Page-turning adventure tales from an experienced, knowledgeable guide.
A renowned kayaking expert provides a collection of riveting stories about the world’s most dangerous and mysterious whitewater rivers.
There is something primal about rushing, roaring water. People who ride the rapids in kayaks know the risks and choose to face them, testing themselves and perhaps finding a deeper connection with the world. Walker is one of those people, although in the course of his life, he has also held senior military positions and written several books about kayaking. In his latest, he chronicles 10 expeditions on unconquered rapids, ranging from the Zambezi in Africa to Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze. Walker paddled the Yarlung Tsangpo River at the eastern end of the Himalayas, described in the final chapter of the book; he draws the other accounts from interviews with and memoirs by the other participants. In several cases, documentary films were made, providing a crucial record. Simply getting to the starting point could be an epic journey involving not just the kayaking team, but their support crew and supplies. The rapids were not the only danger; in some places, there were also piranhas, bandits, crocodiles, and bureaucrats to contend with. The unchartered rivers could be a battlefield, and sometimes the rivers won. Several expeditions lost team members or were, after bruising accidents and wrecked boats, forced to acknowledge defeat (including Walker’s expedition). Clearly, this is not a sport for the faint of heart, and Walker captures it all: the adventure and the danger of the rapids, the terror and the thrill of the unknown, the camaraderie and the occasional humor. The author is a solid storyteller, and though the book is not for everyone, it will appeal to readers with an interest in challenging sports, untraveled paths, and the process of confronting fear and overcoming it.
Page-turning adventure tales from an experienced, knowledgeable guide.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781586423728
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Steerforth
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
The book is not entirely negative; final chapters indicate roads of reversal, before it is too late!
It should come as no surprise that the gifted author of The Sea Around Usand its successors can take another branch of science—that phase of biology indicated by the term ecology—and bring it so sharply into focus that any intelligent layman can understand what she is talking about.
Understand, yes, and shudder, for she has drawn a living portrait of what is happening to this balance nature has decreed in the science of life—and what man is doing (and has done) to destroy it and create a science of death. Death to our birds, to fish, to wild creatures of the woods—and, to a degree as yet undetermined, to man himself. World War II hastened the program by releasing lethal chemicals for destruction of insects that threatened man’s health and comfort, vegetation that needed quick disposal. The war against insects had been under way before, but the methods were relatively harmless to other than the insects under attack; the products non-chemical, sometimes even introduction of other insects, enemies of the ones under attack. But with chemicals—increasingly stronger, more potent, more varied, more dangerous—new chain reactions have set in. And ironically, the insects are winning the war, setting up immunities, and re-emerging, their natural enemies destroyed. The peril does not stop here. Waters, even to the underground water tables, are contaminated; soils are poisoned. The birds consume the poisons in their insect and earthworm diet; the cattle, in their fodder; the fish, in the waters and the food those waters provide. And humans? They drink the milk, eat the vegetables, the fish, the poultry. There is enough evidence to point to the far-reaching effects; but this is only the beginning,—in cancer, in liver disorders, in radiation perils…This is the horrifying story. It needed to be told—and by a scientist with a rare gift of communication and an overwhelming sense of responsibility. Already the articles taken from the book for publication in The New Yorkerare being widely discussed. Book-of-the-Month distribution in October will spread the message yet more widely.
The book is not entirely negative; final chapters indicate roads of reversal, before it is too late!Pub Date: Sept. 27, 1962
ISBN: 061825305X
Page Count: 378
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1962
APPRECIATIONS
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.
A popular novelist turns his hand to historical writing, focusing on what shipwrecks can tell us.
There’s something inherently romantic about shipwrecks: the mystery, the drama of disaster, the prospect of lost treasure. Gibbins, who’s found acclaim as an author of historical fiction, has long been fascinated with them, and his expertise in both archaeology and diving provides a tone of solid authority to his latest book. The author has personally dived on more than half the wrecks discussed in the book; for the other cases, he draws on historical records and accounts. “Wrecks offer special access to history at all…levels,” he writes. “Unlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated. What might seem hazy in other evidence can be sharply defined, pointing the way to fresh insights.” Gibbins covers a wide variety of cases, including wrecks dating from classical times; a ship torpedoed during World War II; a Viking longship; a ship of Arab origin that foundered in Indonesian waters in the ninth century; the Mary Rose, the flagship of the navy of Henry VIII; and an Arctic exploring vessel, the Terror (for more on that ship, read Paul Watson’s Ice Ghost). Underwater excavation often produces valuable artifacts, but Gibbins is equally interested in the material that reveals the society of the time. He does an excellent job of placing each wreck within a broader context, as well as examining the human elements of the story. The result is a book that will appeal to readers with an interest in maritime history and who would enjoy a different, and enlightening, perspective.
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781250325372
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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