Customer Reviews:
This book is fantastic!.......2001-11-15
This book, published in 1989, is a distillation of Thor Heyerdahl's research on Easter Island. It traces the history of Easter Island's interaction with the outside world, from Roggeveen's visit in 1722 up to the time of the book's writing. Along the way, Mr. Heyerdahl builds his case that two peoples, one from South America and one from Polynesia populated Easter Island.
This book is fantastic! I am not entirely convinced of Mr. Heyerdahl's case, but found his case compelling nonetheless. The book itself has many color pictures and maps, and is visually quite stunning. Now, not all of the book is about Mr. Heyerdahl's proposed history, so if you are merely interested in Easter Island, then you will still enjoy this book. This is a great book, one that you should read!
Book Description
Frank Conroy first visited Nantucket with a gang of college friends in 1955. They came on a whim, and for Conroy it was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with this "small, relaxed oasis in the ocean." This book, part travel diary, part memoir, is a hauntingly evocative and personal journey through Nantucket: its sweeping dunes, rugged moors, remote beaches, secret fishing spots, and hidden forests and cranberry bogs. Admirers of Conroy’s classic and acclaimed memoir
Stop-Time will again delight in what James Atlas, writing in the New York Times, called his "genius for close observation."
In
Time and Tide, Conroy recounts the island’s history from the glory days of the whaling boom to the present, when tourism dominates. He vividly evokes the clash of cultures between the working class and the super-rich, with the fragile ecology of the island always in the balance. But most fascinating of all, he tells his own story--of playing jazz piano in the island’s bars; of raising a barn in the early '60s with the help of a bunch of hippie carpenters; of leasing an old, failed bar with two island pals and turning it into the Roadhouse, a club "that was to be ours, the year-rounders, and to hell with the summer people." There’s a marvelous story of his first golf game, played on an ancient nine-hole course with two friends, a part-time sommelier and a builder from the South who invented the one-handed pepper mill.
This is a book that revels in friendship, music, history, and the gorgeous landscape of a unique American place, and is a wonderful work by one of our greatest contemporary writers.
Customer Reviews:
Island Memories.......2004-04-16
I just started this book this morning and am almost done. It made me nostalgic for my old home, the way it used to be, yes, but for those of us who have had to leave Nantucket for one reason or another, it will always be a wonderful place. Reading it I feel like I am on a wonderful visit home. It's one of those books you don't want to end but at the same time can't put down!
A great read.......2004-04-12
Frank Conroy speaks from the heart. Nantucket Island has gone through some dramatic changes in
the last 30 years, most not for the better. For some of us that still live here, it`s wonderful to be able to read and remember those times when the Island felt like a place of sanctuary from all else. The stories give the reader the felling that the Grey Lady`s Skirt has been torn but her sole has not been touched.
Thank you Mr. Conroy
A Chef from the Rock
Long live the Roadhouse!.......2004-04-08
I'm one of the author's three sons, so I won't pretend to be unbiased. But listen, this book is great, empirically speaking. Dad light-heartedly provides a fun and fascinating window into the small island so many of us love.
Book Description
With great intelligence, understanding, emotion, and a breath of gentle irony, the American archeologist Robert C. Suggs and the Swiss author Burgl Lichtenstein describe a unique cruise to the remote Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia.
Using the disparate strands of scientific and historical facts, human interest stories of the Marquesans, the ship, its crew, their fellow passengers and themselves, the authors create a single absorbing narrative, just as the ancient Polynesians plaited their pu'u cord from many strands of coconut fiber.
As passengers on the freighter Aranui, the authors describe all the islands of this Polynesian paradise, from north to south, from Nuku Hiva to Fatu Iva. In so doing, they do more than merely provide us with a view of the exotic beauty of the Marquesan islands and their charming inhabitants. Again and again, their suspense-filled journal gives us insights into the mysterious Marquesan culture and the long and turbulent history of the archipelago, which has been so deeply impacted by colonization.
