No comments about Henson at the North Pole (Dover Books on Travel, Adventure).

4 comments about Wilderness Journey: The Life of William Clark.

1. As a reader of "Undaunted Courage", the Steven Ambrose historical biography of Meriwether Lewis and his patron, Thomas Jefferson, I felt like I received only part of the picture of the expedition that opened the Louisiana Purchase to U.S. interests. This book completes the picture. Clark was the steady, get-the-job-done, go-to guy, who complemented the mercurial Lewis. Where Lewis made only occasional journal entries, Clark is the principal source of our non-botanical/zoological information because he reliably performed the journaling function. The only criticism I would have of the book is the repeated drubbing of Clark as a slave holder and his perceived mistreatment of York. It seems that Foley feels he has to apologize for Clark, who lived in a different age with a very different view of slavery. Once would have been enough.



2. The author skillfully blends history and biography to provide an absorbing look at American frontier during the early to mid 19th century,
   as well as a fresh narrative of the Lewis and Clark explorations. Foley
   renders Clark in a sympathetic light, even when accounting for his often
   harsh treatment of African-Americans and Native Americans. A well-researched and well-written book.



3. It's about time someone wrote a modern full biography of William Clark (1770-1838). The second-in-command of the legendary Lewis and Clark Expedition deserves a much fuller discussion than heretofore available. Born in Virginia in 1770, Clark was closely tied to frontier military and Indian affairs throughout his life. He served with Gen. Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, and between 1803 and 1806 he and Meriwether Lewis led the military expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean. In 1813 Clark became Missouri Territorial governor, working during the War of 1812 to secure the frontier from British-incited Indian attacks. When Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1822, Clark was appointed by Congress superintendent of Indian affairs, serving until his death in 1838. He was fair, humane, and honest in his dealing with the western tribes.
   
   This book is an exceptionally well researched and written life of Clark, whose career, at least in its later stages, outstripped that of Meriwether Lewis. It is must reading for anyone interested in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the settlement of the trans-Mississippi West. It replaces as the central work on the subject the biography written by Jerome O. Steffen, "William Clark: Jeffersonian Man on the Frontier" (University of Oklahoma Press, 1977).



4. William Clark is best known as the American explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis in heading an overland expedition to the Pacific: but as William Foley demonstrates in Wilderness Journey: The Life Of William Clark, how William Clark has many more claims to fame than his explorations with Meriwether Lewis. Studies have appeared on the two, but this is the first comprehensive biography of Clark's entire life, revealing his service as a soldier, Indian diplomat, and his involvement in US politics and policy-making in the West. College-level audiences will find Wilderness Journey a fascinating biography of a multi-faceted man.

1 comments about Ely Echoes: The Portages Grow Longer (Minnesota).

1. Great book for someone who visits this area. Gives us outsiders a peek into what life was like for the "pioneers" of canoe country.

5 comments about The Survivor: 24 Spine-Chilling Adventures on the Edge of Death.

1. This book certainly delivers on its promise of life-threatening adventures. I loved the fact that it was written about real events in a way that sounded like truth. There were some hard things to deal with but that's the way life is. I would recommend it to adventurers and armchair adventurers alike.



2. I bought this book because the author, John Goddard, was scheduled to be a keynote speaker at a convention I was attending in June, 2008. I had heard his name, but didn't know much about him. I couldn't put the book down. This autobiographical work is amazing - and HE is amazing!!
   As a young child, John Goddard decided to be an explorer. As a teen, he set over 100 goals for himself. These were not simple goals such as 'get a college education (which he did - he became a medical doctor). His goals were grand to the nth scale! One goal was to explore the Nile River, from it's beginning all the way to the Mediterranean Sea - in a kayak! It took 9 months - and many adventures - but he made it. He also, in like fashion, explored other rivers, among them, the Congo River, and the Colorado River. Of his original goals, he as achieved most - but added hundreds more over the years. Mr. Goddard is what many people term 'goal driven' but most people don't really have a clue as to what that really means. He did speak at our convention - leaving over 3000 people sitting on the edge of their seats and breathless. Later, in breakout sessions, he continued to enthrall. Oh, and he signed my book, too! It's a treasure I will keep forever. One more thing - the '24' is now over '40' - that's how many times John Goddard has faced imminent death, and survived!



