. He meets a host of interesting and intriguing characters ranging from Apache chiefs, Shamans, remnants of the Fabled old west, and those who research what many write off as myth. A look at the America that's rarely examined, "Soul Snatchers" is entertaining and enlightening reading, recommended.



2. Having spent my teen years during the 1970s, I am well acquainted with a number of celebrities in the paranormal world. Leonard Nimoy took me In Search Of... on many an occasion. I know the three points of the Bermuda Triangle. I have seen enough UFOs in "declassified" footage to populate an intergalactic Air Force, and there isn't a Yeti book that I haven't read.
   
   So when I learned that one of the most famous of Bigfoot hunters, Robert Morgan, had written a book in which he claims to unravel the mystery of Bigfoot once and for all, I could not resist in obtaining a copy.
   
   Alas, a few details were not known to me at the time I plopped a copy into my Amazon shopping cart, and had I known what I am about to share, I would be $15 richer today. In the words of Bertie Wooster, I am more than happy to listen to drivel, but not the ravings from the padded cell.
   
   It is one thing to propose that the forests of North America are home to a species of 8-foot tall hairy bipeds; it is quite another to propose that they are piloting the Mother Ship. In a nutshell, Bob Morgan wants us to believe that Bigfoot is a paranormal creature from another dimension.
   
   Robert Morgan has now tied Bigfoot alongside UFOs and other mysterious lights in the sky. He has made his position plain that he absolutely rejects Judeo-Christian theology. I don't blame him. But when he uses this as a platform to embrace Native American shamanism and all the concomitant hocus-pokus from the spirit world of No. American tribes, I just have to laugh. One superstition is little better than another, in my opinion.
   
   Try to remember: I bought this book thinking it was about Bigfoot. It isn't. It's about Robert Morgan's spiritual journey, and he takes Bigfoot along for the ride.
   
   Best part of the book? The photo of Bob Morgan at the very end, with the caption: "The body-car of Robert Morgan." Body-car?!
   
   I listened to a Bigfoot-themed Internet radio broadcast about five months ago. Robert Morgan was the guest. He espoused pretty much all of the nonsense he has in this book. UFOs. Spirits. The Mother Ship.
   
   One listener in a chat room said he was distraught to learn that old Bob Morgan had "gone paranormal."
   
   I'd go a bit further: The poor man is pouring kerosene on his Fruit-Loops.
   
   The bottom line is this: Unless you're ready to accept the notion that Bigfoot (or "Forest Giants" as Bob now calls them) are paradimensional beings, you're wasting your time and money with this book. Morgan is a decent writer, and I won't say I was bored to tears, but it is clear that Bob Morgan has gone the way of most Bigfoot researchers. He's broke and discarded and lonely. And now he's trying to scrape up a few bucks off his name in the world of Bigfoot.
   
   Tragic.



3. I finished this book in four days, and what a terrific journey the author takes us on. From the deserts of New Mexico, where he gets guidance from a 102-year-old Native American named Nino Cochise, to the Swamps of Florida, where he meets a most unusual evangelist and has encounters with things he cannot explain, to the wilds of Washington State, where he and his team experiment with a method known as "dowsing" to attempt to track the Forest Giants, Robert W. Morgan has had a life's journey most would be rather envious of. He has met with Native American elders, elderly cowboys who were around in the time of the Wild West, disbelieving skeptics, scientists and other luminaries, and over his life's journey, he has experienced unusual phenomenon, which may or may NOT be connected to the Forest Giant People (Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Omah-ah, Dsonoqua and many other variations of names for these unique beings). Morgan writes in a style of absolute comfort and a sense as if he is sharing private secrets around a campfire. The only rating I can give on this book is an 11 out of 10!!!!!! GET THIS BOOK!!!!!! It is available at Product Listing - and is terrific for Summer reading, or for curling up beside a roaring fire in colder weather.

4 comments about Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Privateer.

1. Sir Martin Frobisher (1535-1594) was both a pirate and a Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy. The dichotomy of those two positions works as a good introduction to a man who spent much of his career searching for the fabled Northwest Passage, but also, in 1588, had a significant role in thwarting the Spanish Armada (which earned him a knighthood). Yet, Frobisher never achieved the historical status of his contemporaries Sir Francis Drake or Sir Walter Raleigh. In fact, the only reminders of Frobisher's existence are Frobisher Bay in Canada and a plaque at St. Giles Cripplegate in London.
   