At the end of this enchanting literary voyage, readers will find that they too have fallen under the spell of the Marquesas, just as our two South Sea wanderers have.
Customer Reviews:
The "Great Way" to the Marquesas.......2002-05-04
MANUIOTA'A is much more then a journal of a voyage to Paradise.
It is a story of love.
Every line contains the deep respect and appreciation for the people in these amazing islands. The book gives you an insight in their lives, in much more depth then you ever will get to know yourself. The authors have lived and loved with the Marqueseans and have an insight in their inner feelings and thoughts. Robert and Burgl share this unique situation with us.
The words are fun, easy to read and will put plenty of times a grin on your face.
Without even noticing it, you'll get an accurate knowledge of the culture, geography, history, flora and fauna of the Marquesas without the feeling to be lectured.
The book is a "must read" for travellers who want to discover the Marquesas, but also for any open-minded people who are interested in getting to know a lifestyle and people far away from the usual.
The ideal summer literature- grab the book, a hammock, make your way to the next pool and let MANUIOTA'A take you away into a land full of unknown adventures.
Ulla Lohmann,
freelance journalist (print/photo publications: E.g. New Scientist, Die Welt, Le temps, Newton....) has travelled several times to the Islands. Having encountered the problem of lack of information, she now bases her research around the literature of Robert C. Suggs. Her favourite of his books: MANUIOTA'A.
Average customer rating:
- No questions asked
- Interesting but flawed
- BigSky52
- An inspiration to set sail for adventure!
- Great read for sailors and voyagers
|
We Followed Odysseus
Hal Roth
Manufacturer: Seaworthy Publications Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Greek
| Classics
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Classics
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Greek & Roman
| Mythology
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mythology
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Travel
| Writing
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Ancient Greek
| Instruction
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Narratives
| Sailing
| Water Sports
| Sports
| Subjects
| Books
Essays & Travelogues
| Reference & Tips
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Turkey
| Asia
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Reference Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Sports Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Ulysses Found (Sutton History Classics)
-
How to Sail Around the World : Advice and Ideas for Voyaging Under Sail
-
The Long Way
-
World Cruising Routes
ASIN: 1892399032 |
Customer Reviews:
No questions asked.......2007-04-14
This otherwise well-written book, is way too conservative when it comes to interpreting the story behind it. It is basically a remake of E. Lessing's "The Adventures of Odysseus", and E. Bradford's "Ulysses Found", and does not really present a PLAUSIBLE journey for Odysseus. It is disappointing to find that there is no critical challenge of any of the locations the Greek and Roman historians concluded upon 2000 years ago.
Interesting but flawed.......2005-02-26
I approached this book with considerable anticipation. I have read both the Iliad and Odyssey several times, in various translations, over the past fifty years, and was anxious to get learn more from experienced sailors on the ground (or on the sea, as it were) about the actual places Odysseus was reported to have travelled.
I found much to enjoy in the book, but also much that was quite disappointing.
The descriptions of the sea and the land as seen from the sea, the process of sailing the sea, the landfalls and lands that might have been trod by the actual Odysseus were interesting and enjoyable.
But the fidelity to Homer was sadly lacking. The author vastly oversimplfies many aspects of the Odyssey. For the sake, it appears, of a smooth narrative he makes many unwarranted assumptions and presents as facts things that are far from established. His book is filled with "Odysseus must have...," "Odysseus would have..." and such. These are fictional inventions, suppositions which, granted, come from experienced 20th century sailors, but which have no grounding directly in the work of Homer.
For a lover of the Odyssey, the strongest parts of the book are its descriptions of the locations as Roth saw and experienced them and their comparison with Homer's descriptions. This is the way in which Schliemann in 1873 found the site of Troy when the prevailing wisdom of the time was that Troy was merely a legend. Schleimann took Homer's descriptions of Troy and its surroundings, examined the land in the light of these descriptions, found what he thought was the right place, started digging, and found Troy. (Actually, found about a dozen Troys, one on top of the other, but that's another book.) When Roth follows this pattern -- looks at Homer's descriptions of the places Odysseus visited and compares them with what he actually sees, reads Homer's descriptions of the winds and directions Odysseus travelled and tries to duplicate his trip -- the book is at its most interesting and compelling. Unfortunately, for some reason he felt compelled to gussy this all up with speculation and invention about what Odysseus "must" have done or felt that has no basis in the text of the Odyssey.