3. This is a GREAT book by the Ultimate Adventurer/Explorer, John Goddard. The book covers many daring and dangerous activities that many would not even attempt. Goddard's living-on-the-edge lifestyle will definitely leave you on the edge-of-your-seat with his thrilling brushes with potential death. A must read. Also, his book "Kayaks Down the Nile" is equally thrilling...in both books you'll be shaking your head asking yourself," HOW did he ever live through it?" Simply...he IS the ultimate survivor! I couldn't put the books down until the end.



4. This book is a must-have. Buy it for yourself and your kids. Relive some of the most thrilling REAL LIFE adventures ever. John Goddard's life is like a hollywood movie.



5. Sounded like a great story..I even used Goddard's list once for an inspirational piece for school. Halfway through the book, I realized that this poorly written book is a compilation of highfalutin' chest thumping near-death experiences. If you are interested in real adventure, read about Shackleton, Krakauer or Simpson. Don't waste your money on this book!

No comments about Eye of the West.

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.

No comments about Reaching the Summit: Edmund Hillary's Life of Adventure (DK Biography).

5 comments about Tom Crean: Unsung Hero of the Scott and Shackleton Antarctic Expeditions.

1. One night last week I watched "Scott of the Antarctic." Being very impressed with the realistic nature of this 1960 production and, always impressed with the stalwart, intrepid, and frankly at times, insane daring of the British Explorers, I picked up this volume from my shelf and read the whole thing in a single night!! It had actually been given to me by an Irish friend about two years ago.
   
   I am grateful to that friend. Here in one book is more adventure than several explorers can pack into many lives - all accomplished by a single man - Tom Crean -- backbone of the Expedition: stalwart working-class hero and embodiment of everything that made both Ireland and Britain great nations.
   
   Tom was the non-com backbone of the operation. Someone capable with his hands, able, trustworthy and dependable in the extreme, men like Crean built the Empire and made feats of arctic exploration possible. From an adventure reader's point of view Crean was part of the last accompanying party with Scott, before Scott's choice to proceed onwards with 5 men deemed fittest. Of course Capt. Scott assured his posterity by dying along with 4 of his men. What I did not really know was the epic adventure Crean and his remaining companions endured in their eventual return.
   
   I will spare the details, but this book is packed with non-stop action (one thing that sticks out in my mind is the wild and very imprudent sled ride down the glacier -- it has to be read to be believed -- especially by anyone with actual glacier travel experience). Crean's last solitary walk of 32 kilomentres to gain help for his starving and badly scurvied companions is at once a stroke of genius, courage and luck -- he would not have survived if he had arrived 30 minutes later, by that time a wild storm pummelled the camp and Crean would have died if he had not made the hut).
   
   Crean also was a part of the Shakleton expedition and was again selected as one of the most dependable, and physically strong people to undertake the long journey to South Georgia and the also epic traverse of South Georgia ( a 34 mile trek across an island mountain range that had never been explored before). The adventure is unrelenting -- even the last kilometre before reaching the Whaling Station involves them on an abseil down a 20 metre waterfall.
   
   This book should be read for the sheer joy of understanding what gives all people strength when all else seems lost... it would have been easy to give up, but Tom Crean and his ilk never did.
   
   There is one point I should raise with this book that is a little annoying. It is the prediliction to interpret people as the embodiment of their race and nationality. Of course the Irish do this much more and perhaps better than most... but the idea that figures such as Crean are some sort of Zeitgeist representative of their country is misleading and wholly beside the point. There are points in the narrative where the author postulates what would have happenned had Crean be choosen to accompany Scott...there is also the attempt to make the obligatory genuflections to Irish Nationalism -- how does one square the circle of him being the right hand of Empire but at the same time significantly nationalist enough for the Irish (as if loyalty to the British made a person any less Irish).
   
   In simple terms Tom has little time for politics -- he evaluated people individually. It wasn't like him to judge. He was in many ways the strong and silent type. As such he offers us a template for a very fulfilled, dependable and just human being This is the story of this remarkable man.



2. Tom Crean is a true hero of the age of exploration. He was a man of great courage, strength and conviction. He was a member of two South Pole voyages with Scott and one with Shackelton. One could argue that had Scott chosed Crean over P.O. Evans to represent the "lower decks" on the last push to the pole, Scott may have survived to tell the tale. As it was, Crean is credited with saving the life of Lt. Evans as they struggled back after being the last support group to leave Scott and his party of five on the polar plateau and thus were the last to see them alive. Additionally, Shackelton credits Crean with, if not saving his life, being integral to the success of the Endurance expetdition by playing a central role in Shackelton's escape from Elephant Island and hike to eventual safety. Michael Smith tells an exciting, compelling story of the stark realities of the age of exploration in the early 1900's. This book is a factual story, expertly told about the "follower" Crean, a quiet man with strength and character that are so remarkable it is difficult to comprehend. Everyone of us can learn something from his example. This is a story about human endurance and will.



