No comments about Soldier of Fortune: Adventuring in Latin America and Mexico with Emil Lewis Holmdahl.

2 comments about Riding The Unit.

1. Spitzer's newest collection of shorts is a mad melange of frank, gritty, and hilarious tales filled with insight and candour. It thematically holds together with thrust and cohesion. This collection sports both classic and new pieces by an authorial voice one cannot trust, but cannot help but to enjoy.



2. This book cost me a job.
   
   Well, a volunteer position, really. Until recently, I was the president of the Literary Nonfiction Haters' Club. To me, literary nonfiction was the written equivalent of the "day-old" table at your local bakery--cold, hard collections of diary jottings, college lecture notes and, ahem, book reviews. My belief in this estimation of literary nonfiction was as firm as yesterday's bagels.
   
   Then I read Riding the Unit: Selected Nonfiction 1994-2004 (188 pages, $10.99, Six Gallery Press) by Mark Spitzer. Spitzer is a poet (The Pigs Drink From Infinity)/novelist (Chum)/Rimbaud translator (From Absinthe to Abyssinia) extraordinaire. His book was so fresh-from-the-oven hot, it was steaming.
   
   I braced myself for half-baked journal entries. Instead, in "Dinner with Slinger", Spitzer provided an engaging and even-handed account of his college days spent studying with a noted poet turned boozy blowhard. Spitzer skillfully picked through the besotted b.s. to find the bard's point--why we, as a people, have lost the "consciousness" to truly appreciate art (8).
   
   I expected prim pages torn from the family album. In "Dinner at My Mother's", Spitzer surprised me with a considerate, hilarious description of a day he spent with his literary biography-interpreting mother and his famous potter stepfather. The piece hinged on critics' habits of analyzing artworks to hell and back. It was like an episode of "Married with Children" co-written by Woody Allen and Eugene O'Neill.
   
   I was set for stale memoranda. Instead, Spitzer delighted me with "Fakos in France", an insightful remembrance of his time as Writer in Residence at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris, and his stint as a stagehand at a poetry reading there for two Beat Generation icons who'd turned into kudos-collecting squares.
   
   I anticipated a professorial review of some obscure anthology. A review, I got--of Bob Dylan's notorious and notoriously difficult Tarantula. Spitzer solidly and lucidly defended Dylan's poem, laying the blame for its bad rep on critics' failure to recognize Tarantula for what it is, rather than on Dylan's challenging, but purposeful, use of allegory.
   
   Above all else, Mark Spitzer's humor and energy made Riding the Unit a memorable read. Whether taking the piss out of Allen Ginsberg, arm-wrestling Jean Genet's literary executrix or ribbing his stepdad by hyper-analyzing everything like an English major amped on caffeine, Spitzer kept the pace brisk and the overall experience entertaining and informative.
   
   With my view of literary nonfiction turned upside-down, I resigned from my post as the president of the Literary Nonfiction Haters' Club. But since it was due to a great book by a fine writer, I was happy to do so.

1 comments about The Sky's the Limit: The Story of Vicky Jack and Her Quest to Climb the Seven Summits.

1. As an avid reader of climbing books I jumped into this book with anticipation. Sounded good but what a disappointment. At the end of the book you are none the wiser about the personality and the motivations of Vicky Jack. The character portrayed is one dimensional and cardboard like - surely there is more to this climber than what is protrayed?

1 comments about Prisoners of the North: Portraits of Five Arctic Immortals.

1. Pierre Berton an accomplished and beloved Canadian author presents here five essays on different notable characters that stand tall in the history of Canadian arctic discovery, exploration, exploitation and settlement. The author is a master of arctic history, legend and lore. His most notable works include Klondike Fever and The Arctic Grail. This effort is interesting but falls a bit short of the mastery and command that the author presented in his earlier efforts. It is notable that this work was completed in 2004 which was the last year of the author's life. It is still a worthwhile book to read for those interested in arctic history and the hardy colorful characters that accomplished early settlement and exploration of the extreme north. It is recommended that if you read this during the winter months sit close to your fireplace or woodstove.

2 comments about Oak Island Obsession: The Restall Story.

1. As a person who has probably read every known book on the subject and has a knowledge of the search, I can tell you I was dissapointed in the book. It gave us very little that was not rehashed info and could be found in any other book...as a matter of fact it was Mahone Bay's version of the "Little House on the Prairie"...Save your money on this one...