   The author, James McDermott, traces Frobisher's life from his boyhood in Yorkshire to expeditions in Africa, North America, and the Caribbean. It was Frobisher's three unsuccessful voyages in search of a northwest passage to Asia, which caused him to turn to piracy against the Spanish Empire in the Caribbean. The respectability of his later undertakings for Queen Elizabeth do not overwhelm his unsavory early activities or his personal ruthlessness.
   
   McDermott, an independent scholar and a leading authority on both Martin Frobisher and the Northwest Passage, spent almost 30 years researching his topic. The end result is the life story of an unlikable individual, who climbed the social latter despite the cost to others around him. The author based his story on all of the available archival and printed primary sources, as well as numerous secondary sources. The only other full-length biography of Frobisher was William McFee's Life of Sir Martin Frobisher, which was published in 1928.
   
   This work is primarily recommended for those interested in naval history or the Elizabethan period.



2. Martin Frobisher is remembered today for Frobisher Bay in Canada and as a sea captain in Elizabeth's fleet against the Armada. In death, as in life, his exploits are often overshadowed by more flamboyant seafarers such as Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins. Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Privateer attempts to rescue the captain from semi-obscurity and place his life in the context of its times. The spotty documentation on much of Frobisher's life makes this no easy task but the author is able to fill in the gaps with dexterity.
   
   Frobisher was born in Yorkshire England in the mid 1530s. After the death of his father in 1542, Frobisher was set to live with various relatives ending up at his maternal uncle's in London. Sir John Yorke was a well-connected merchant who set Frobisher to sea most likely because he was a drain on Yorke's finances. Frobisher fell out with his uncle after the latter failed to help him escape from captivity in Portuguese hands and soon struck out on his own. By the 1560s Frobisher was well established as a privateer. In this profession he often showed little regard for the legality of which ships were "good prizes" and which were not. He was called often in front of the admiralty court to answer charges of piracy.
   
   In 1576 Frobisher became the captain of an expedition to find the northwest passage from Europe to China. This expedition failed in its goal but did spark a gold rush when a souvenir rock brought back was thought to contain gold. Two more expeditions found no gold and nearly bankrupted many of the investors in the scheme.
   
   Frobisher's abilities as a captain earned him a place among Elizabeth's admirals during the Spanish Armada of 1588. His command decisions during that time remain controversial to this day. While some see Frobisher as an unskilled ship handler who needlessly put his ship in danger, the author is convinced that Frobisher was courageously placing his ship in harm's way to interpose himself between the coast and the Spanish fleet. Unlike other of Elizabeth's captains, Frobisher was never able to become a member of the Queen's inner circle. He rose on merit alone and his star continued to wax even as other of the `sea dogs' watched their reputation falter. Most of the famed sailors modern readers would view as his peers were disliked by Frobisher as much as he was disliked by them.
   
   After the Armada, Frobisher continued in her majesties services as a privateer. He quickly returned to his former way of intercepting and plundering ships from both friend and foe. Despite his greed, he was clever enough to understand that England's main interest was in destroying Spanish treasure even when it could not be captured. In this view he was more willing to place public good above personal self-interest more than the Queen and members of the privy council. Frobisher's courage never deserted him; he was killed in 1594 leading a landing party on a Spanish fort.
   
   James McDermott has deftly accomplished a difficult task. He has written a comprehensive portrait of an unlikable character without overly condemning him or attempting to redeem him. Well researched and documented, Martin Frobisher: Elizabethan Privateer, is an informative and entertaining book well suited for academic and general reading.



3. At times the story of Frobisher borders on the ethereal. Fleets of Elizabethan sea-dogs sailing every year or so towards Labrador, searching for the (apocryphphal) NorthWest Passage to China, returning each time from an ice-bound continent with lumps of black granite and then funding another trip on the strength of completely bogus reports that there was gold inside the granite rocks. The expeditions serve as a parable of greed, curiousity and folly. For Frobisher, they were the high point of a chequerered naval career. A notorious privateer, Martin served in some of Drake's greatest raids on Spanish America. He also served with distinction against the Armada. The only downside to a biography of Frobisher was that he was almost totally illiterate and that therefore almost everything about him has to be reconstructed from official records or second-hand reports. This is a great life of a strange man.



4. A wonderful book written about one of England's first Maritime explorers. Frobisher usually is written with such notables of the time as Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh even if his famous voyage to the Northwest was a failure. He still managed to retain his dignity and eventually became one of England's greatest sailors. Mr. McDermott's book is a wonderful and complete picture of a quite-not-so-honest Yorkshire man who rose up to become a great explorer despite his past dealings with privateering and the law. Frobisher's last biography (AFAIK) was published in 1923 (William McFee) yet Mr. McDermotts excellent research and writing clearly rates above Mr. McFee's outline of a man whose history was written by happenstance and luck. I found this book to be invaluable research of a not-so-well-known man whom I portray at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in California. Well researched and well written. A must for any 16th century maritime history fan or historian. Cheers!