3. May I state from the outset that I am Irish, so my opinion is probably biased. I was enthralled by the book, and this unsung hero (what a title, given that he never spoke about his exploits). Smith did a remarkable job given that Crean left so little written material behind. I am dissapointed with earlier remarks about "Not much new here folks", they obviously missed the point. This book is about Crean and his part in the well documented events of thos days. Crean is my hero, I would have loved to have known him.



4. Having read about Amundsun,Scott and Shackleton,this entry on Crean[and the Biography on Worsley],complete the elusive details on a host of characters who chose to go where no others had gone before. Isolated and at the unrelenting mercy of the elements,these thoroughly detailed accounts evoke the best of the human spirit.



5. A captivating read and even more than a book about Tom Crean.
   Michael Smith assembles a intriguing chronology that reveals
   a compelling perspective of the times and lives of the Polar
   Explorers. An insightful character analysis into the leadership and the crews.
   My only complaint is,after Smith's meticulous documentation of names,dates,latitude/longitude, and geographic locations,
   the book offers only a few rudimentary maps. But you can easily remedy this(inconceivable oversight)by obtaining the USGS Topographic Index Map of Antartica(free)and a beautiful Satellite Image Map($7 US)scale 1:5,000,000 mapI-2560.I plotted as I read and ended up with a great reference souvenir.

5 comments about My Life with 3 Women.

1. Great book, couldn't put it down. Read it all in one sitting. Enjoyed the story and the discription of the places they traveled and their adventures. I felt I was right there with them. Makes me want to quit my job, get on my sailboat and take off. Found no problem with the way it was written, seemed honest and accurate. There must be a sequel or two, would love to find out what happened the next six months and what they are all doing now. Are you listening Alan??



2. Great story, hard to imagine they survived some of the things they went thru. Read it in record time. Just wished it hadn't of ended.
   I see where he settled in the Caribbean where he lives and writes.
   What is he writing now? Anyone know let me know.
   Worth the money to me



3. This former real estate broker decided to sail away after his long-term marriage ends up in divorce. He makes it to Tonga where he meets up with 3 women who join him onboard his small sailboat. They live through storms, piracy, wonderful anchorages in deserted islands and exotic towns. The reading is very entertaining, the sail advice is not the best (he had only a few months of sailing experience before writing this book), the writing is not the best, but the story of these four souls is great. This is one of those books that are hard to put down and you are sorry they do not go on for another few hundred pages. The limited English can be forgiven as is so entertaining and original. Any male (and many females) that reads Alan's story will have a huge envy attack. It would be great to have a follow up book on what happened afterwards to each character in the book. It would be interesting to read the version of these events by the other participants. It would be reassuring to get confirmation that this story is real (or maybe not, a guy should not be that lucky!) There is no mention if the picture on the cover shows the actual characters. Anyway, it is great reading.



4. If this book were a horse it wouldn't even make good glue. First, the author writes this in the third person which, after fifty or so pages, I finally over came. Then he uses italics and quotation catch phrases over and over and over and over - ad nauseum. There is a hint of the erotic, what with three women and just him. But it becomes apparent very soon that he is as bad a lover as he is a writer.

   A complete waste of money and time.




5. When reading this book, I kept thinking of this joke as a possible insight into why the author wrote his book:

   This average guy, he finds himself stranded on a desert island with none other than Cindy Crawford. After some time, with no rescue, the average guy and Cindy start an intimate relationship.

   Things are going quite well until one day, the guy asks Cindy something strage. The guy asks her if she will dress up like a man, and pretend he is the average guys best friend from back home. Cindy, a little taken back, thinks this is a little odd, but indulges him.

   So she dresses up as the guys best friend and they proceed to walk along the secluded beach, Cindy 'playing' her part.

   Suddenly, pretending that Cindy is his best friend from back home, the guy turns to her and says, 'Dude, you're never going to guess who I'm having sex with.'

   That's what I kept thinking reading this book. Here is this guy, by his own admission nothing spectacular, sailing and carrying on a relationship with three women all at the same time on the same small boat. I've sailed enough to know that relationships develop fast on small boats, and you learn more about people a lot quicker and become closer as well. But here is this gentleman, not only living the sailing dream, but living it with three beautiful women. Is it any surprise he wrote a book about it? Hell, he should write two books.

