No comments about Road to the Sea: The Story of James B. Eads and the Mississippi River.

1 comments about The Love Temples of Khajuraho: A Memoir of Love, Lust, and Exotic Places.

1. The Love Temples of Khajuraho by Steve Reichstein is an entertaining blend of travel log and coming of age story. In an autobiographical book Reichstein recounts a one year trip he took around the world in 1964. Having been rejected by a seductive southern belle, he sets off on a journey around the world in the hope that the experience will give him the maturity and poise that will be needed to win her heart. His trip is taken at a time when America is on the cusp of the radical cultural and political changes that will dominate the rest of the decade. The book consists of his wonderfully written observations of the people he meets and the societies he encounters on his quest. The other theme is his constant wondering if he his gaining the kind of transformative experiences that will provide him with maturity he believes he needs. His experience at the Love Temples with its highly erotic images produces an experience that is transforming but not in the way he imagined. Depressed rather than enlightened, he continues his journey feeling defeated and disappointed. His meeting with his southern belle at the end of the book finally provides him with what he was seeking, the kind of transformative experience that most young men must experience if they are to make to transition from youth to maturity.

No comments about The Stettner Way: The Life and Climbs of Joe and Paul Stettner.

No comments about Barefoot Conquistador: Cabeza De Vaca and the Struggle for Native American Rights (Exceptional Biographies for Upper Grades).

5 comments about No Picnic on Mount Kenya: A Daring Excape, A Perilous Climb.

1. I'm a big fan of WWII prisoner of war tales, both real (The Long Walk, Ghost Soldiers, et al) and fictional (King Rat, Bridge on the River Kwai, et al), so I was intrigued by this account by an Italian of how he and two companions escaped their POW camp, climbed Mt. Kenya, and then snuck back into camp several weeks later. Unfortunately, while their adventure was undoubtedly remarkable, it never really comes alive in Benuzzi's book. I suspect much of the problem for me is that I know nothing about mountaineering and don't particularly find it interesting. The other difficulty I had was with the flatness of the prose, whether this is due to a weak translation or to Benuzzi's writing in a foreign language I don't know, but in any event, I found it rather tepid. So while I think the whole idea of his adventure is wonderful and in rather brilliant dark humor, I didn't find the telling equally so.



2. This book is a welcome change from all the peak bagging, egoistical, mountain-conquering books out there. The author talks so poetically about the beauty of the mountain , that its hard to remain unaffected. Their mission is extremely pure and simple - to climb Mt. Kenya, although some people might say that it was an irresponsible thing to do in the middle of war .... The truth is that its a fantastic description of their whole adventure, with graphic descriptions of the jungle and how they made it with POW rations and home-made climbing gear. A true mountaineering classic !



3. I really enjoyed this book. It sounds almost whimsical that POWs would go to all this trouble and face considerable personal danger to escape, climb a mountain, and then go right back to the prison camp, but the way Benuzzi describes it, it makes a certain sense. The painstaking process of preparing for the trip - which included all the risks and difficulties of a "typical" prison break plus the demands of an Alpine climb - is told in a matter-of-fact, rather dry fashion. (On nominating the third man for the party: "He had never climbed a mountain in his life. The only reason why we decided to try him was because he was universally thought to be mad as a hatter, and mad people were what we needed.") Benuzzi's descriptions of the scenes on the way up the mountain are glorious, and of the return to camp are funny and quite touching. A very enjoyable pocket-adventure story that deserves to be better known.



4. I enjoy escape stories & the first half of this book was a typical WW2 escape story. The story has humour throughout & their task - to climb Mount Kenya - was quite an undertaking. What I liked best was the author's personality / humour & seeing things from an Italian and African perspective. His descriptions of the types of people in the prison camp are awesome. Day to day camp life is well described also.
   
   I think it took great guts to attempt what they did but to me the scariest parts were sleeping in the jungle with little or no shelter & no weapons. Who know's what type of beasts they may come across? I felt the second half of the book which describes more of the climb itself was more boring. When I got into this part I was mostly looking forward to finishing the book & getting onto something else. It is unique & I don't think in all the escape books I have read anyone has ever had their main intention be to escape back into their camp. That took a little bit of the interest away for me.
   
   It is a good story & I think the author would be a very interesting person to meet but the book was just middle of the road as far as true adventure stories I have read.



5. Felice Benuzzi wound up in a Second World War POW camp close to the foot of Mount Kenya, a mountain that is higher than the highest alp in Europe. Prison camps are boring; soon Benuzzi, who went on to become an ambassador in post-war Italy's diplomatic service, was dreaming of scaling the mountain he saw beyond the barbed wire of his confines.
   
   Eventually he did break out, and with the help of two fellow prisoners and rudimentary mountain climbing equipment they had made in the prison camp, he and a fellow prisoner ascended one of Mount Kenya's peaks, where they planted an Italian flag. A great story of adventure and humanity that loses a little of its lyricism in its translation into English. Great reading for all ages.

1 comments about The Coast Mappers.