3 comments about Christopher Columbus, the Last Templar.

1. I rather found this book to follow a highly speculative and fancy approach to Christopher Columbus origins and life and about the discovery of the New World. Reading is difficult. The author has a particular writing style of short sentences that break the reasoning in an unnatural and annoying way. On top of that, the arguments are never put in simple, objective terms, but instead in a rhetorical, fancy, speculative fashion.
   The authors shows a great deal of knowledge and is always trying to speculate new connections between persons and seemingly historical facts (in fact, it's hard to find a sound argumentation about historical facts, because of its speculative style).
   The author points out interesting speculations, though. Like Columbus being a related to the pope Innocent VIII and that America was pre-discovered long before Columbus' official discovery. This is, in fact, in line with the theory that Columbus was a portuguese secret agent working for John II of Portugal in Spain, trying to take the spanish royalty out of the African cost and of the route to India by circumnavigate South-Africa.
   Because of its speculative nature, it brings out a large number of entry points for further investigations about the historical context of Columbus time, like a reference to the turk admiral Piri Reis and a lot of forgot painting evidences that suggest that America was already known before it was officially discovered.
   It's not an answering book, but rather a questioning one.



2. In this book, Italian journalist Ruggero Marino challenges centuries-old myths and deliberate disinformation to re-affirm the dominant roles that Pope Innocent VIII and Christopher Columbus played in the 1492 discovery of the New World.
   Marino's thesis is that for more than 500 years, Pope Innocent VIII has been deliberately slighted by historians and researchers and the part he played in the discovery of America has been intentionally expunged by Spanish King Ferdinand and his Roman cohort Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia. Their intent was to dishonor Innocent and to ensure that Spain, not Italy, was acclaimed as the dominant power in the discovery of America.
   To substantiate his claims, Marino spent more than 16 years researching archives, libraries, and even sites at the Vatican, including Innocent VIII's tomb. He confesses to constantly puzzling over a cryptogram of Columbus' reproduced in the final pages of the book but indecipherable still.
   Marino details why he believes Columbus was Pope Innocent's illegitimate son and presents the logic for seeing Columbus as an educated renaissance man. He explains the relationships among practitioners of the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religions and alludes to present-day parallel struggles between the East and the West. He stresses how all knowledge and political power at the time was centered in Rome but was being threatened by the barbarians at the gate, hence Innocent's call for a crusade.
   He forges links between Columbus and the Templars, including in the use of the term "Master" as applied to Columbus and more tellingly, in the fact that Columbus' father-in-law was a Templar. And he expounds about the numerous world maps of the time with their mysterious markings and references to the New World, Atlantis, Antilya, Cipango, and the "fourth peninsula." Marino even posits that Columbus' voyage of 1492 was a hoax, of sorts, since Marino asserts that he had already discovered America during a previous voyage.
   Marino's suppositions are interesting and worth considering. Readers may find, however, that the book can be confusing because of the way subjects are introduced, then dropped, then re-introduced, a technique better suited to fiction than non-fiction. North American readers with an average knowledge of and Interest in Italian and European history may also find the references to the multitude of persons and events difficult to follow. But those who have a desire to uncover more about the mysteries of the discovery of America will be well rewarded.
   --M. Wayne Cunningham
   Mysteries Magazine issue #20



3. Ruggero Marino's CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE LAST TEMPLAR asks whether Columbus was a Templar - and according to historic documents and maps, he was. Marino examines Columbus' sea voyages and reveals the sources of Columbus' routes and wanderings, consider his studies and the myth that Columbus stumbled on the New World rather than deliberately charting his course.

4 comments about Two Years Before the Mast: And Twenty-Four Years After.

1. Great piece of history. Changed my perspective on California and who held it before the United States.



2. This book is written by a Harvard lawyer about his experiences as a young man aboard a sailing ship in the 1830's. It is a fascinating piece of California history as well as a firsthand look at the life of a sailor in the early 1800's. It is extremely well written and includes a final dissertation about the powers of the captain and the rights of the common sailor.



3. I reread this book about every three years. It never gets stale. It intertwines history, philosophy, and a personal travelogue in a book that is so well paced and entertaining to read that it is hard to imagine anyone that would not find it worthwhile. And if you are interested in sailing ships or what California was like in the 1830s, this is a must read.



