arduous journey nowdays. And if you're traveling for work it's one
of the things you can make a big deal about. But it ain't really
such a big deal. When traveling, I like reading books of the really
tough sailing voyages of the old days. History gets rewritten every
now and then and there are some fun books out there to help take the bite
out of travel. I mean, when you're scrunched in your little airline
seat and you get handed the smallest packet of the cheapest snack and
your ounce of water, you could get a little grumpy. But not if
you're reading about a bunch of guys in a lifeboat who have
completely run out of shoes to eat and are hungry enough to start
eyeing the fat guy.
On this voyage, I read, "Ice Master, The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the
Karluk" by Jennifer Niven. I don't recommend this at all. Poorly
written to the point of having errors that should have been caught by
the copy editor, and no narrative propulsion at all. A bunch of guys
set out to discover the Arctic continent (doomed from the start --
there isn't any such thing), get stuck in ice for months. We get to
read about them stuck in the ice for months. Eventually the Captain
sets out over the ice to fetch help, and the rest of the crew set out
over the ice to various places. Some live, some don't. They eat
weird stuff although they've brought some eskimos with them and these
guys know how to hunt. All the eskimos survive, even the woman and
her two little daughters. That's the best part.
Previous trip I read, "Over the Edge of the World, Magellan's
Terrifying Circumnavigation of the World," by Laurence Bergreen.
History gets rewritten every generation or so, and this account is
very contemporary. No need to portray Magellan as a wise and noble
explorer, but someone who was out to help Spain claim the half of the
world that the Pope had declared was Spain's. The other half the
Pope gave to Portugal. Five ships and 250 people set out, one ship
and 18 return. Magellan doesn't make it himself, but the journey's
chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta does. Full of mutiny, orgies in
Brazil, murder, shipwreck, the eating of shoes and shipmates and all
the stuff that makes your own journey seem like a luxury cruise.
Also on the list: "The Last Voyage of Columbus, Being the Epic Tale
of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of
Mutiny, Shipwreck, and Discovery" by Martin Dugard. All the old
Captain wants by this time, is to establish his own Caribbean kingdom
and retire. Prob is that many others have the same idea, and of
course, no one seems to have asked what the native people had in
mind. Columbus is about my age when he makes this journey and he
really needs some eyeglasses. But they haven't been invented yet.
He could have also used some shoyu and tabasco sauce. Anyway, lot's
of shipwreck, rotten co-workers, murder and mayhem in this one too.
Believe me, your trip is better than his.
Wanted to mention, "Brutal Journey, The Epic Story of the First
Crossing of North America," by Paul Scheider. A Spanish Armada
journeys to Florida to make a claim, but they get shipwrecked. Some
survive this, but are captured by natives, enslaved, escape, get
recaptured, etc., until they end up walking across what is now
Texas. Four of them survive to walk BACK across Mexico, and one of
them lives to write a chronicle on his return to Spain. This is a
good book if your hotel room is far from the actual conference area.
Remember to pick up some snacks at the convenience store.
Absolute best read, though, is, "In the Heart of the Sea,the Tragedy
of the Whaleship Essex," by Nathaniel Philbrick. A whaling ship out
of Nantucket encounters a rogue whale in the Pacific who crashes into
the ship sinking it. Survivors end up in a lifeboat for many many
many days and they not only start eyeing the fat guy... What happens
is far beyond the powers of shoyu and tabasco to redeem. If the
storyline sounds familiar, a young whaler named Herman Melville read
the original account while serving aboard a whaler in the Pacific.
It really haunted his brain, and many years later he wrote the novel,
"Moby Dick."
I brought the book, "Skeletons on the Zahara, A True Story of
Survival," by Dean King. It's about a shipwreck and a trek through
the Sahara. May get to read this on my return trip. Will post a
thumbnail book report at least.
Anyone have some suggestions of this genre, shoot 'em over.
'Kay den, that's all for now. I'll give Donna another hour or so and
give her a call to see if she wants to eat breakfast...
Doug
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