   Beyond that though, on another level, he conveyed how close they all came through their adventures. About the only thing I didn't like about the book, was it didn't tell how it ended and only covered 1/2 of their experience.

   Maybe he is writing a second book.

5 comments about No Man's River.

1. It has been a long time since i have enjoyed a book as much as those written by Farley Mowat. His respect for native cultures and his skill at describing their environment are what make these books so enjoyable and interesting. I will read all of his works--it is well worth the time.



2. No matter how many books he writes, Farley Mowat continues to amaze his fans. His non-fiction is never dry or uninspiring, though he's a talented fiction writer as well, and this faithful reader of his work is certainly not disappointed. Thank you again, Mr. Mowat for your great writing. It is truly appreciated!
   Chrissy K. McVay



3. A book I could not put down. It is a well written insight into a world that none of us will ever experience. Mr. Mowat is a great story teller and a national treasure. Anyone who is interested in the least about people and lands of the north must read this book.



4. Farley Mowat has been one of my favorite authors since I was in 6th grade in the early 1960s. I ordered a copy of "Two Against the North" from the Arrow Book Club and read it over and over. The story of two boys from different cultures trying to survive winter in the barrens was riveting to me, a gal firmly stuck in the suburbs. Mowat's descriptions of glacial landforms in that book remained with me and were recalled with every earth science and geology lesson I ever took. (The book can be found in some libraries under the title "Lost in the Barrens"--a great read for a middle schooler curious about the world outside familiar places.) Part of what I loved about No Man's River was that the journeys described were clearly the basis for many aspects of "Lost in the Barrens"--kind of like an echo of an old favorite. Mowat is the consummate story teller--reading his books makes you want to sit around a campfire with him for several hours hearing spin his yarns. One of my favorite quotes comes from him--"Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." No Man's River has jaw-dropping adventure as well as thought provoking commentary on the clash of vastly different cultures. Enjoy!



5. Readers can count this book as one more captivating true tale of Canada's far north, told by its best-read authority. The young Farley Mowat, returning disillusioned from the War in 1947 and thinking to become a biologist, joined with a taxonomist on a collecting "scientific" expedition into the Barren Lands of Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The headstrong 26 year old was improbably paired up with a disciplined naturalist of the old school, who killed and skinned every animal he could shoot, poison or trap. After a while, Farley, having seen enough killing in the war, became disillusioned with this approach to appreciating the wonders of nature, and deserted his post in favor of exploring the largely uninhabited territory in the company of an Indian half-breed, Charles Schweder. His real desire was to contact the "People of the Deer," the Imhalmiut. These people came to be idealized in Farley's mind as a people "uncontaminated with the murderous aberrations of civilized man."
   
   Mowat gives a clear picture of the hardships encountered by the few inhabitants of this harsh landscape. By the time of the expedition, the Imhalmiut had dwindled to only a few scattered bands, having been nearly wiped out in a succession of epidemics. Farley tells of the well-intended but sporadic and largely ineffectual aid given to them by the Canadian government and its minions, and how Schweder had been traumatized by his experience in a partially successful rescue attempt he had made the year previous. His rescue of a six year old replacement for his child bride, dead of starvation, presents the reader (and Mowat) with a thought- provoking moral dilemma. So much for the myth of the noble savage...
   
   For me, though, the message of the book was how uncaring and ruthless "Mother Nature" really is, and how down and dirty a bare-handed struggle it is. He, Thoreau-like, at one point meticulously gives a complete list of the things they chose to carry on their epic trip down an unmapped river system: guns and ammo, flour, sugar, baking soda, canned food, gasoline and oil for their outboard motor, tarps and tents. Even with all these products of Western technology, their trip was hair-raising and nearly disastrous. And the bugs!
   
   For such a rough subject, this turns out to be an engrossing tale and hard to put down. On the other hand, the map requires a magnifying glass to read and there are no illustrations. I really appreciated, though, the last chapter, in which he follows up on the fate of the characters he encountered, giving the reader some "closure" as it is disgustingly called these days.
   
   I found it a little curious, though, that Mowat felt the need to apologize in a postscript for his use of some now politically incorrect words, such as Indian, half-breed, and Eskimo. This is largely a story of the encounters of people with different cultures, of different races, viewed through eyes that are quite a bit more honest than is usually tolerated by the demagogues and girly-men of our sensitive time.