4. I know many people cringe at the thought of reading a narrative that seems to greatly resemble Moby Dick, but I tell you this better than Moby Dick and easy makes it into my top ten books I have ever read! Occassionally the text bogs down in obscure sailing terms, but that is an exception and not a rule, otherwise, it is sheer poetry and lights the fire of wonder of exploration, and makes a sea voyage from almost 200 years ago spring to life. I give you my favorite short little passage, which explains it so much better.

   "So quiet too, was the sea, and so steady the breeze, that if the sails had been sculptured marble they could not have been more motionless. Not a ripple upon the surface of the canvas; not even a quivering of the extreme edges of the sail, so perfectly were they distended by the breeze. I was so lost in the sight that I forgot the presence of the man who came out with me, until he said, 'How quietly they do their work!'"

   Dana so perfectly described sea life you will be a part of the crew, you will feel his fear, his wonder, his joy and his awe.

   You will not regret reading this, philosophy disguised as a travelogue, a must-read!

3 comments about John H. Riffey The Last Old-Time Ranger.

1. This is a one of a kind biographical sketch of a remarkable character. Having visited John and Mary Beth Riffey a number of times courtesy of Milt Hokanson and Art Gallenson my family and I were very lucky to have shared his sanctuary. Yes, I've ridden in "the ditch" aboard Pogo and learned about the little known "Florida Walking Fish" in John's pond. I am licensed to carry "Edgarodie Spray" and am well versed in "Opening a new motel." Besides being allowed to pick and sing with Burt Janis after Thanksgiving dinner years ago, John was gracious enough to dance abit for us and share his libation for "men over 40." This would be a five star if Jean Lutrell would write a companion piece of the endless stories which abound from the visitors at Tuweap during John's reign as "The Last Old-Time Ranger." Doc Wallin



2. Toroweap is one of the most special places in a place--the Grand Canyon-- filled with special places. It's about time there was a book about it. For most people Toroweap is only a rough road and a visit of a few hours, but John Riffey lived there for 40 years and got to know it better than anyone. He started in the 1940s when very few tourists ever found their way to Toroweap, and lived to see it become a world-famous cover photo. For anyone who appreciates Toroweap this book offers an in-depth look at it. This book also offers a unique view of the life of a park ranger, or the lives of Arizona Strip pioneers.



3. Individuals who knew John Riffey in person and spend any amount of time in his company tended to make him a "larger than life" person. It may have been the spectacular scenery, the subtle wild remote beauty of the area of Tuweep or Toroweep in the Grand Canyon combined with John's personality, which allowed us to do that.
   
   Thus, I found Mrs. Luttrell to be very brave to write a book about John Riffey. I appreciated the details about John from his Colorado years and more details about the Arizona Strip/Tuweep area from the years Mrs. Luttrell was a youth and living in the area. I liked the easy read and the warmth of the book. But because I was a person who made John "larger than life" I feel that his personality, the type of individual he was, was likely not fully captured in the book. I found the book a good read, refreshing great memories, and introducing me to facets and years of Mr. Riffey's life that I had not experienced. It is also difficult to determine if the read would have been as interesting if I had not known Mr. Riffey.
   
   Mrs. Luttrell's father, Al Craig was also an incredible, interesting man who had his own "larger than life" space in the Arizona strip. I'd love to see a book from Mrs. Luttrell about her father.

5 comments about Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook.

1. Found this book by chance at the library. I love biographies and found this one to be a particularly informative quick read. Definitely encourages one to read more about Cook and travels he did. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.



2. A well-written, well-researched account of the life and times of Captain James Cook who was not only an outstanding explorer and all-around good man but who also found a way to prevent beri-beri during long months at sea. His detailed charting of New Zealand is still a benchmark of excellence. He left his indelible mark upon the world.



3. What a surprise I found myself reading this book. For years I had wanted to read a biography of Captain Cook. Then I had the great pleasure to read BLUE LATITUDES, BOLDLY GOING WHERE GAPTAIN COOK
   HAS GONE BEFORE (2002) by Tony Horwitz which is in part a biography told via a humorous travel narrative. And then I read the more detailed and dry COOK: The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook (2003) by Nicholas Thomas which is not so much a biography but a study of all three voyages told from all points of view. Then I came upon Martin Dugard's book which I found a fun, simple, and excellent straight forward biography. Yes, the book is flawed a bit by some psychological guesses about Cook's behavior on his final voyage with no source notes to back up the argument. Yet this is a marvelously entertaining read in similar fashion to my all time favorite page turner about another early discoverer, OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe (2003) BY Laurence Bergreen. Dugard also did a great job of explaining Cook's patrons in England and how he advanced and won the right to Captain these three voyages of discovery. Should a dare say there is a small biography of the Earl of Sandwich contained in these 287 pages too. I recommend Farther Than Any Man for those who want a short fun good read while learning more about an amazing individual who did indeed go Father than any Man.