For the reader who is just looking for an interesting sailing adventure story with a touch of culture tossed in to flavor the mix, this is a fine book. But for the reader who wants facts, information, descriptions of the places where Odysseus is reported to have walked, fought, and loved, it is disheartening to have to dig through all the superfluities and highly questionable assumptions to get at the meat.
BigSky52.......2004-09-30
One of the most entertaining and informative books I've read. I've never sailed the oceans blue but this book offered me insights into what the life would be like leaving me envious, but entertained.
I had been reading Fagles recent and beautifully worded translation of the Odyssey. Like many, The Odyssey was required reading for me back in high school. I didn't remember much about it but became entranced while reading Fagles version by how primitive and modern the story seems at the same time.
As I started to read We Followed Odysseus I became aware of how the The Odyssey was so fuzzy in my mind, a sort of mythical Disney sort of world. We Followed allowed a harder edged world to enter into the story. It filled it with what the real harbors may have looked like, what the actually journey may have felt like, and sharpley clarified what the route could have been like. In short it gave me an insight into what this Greek hero may have actually endured giving Homer's story greater depth.
Bottom line: when a book is entertaining, informs the reader in inself, and informs the reader about another great classic it rates five stars.
An inspiration to set sail for adventure!.......2000-06-04
We Followed Odysseus is the engaging story of sailing a small boat along the sea path of Odysseus' famous voyage. Crossing oceans and seas Hal Roth, with the help of his wife Margaret, re-traced the voyages of Odysseus along the Turkish coast and the isles of Greece. Roth sailed to a desert island in Tunisia, visited Sicily and Corsica, and traveled to Italy and Malta before returning to Greece. We Followed Odysseus blends two stories. One the ancient Hellenic account of the legendary voyage of Odysseus as recounted in "The Odyssey". The other is Roth's modern voyage to each of the nineteen legendary locations that Odysseus visited during his ten-year attempt to return to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. Of special fascination is Roth's candid discussion of what things may have been like in the days of Odysseus, and what they are like today. We Followed Odysseus is highly recommended reading for all armchair travelers, anyone who has thrilled to Homer's tale of the trials of Odysseus in his decade long struggle to return to his home and family, and an inspiration to set sail ourselves in search of our an adventure of our own!
Great read for sailors and voyagers.......2000-02-19
For anyone who both loves to sail small yachts and also to visit historical spots, this is a wonderfully crafted book that satisfies both tastes. The skilfull interweaving of the legend of the Odyssey with the vivid story of following this route with a small but modern yacht is unique in my acquaitance with books of the sea. As a personal friend of Hal and Margaret Roth,I felt as if I were sitting in my living room and listening to both their adventures and getting an intimate appreciation of the scholarly interpretations of this myseries surrounding this legend.
Book Description
A thorough explanation of local geography, climate, weather, and navigation techniques for sailors is offered in this comprehensive guide to the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands. Tips for planning a cruise, detailed descriptions of the wildlife history of the area, and practical advice for sailing such as entry requirements, currency exchange, and search-and-rescue services are included. Each important area of the Bahamas is reviewed with routes, headings, distances, and full waypoint lists provided. Also noted are things-to-do lists, an easy-to-use reference index, and shore-side information with accompanying street maps for each destination.