1. The Coast Mappers provides a thoroughly enjoyable historical record of the early survey of the west coast of the United States. It is clearly written as a Youth book but the content and artwork make it an excellent addition to any library or coffee table.

5 comments about Scott's Last Expedition: The Journals.

1. The authoritive reference for what happened on Scott's polar journey - since it was written by the man himself. Don't be put off by the appalling introduction by Bainbridge (which ruins the story if you don't know all the details since it is just a brief summary of the rest of the book - just skip it!). I wouldn't recommend reading this first (try Scott by Elspeth Huxley as an intro) but for historical interest if you get into the history of the antarctic this is a must. The actual description of the southern journey only makes up the final section of the book, most of it is concerned with the depot laying and over wintering parts of the expedition. As such most of the book is mostly concerned with the details of preparing for the journey and hence probably won't appeal as a general introduction to Scott's last expedition.



2. While the story is known to most armchair explorers, nothing beats the saga right from the horse's mouth. Yes, the journal does drag in places, but so do long days of waiting in the Antarctic. It makes us impatient and edgy, wondering if the storms will ever end or what equipment will break next. Knowing the climax detracts nothing from how they got there--or didn't. This and Shackleton's own story really have to be read if one enjoys this kind of tale.



3. It's really too bad that "Scotts Last Expedition" was heavily edited by Sir J.M. Barrie, the talented author of Peter Pan. We'll never get to read Scott's real diary, which, I suspect, is a good deal more forthcoming on his feelings about Lt. Teddy Evans (his No. 2), Cecil Mears (his dog driver), and perhaps his own flawed self.

   Still, "Scott's Last Expedition" belongs in every collection on Antarctic exploration, regardless of whether you feel Scott is a hero or a buffoon. An original copy from the 1920s will set you back $300 or more, so this paperback reprint for $10 or so from Amazon isn't a bad deal at all. True, it doesn't look or smell the same, but it still has all of that great source material on diet, clothing, equipment and the officers and crew.




4. About halfway through this diary account of the Terra Nova expedition, it becomes clear why Amundsen made it first to the pole ... and why Scott's was the greater achievement. The Norwegians focused completely on getting to the pole and back: no fuss, no elaboration, no scientific spin-offs. Amundsen cared not a whit about paleobotany, the discovery of a new parasite in fish livers or pony psychology. (More to the point, Amundsen kept to dogs.) Scott took an interest in everything, and he was willing to experiment. The diaries brim with accounts of sledging diets, weather balloons, penguin dissections, ice crystal formation, geologic strata and killer whales. He writes of what it is like to be without the sun for four months, of feelings stirred by the aurora australis, and of the colors of ice and sea and sky. He describes camp life and daily routines and the antics of ponies and dogs. And, knowing he has failed in his goal, he speaks movingly of his obligations to his country ... and to science. Among the items dragged to their final camp by three exhausted, half-frozen dying men were 35 pounds of fossils - fossils which would help rewrite geologic history.



5. I am reading the original 1913 edition. This is a truly great book. It is very well written, very exciting, and so far brutally honest.
   
   It is quite clear where the British made mistakes but that should not be the point. This is a journal by a great explorer who was writing events as they happened. It is full of praise for his men. Scott also criticizes himself for his errors in judgment. In a sense, the die was cast: they had lost many of their animals and nearly lost their lives before the main trek to the pole even started. And they were now forced into a race for the pole, which had never been their intention.
   
   They could not quit, as this would have been a national disgrace. So they went ahead anyway, hoping that hard work, the weather, and shear luck would prevail. But it didn't. Ironically, just a year later, many British solders would be facing the same hopeless odds in the battlefields of WW1 France.
   
   This is a classic (tragic) story, told as it happened by a fine author. I highly recommend it.

No comments about Drifting West: The Calamities of James White and Charles Baker.

No comments about Hydro to Navoceano.

1 comments about They Never Go Back to Pocatello: The Selected Essays of Richard Neuberger.

1. Oregon has had a long tradition of journalists also distinguishing themselves in the political field. Although Richard Neuberger's life and career were sadly cut short by cancer at the age of 47 in 1960, he managed to leave an impressive legacy of work. The almost three dozen pieces collected in this volume are remarable for their breadth of subject matter, depth of insight and clarity of expression. It's also impressive to consider the maturity Neuberger achieved at an early age. "The New Germany," which appeared in The Nation in 1933 when Neuberger was only 20, established his reputation as a journalist and provided one of the first warnings that Hitler's regime would not be benign as some in the U.S. seemed to hope.
   
   The title comes from a selection that originally appeared in Neuberger's book Adventures in Politics. Noting the tendency of many who serve in congress never to return to their roots after their service ends, he quotes a Union Pacific agent in Idaho who told him a former Senator no longer lived there. "Those guys never come back to Pocatello."
   
   Oregon-born political journalist Steve Neal, who selected and edited this collection, provides an introductory biographical essay. This is a fine presentation of the life and work of one of Oregon's most distinguished leaders in the mid-20th century.--William C. Hall