4. i have spent my life around cook strait,i give talks on what cook did on his first visit,and mr dugard clearly has no idea of what cook did,every item is incorrect,wrong in all detail and he has clearly never visited the ships cove,queen charlotte sound nor read Beaglehole or cooks log,,the book is the worst i have seen of hundreds written and should not have been published with all the errors in it,it is also trivial even the locations are wrong,,,i have 40years experience of the area and am surprised this book sells



5. Dugard's slightly fanciful account of Cook's voyages certainly makes for an entertaining read - I read it cover-to-cover on a recent trip to Hawaii.
   
   However, despite the lively, engaging style, it is a bit scant and even sloppy in some areas - particularly the account of Cook's interaction with Australian Aborigines near present day Cooktown and the Easter Island encounter.
   
   That said, I enjoyed it.

5 comments about Dangerous River: Adventure on the Nahanni.

1. The Oxford educated author, Raymond Patterson, chucked his staid life as London banker for the extreme conditions of the 1920's Canadian far north, traversing barely navigable rivers and wintering in 40 below conditions far from the nearest supply post.
   The accounts are highly colourful, occasionally humorous and truly amazing as real life survivor accounts. Unlike some modern adventure story-telling, the author thankfully omits hyping the risks and achievements, avoids ominous foreshadowing and such devices, and relates his account in a modest but richly descriptive style.



2. I purchased Dangerous River: Adventure on the Nahanni to use as research for my latest release, The River, an exciting and terrifying techno-thriller that takes place on the Nahanni River.
   
   I found Dangerous River to be invaluable to me, and after reading it, I yearn to travel to the Nahanni River to see this wonderful part of Canada.
   
   I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a true Canadian adventure. The photos take you back to a simpler life, and the author's humor and attention to detail are entertaining.
   
   Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of The River



3. Patterson makes a 200 mile snowshoe trek in 50 below weather to pick up the mail seem like slightly unusual walk to the post office!



4. "Dangerous River" is one of the finest Far North adventures ever written. R. M. Patterson and his partner Gordon Matthews were the last of a breed of men who tackled the Far North with nothing but stamina, courage, and consummate skill with rifle, pack and canoe. Trapping and searching for gold in the legendary South Nahanni River country in the 1920's, Patterson describes their adventures in language that makes the reader yearn to see one the premier rivers of the world. Patterson's style is laced with wonderfully dry British humor as well as a poet's skill in describing the breathtaking landscapes. You feel as though you're right beside him throughout his adventures and hungering to go there yourself. You can't ask more a writer and his book than that!



5. This tale of wilderness adventure is set in the unexplored region of the South Nahanni river valley in the Nortwest Territories, Canada. It tells of unexplained deaths (the reason it was called Dead-Man's Valley), and the survival tactics and techniques of explorers during the gold-rush days of the area. Patterson spins the tale in a way which makes you feel the icy cold winters and the lavish and wildlife filled summers. His writings are non-fictional, and he includes maps and photographs taken while he was there. It is exciting, and laden with danger about the rapids, ice-flows, and Indian legends. I highly recommend it to anyone with a love of the outdoors, adventure, or wilderness history!

3 comments about Adventures of a Mountain Man: The Narrative of Zenas Leonard.

1. This is the first of the Narrative Press books that I've read. I will read others. Zenas could write - many of the Mountain Men could not. It was great to read of some of his adventures and get a slightly different take on some of the events that happened - Back in the Day.



2. I like the first person "adventures" from this period. This book never quite got my interest. Not enough details to make it feel like you got a look at what things were like.



3. I'd give this book six stars if it were allowed! Zenas Leonard came out to the American West as a fur trapper in 1831, this is his own narrative. He started out under the leadership of Captain Gant trapping beaver and traveling extensively throughout the west. Later he joined in with the famous Captain Joseph Walker expedition to explore a passage to California. You simply can not put this book down! Indians, grizzlies, starvation and thirst, freezing temperatures, more Indian troubles, first white men to see Yosemite and the Redwoods, one adventure after another! Vivid descriptions of what it was like back then. An engrossing book!