Customer Reviews:
Have to buy a different guide because this one is so bad.......2005-08-19
I liked the look of this one in the shop and at a first glance it looked like it would have all the info we needed for our cruise on our sailboat through the Bahamas. We found that some topics were ridculously written about, e.g. Gulf Stream Crossing. We agree that this is an important mention but the advice was completely a no brainer. Real advice like, what to do if your'e caught in a norther in the Gulf Stream might have been useful. We also found the author to be non-chalant when talking about passages and channels. We had a terrible experience because of this, read the North West Channel LIght - we encountered 10 foot chop there! Also, the Whale Cay info is not highlighted enough. This is an extremely dangerous area that you MUST study and know before crossing here. We found much of the info for the islands innaccurate. A complete waste of money! We are now looking to purchase the Yachtsma's Guide instead.
bahamas cruising guide.......2003-10-11
I belive this book to be the most imformative book.well written.great photos.
Professial Presentation But Dangerous Information.......2000-08-02
I used this book from April to June 2000 cruising the Bahamas on our way to Panama via the Windward Passage.I found if the wind blew from the east then the book did not give information on other anchorages that one could change to E.G. White Cay Berri Islands and Stanley Cay in the Exums.In other instances the best anchorages were not even mentioned by Wilson. The books G.P.S. waypoints were dangerous wrong E.G.George Town .The lack of information on entrances from the sound to the banks E.G. The entrance to Thunder Ball Cave area .It is my belief that this book is dangerous and it is best to find another guide book.
Looks good but disappointing in use.......2000-06-14
During a cruise through the Bahamas in the spring of 2000, this guide was a great disappointment. The BA charts are woefully lacking in detail -- especially depths -- and discussions of shore sites are in many cases unduly negative. We visited a number of places about which Mr. Wilson used disparaging terms and found them delightful. Coverage of the Exumas assumes one is approaching from the banks side and gives little attention to approaches from Exuma Sound. In some places the author gets on a soapbox for environmental concerns and in other places he tacitly approves practices (such as feeding fish at snorkel sites) that are not ecologically sound. Fails to acknowledge existence of the Explorer series of charts that are by far the best for practical use in the area. In general, the "yellow pages" info is current and useful, but all things considered, there are better cruising guides for the Bahamas.
The new standard in quality cruising guides.......2000-02-11
I have several Bahamas cruising guides and this is the BEST ! I live in the Bahamas and have found things here I did not know. It is accurate, easy to read,and well written. I highly reccomend this book to anybody that is interested in cruising the Bahamas or even those interested in the Bahamas at all. A REALLY GOOD BOOK ! Head and shoulders above the rest of the Bahamian cruising guides!
Book Description
Bill Holm, often called “the bard of the Midwest,” takes readers on an excursion to islands both real and symbolic. He journeys to five physical islands: Iceland, Madagascar, Molokai, Isla Mujeres, and Mallard Island. And he travels to conceptual islands, including the Necessary Island of the Imagination, the whimsical Piano Island (located in a man-made lake under the atrium of an upscale hotel in the far interior of China), and the acute isolation of the Island of Pain. Writing with the mind-set of a 19th-century traveler for whom the journey is as important as the destination, Holm appeals to the traveler and the philosopher in everyone.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Introduction To Icelandic Literature!.......2005-09-22
The best thing that can be about this book is Bill Holm's obvious love of Iceland, its people, its culture and especially its literature. Unfortunately, this love is not extended to his students (who he seems to not miss an opportunity to belittle) or his readers, who it always feels he is talking down to. The structure of the book is also another drawback. Holm interspersed empty headed touristy reminices with authetic insights and experiences, and this only serves to water down the book as a whole.
For instance, Holm spends time comparing Cancun and Isle Mujeres, clearly implying that the latter is more authentic than the former. Having been to both places I can attest that Isla Mujeres is just as much a tourist trap as Cancun--albeit slightly less glitzy. On top of that, Holm quite condescendingly tells the reader to go somewhere else, implying that he is the pioneer, the arbiter of truth and that we, his readers are the ruinous consumer hordes who's presence inevitably serves to wreck the fleeting, blissful Eden experienced by Adventurer Holm. Frankly, I must confess that I find that thesis insulting and pretentious.