2. What a great book. I have read a few books on Oak Island and this is by far the best one. The content of this book is unique to any other book written about Oak Island that I have read. This is a must read for all Oak Island Mystery enthusiast, especially for the skeptics and naysayers of the mystery. Lee Lamb (daughter of Bob Restall Sr)sucessfully rises to the task of sharing with the reader, her experience living and working on Oak Island, the hardships, triumphs and failures. (The never before seen photos are a must see). Sharing notes, drawings and designs of her father as he struggles to generate financing to continue the search for the allusive Oak Island treasure. He found more then one notable artifact that carbon dated as old. This is a book for those that have to smell, taste, touch and see before believing. Thanks Lee for sharing!

No comments about Jed Smith Trailblazer Of The West.

No comments about Dark Safari.

No comments about The Life And Voyages Of Americus Vespucius: With Illustrations Concerning The Navigator, And The Discovery Of The New World.

1 comments about Scott And Amundsen: The Race to the Pole.

1. Literary and theater critic Rainer-K. Langner presents Scott and Amundsen: Duel in the Ice, the amazing and tragic tale of the rivalry between the leaders of the first two Antarctic expeditions to successfully reach the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen prepared meticulously by learning Polar survival skills from the native peoples of the Arctic; British citizen Captain Robert Falcon Scott had a very different perspective, valuing courage, endurance and immediate improvisation as the lynchpin to surmounting obstacles. Yet in January of 1912, when Scott and his four companions reached the South Pole, they discovered that Amundsen had beaten them by 34 days - and worse, Scott's misjudgments, and lack of knowledge had a cumulatively fatal effect, as his team died during the return journey - only 18 kilometers short of the supply depot that could have saved them. Part history, part dual biography, Scott and Amundsen retraces the journeys of both men thoroughly, reconstructing the final days of Scott's ill fate through his recovered diary. An absorbing slice of history that pays tribute to the courage, daring, and willingness to risk life and limb of both expeditions, while simultaneously dissecting the precise reasons why one team returned alive and triumphant, while the other did not. Highly recommended, especially for public library collections.

5 comments about KON-TIKI: Across the Pacific.

1. After noticing numerous similarities between aspects of Polynesian culture and Inca culture, Thor Heyerdahl postulates an ancient connection between the two peoples: he argues that Inca traveled to the South Pacific islands and at least partially colonized them. His theory is immediately dismissed by anthropologists for many reasons. Foremost is the argument that the Inca did not have boats capable of crossing the Pacific. All they had were balsa wood rafts, which the experts argue would never survive the trip. Heyerdahl is so sure he is right, he sets out to prove that it is possible to cross the Pacific in a balsa wood raft by making the voyage himself!
   
   He recruits five Scandinavian shipmates and heads down to South America to build a balsa wood raft. After wading through much red tape, his crew finally builds a replica raft and sets sail. Everyone thinks they will likely die on the trip, but they are determined to prove them wrong. And they do. On the way, they have fantastic adventures with sharks, unexplained huge creatures far below the raft, fish jumping on board for breakfast, men overboard, and a final exciting crash landing on a South Pacific island.
   
   I can't say enough about how enjoyable this book was, but I also can't help but be sad that in the days of satellite mapping, GPS, and red tape, such adventures now seem out of reach. This book has a bit of everything: science, history, engineering, philosophy, and of course loads of maritime adventure from an era when the world's geography was a little more mysterious.



2. How did the Incan people make it to the Galapagos islands and the islands of Indonesia from the mainland of South America. Rumor has it that the Incan people used balsa wood to make a raft and drift all the way across the Pacific Ocean. Heyerdahl and a team of people are about to find out if this method really would work. What are they going to eat and drink on the way over? What sea creatures and new species of fish will they find along the way? Will they make it alive? Read this book to experience one of the greatest sea adventures ever written.



3. We recently had the pleasure of visiting Oslo, Norway and went to the Kon-Tiki Museum while there. They were sold out of the English language version of this book. I had read it in the mid-fifties and had lost the book sometime over the years. This purchase was to "re-stock" my library with what I have always considered to be a wonderful adventure story. I can recommend this book to anyone in the GPS generation who cannot imagine making passage across the Pacific as did Thor Heyerdahl. It's a wonderful story.



4. This book was in great physical condition...it just looks way older than I expected...you know how old paperbacks get...kind of yellowish and pages don't totally lay flat...It won't stop me from reading it, and it was a bargain for the price, but I am not sure it was LIKE NEW.



5. A very wow story.
   
   When the author was told that a particular people's migration was impossible, given the ocean going technology and distance involved, he set out to prove it wasn't.
   
   Crazy, brave, or whatever, but a pretty impressive real-life adventure tale, along with a spot of first-hand scientific historical research.