Never the less, I was still deeply drawn in by Holm's description of the geography of Iceland, especially as it related to its literature. The few quotes from the Outlaw Sagas and the Eddas that he includes and intelligently interprets caused me to immediately seek these items and want to read more. For doing that, Iceland and the readers owe Holm their thanks.
I could add plenty more criticism of this book but instead I will simply recommend reading the Iceland passages and skipping all else for a satisfying experience. Holm really knows his stuff when it comes to Icelandic literature and you can trust his instincts and appreciate his admiration. If only the entire book had been about Iceland, it would have suceeded at a much higher level.
A wonderful tour of real and imaginary islands.......2004-01-23
Author Bill Holm has produced in this work a wonderful, eclectic, almost at times rambling (but wonderfully so) tour of a number of islands. Many are actual islands he writes about, places where one can journey to; Madagascar, Isla Mujeres or the Island of Women near Cancun off the Mexican coast, Molokai (part of the Hawaiian Islands, once a leper colony, that chapter fascinating and touching centering as it does on the saintly efforts of Father Damien de Veuster and his care for the unfairly maligned and ill-treated lepers cruelly exiled there), and Mallard Island in Minnesota. Some islands he visits are not actual physical places, a few "states of consciousness" which he writes so "resemble islands that they deserve the geographic name," such as the island of music (Holm, a great lover of pianos, clavichords, and harpsichords, describes how producing music can be an island-like experience in a wonderful, wide-ranging chapter that goes into a great deal of history behind these instruments) and the island of pain (how great physical or emotional pain can isolate oneself from others). Clearly this is a different travel book, one thematically organized rather than simply a description of places, experiences, and detailing the history, politics, cuisine, and culture of the particular places visited by the author.
The largest section of the book - and my favorite part by far - was two rather lengthy chapters describing Holm's experiences in Iceland. A descendent of Icelandic immigrants who grew up in Minnesota, he spent time there in 1979 teaching English and then revisited the island again twenty years later. Clearly loving the place and the people especially, Holm provided for me a wonderful introduction of a place I would now very much like to visit.
We learn that Iceland is a surprisingly small country, an isolated island in the North Atlantic about the size of Ohio (about 40,000 square miles), inhabited by about a quarter million people, most of whom live around the capital and largest city of Reykjavik, and that so sparse has the population of Iceland been through the centuries that only 800,000 Icelanders have ever lived (leading perhaps he says to the sometimes hobby sometimes obsession of many in Iceland with genealogy). A hard island to live on sometimes, first settled in 874 (though a few scattered Irish monks did call the place home before that), the population declined due to the Black Plague in the 14th century, smallpox in the early 18th century, and two large volcanic eruptions in 1783 and 1875, both of which caused massive famine by burying hayfields and killing sheep (it was due to the latter eruption that Holm's great-grandfathers moved to Minnesota). Indeed physically Iceland is a rugged country, subject to volcanic eruptions (the island is still growing, as the volcanic mid-Atlantic ridge bifurcates Iceland) and earthquakes (the author himself experienced a minor one in 1998), ninety percent barren lava and rugged volcanic desert, interspersed with several glaciers, tundra, and boiling fumaroles, occasionally tortured by fierce Arctic gale-force blasts of wind off the polar icecap.
Holm describes a number of the most interesting places in Iceland, such as Pingvellir or the Parliament Plain, an oasis in the southwestern corner of the country where Icelanders first met in 1000 to respond to an ultimatum King Olaf of Norway to become Christian and stop horse eating and infant exposure, this meeting the foundation Icelandic law and the world's first true democracy (differing from the Greek in that in Iceland women could vote too), which with Gullfoss (Golden Falls, one of many magnificent waterfalls in the country), and Geysir (the original geyser, now largely spent and worn out) form the so-called Golden Triangle of tourist attractions in Iceland.
I learned many interesting aspects of Icelandic culture. Icelanders for instance love to dress up to entertain - even in tuxedos and elegant dresses - even in the worst weather. They have a great love of giving flowers for nearly any occasion, even for mere visits over coffee. He was continually touched when even on his return he found that concerns of crime and even the security of their nation's leader were nearly non-existent. Holm sampled a number of Icelandic delicacies, including puffin, svartfugl (guillemot; a sea bird), italskt spaggetti (ground mutton, onion, and ketchup basically), svio (blackened, singed sheep's head), and lots of fish, preferred either boiled or prepared as siginn fiskur (fish hung, dried, and aged outdoors).
Outside the major cities many of those in rural Iceland - generally farmers - he found are often quite isolated; Holm found in 1979 that the national highway that circled the island was often a rough gravel track filled with pot-holes, 16-percent grades down steep mountainsides, and areas where the road was completely washed out even. He found quite a bit of improvement upon his return twenty years later but still many areas were a challenging drive. Indeed he took advantage of this isolation on his first visit there to live for a summer with an Icelandic farming family; Holm wanted to learn to speak Icelandic to a better degree (having great trouble with its "consonantal clots, trilled rs, and long soulful diphthongs"), but found that in the major cities everyone spoke English fluently and generally did not let him "butcher" their language - only in an isolated rural settlement were there people who spoke little or no English. Iceland is a very much a nation of writers and of readers, producing many fine novelists - several of which have been translated into English - as well as the famous Icelandic sagas. The author was touched upon his first trip to find people in restaurants, stores, and in their cars enthralled by a reading of one of the nation's great novels, Halldor Laxness's _Independent People_, glued to the radio as the story of Bjartur of Summerhouses unfolded, a saga centering around an uneducated, gruff sheep farmer whose all-consuming desire to be independent and beholden to no one leads to tragic consequences for him and his family.
A wonderful book.
Not a book for those without soul.......2003-11-07
Although I'm a travel essay collector and snob, never has any author told me a story that made me break down in sobs for four pages (236-240). This is now one of my favorite books. I found it by accident, due to an interest in Madagascar and Iceland, but every island described here will enlighten you.
There are a million average writers out there, knocking out non-fiction books on the most menial of topics, but Bill Holm is that rare author who not only feels his topics thoroughly, he has the prose at hand to describe those feelings. And though his subject matter is far from menial, I would read whatever he cares to write about after reading this book. Bravo!
Eccentric Islands: Is it worth reading about these travels.......2001-06-16
I dove into this book with an avid interest. The writer takes the reader through his various travels abroad and through his own lifetime. Sounds great. Except just like any travel companion, after some time you've heard all of the stories again and again.
The writer is from Minnesota, he's so proud of this fact he tells us this more than 50 times. He's of Icelandic descent ( also interesting the first time ) he tells us this fact many many times. Repetition turns to redundancy. Then to scorn as the authour begins to diss America. You know the refrain, everything and everyone in the US is shallow and material and all our forefathers knew better and when these immigrants died they took the culture with them. Holm wrestles with his forefathers like you'd wrestle with aging. He takes it to heart. That's fine only it's boring. I wanted to read about adventure and I'm stuck listening to some guy who never made mucho bucks diss everyone who did. Not eccentric or island related at all.
Like other writers and travelers before him, Holm claims to have found the simple spirit of the third world poor happier than anyone else. Only he doesn't stick around to live there. It's easy to make people appear as you want them to, then pass on through. By the end of the book, I was tired of this person. Tired of his inability to tell a story without preaching and show me the way rather than fitting his ethos into an island of any sort.
Some parts of the book are revealing if you have not visited the places. The Icelandic trips he takes are full of flavor for the place. I liked them a lot.
With a good editor to strip this book of its generalizations and redundancy it could be a real gem. I particularly liked the islands of pain and islands of the imagination.
Along for the journey.......2000-10-05
Eccentric Islands is a magic carpet that takes you along on journeys as they are best experienced. Mr. Holm provides enough detail of his physical journey to allow you to travel vicariously. In addition, he invites you on the mental trips that accompany his corporeal travel, down paths of history and philosophy. The narrative is entertaining, and the flights of fancy are just enough for me to recognize myself in his journey without the dreariness of endless self-reflection. I encourage fans of Bill Bryson to pick up this book (though there is far less humor than your typical Bryson book). I read it on an airplane, wishing I was headed on an adventure rather than a business flight from Minneapolis to Boston.
Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1834 edition by Frederick Westley and A. H. Davis, London.
Book Description
“DELIGHTFUL . . . INQUISITIVE AND INTELLIGENT, THIS BOOK WILL TAKE YOU FAR AND OPEN YOUR EYES.”
–The Seattle Times
In a penetrating, brilliantly written book that weaves sociology, history, politics, personality, and ancient and popular culture into one compelling narrative, Thurston Clarke island-hops around the oceans of the world, searching for an explanation for the most enduring geographic love affair of all time–between humankind and islands. Along the way Clarke visits the remote and silent Mas À Tierra, the island off the coast of Chile that inspired Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe; sleepy, simple Campobello, the Canadian island where Franklin D. Roosevelt spent his boyhood summers; Jura in the Hebrides, where George Orwell wrote 1984. A stunning work of wit, adventure, and incisive exploration, Searching for Paradise brings a unique passion to dazzling life.
“This enchanting hymn to our ceaseless fascination for islands and insularity is brilliant, quite without equal. Thurston Clarke’s wisdom and sensitivity radiate from every page: he fills us with an inexplicable longing for the land and the people glimpsed above the cliff top, and through the grasses beyond the beach.”
–SIMON WINCHESTER
Author of The Professor and the Madman
“An intelligent, passionate, absorbing book that manages to pull together the threads of history, myth, travelogue, personal reflection, and social commentary into a delightful narrative.”
–Toronto Globe and Mail
Customer Reviews:
An overall good read if you're fascinated by small dots on a map.......2006-10-10
'Searching for Crusoe' aka 'Searching for Paradise' is an account of visits to thirteen islands scattered over the globe. These islands have been selected for representing one of the aspects that make any small island appealing, such as being famous, infamous, holy, personal, friendly or even frightening. The chapters mainly deal with the history of the islands and the people living on it.
Each chapter is pretty balanced, on average the stories are not too shallow, not too romantic, not to journalistic, not to philosophical, not too much Theroux, in fact, it's a lot but, not too much of everything, and I don't know if that is good thing. It seems the author is pretty familiar with the places he visits for having visited them before or having made study of them. Frequently a visit is centred around a handful of individuals helping him to find, or better said, to confirm what he was looking for. Clarke seems to be too much of a journalist to really get lost into the romance of islomania but on the other hand seems to be fascinated by them so much that old style island living is a bit over glorified. But he succeeds in portraying why islands can be so fascinating and along the lines show that one fascination of islands is the potential to understand and overview all of it and it's uniqueness. Besides from a bit of a poshy writing style it's an overall good read if you're fascinated by small dots on a map.
A wonderful tour of many fascinating islands .......2006-03-21
_Searching for Paradise_ by Thurston Clarke was a wonderful, well-written, witty book touring many of the world's islands, from the arctic island of Svalbard to sunny South Pacific islands like Abemama and a number of islands in between. I found the book a good mixture of history and travelogue and loved the author's descriptions of the sites, architecture, and in many cases fauna and flora of the places he visited as well as interviews with those who lived there.
Daniel Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_ is one of the greatest stories of Western literature, so much a part of Western culture that its story haunts the very concept of an island, so much so that each person landing on an island brings Crusoe with them. Crusoe he writes "persuades us that islands are more liberating than confining, more contemplative than lonely," a place where one can meet God more easily because one is isolated from the wickedness of the world.
Clarke set out to find the reason for the most passionate and "enduring geographic love affair of all time," that between humans and islands, to identify what creates "islomania" (a gripping love for islands) and "islomanes" (island lovers). His intellectual journey took him not only to _Robinson Crusoe_, but also _Lord of the Flies_, _Peter Pan_, _Treasure Island_, _Swiss Family Robinson_, _The Odyssey_, _The Tempest_, _South Pacific_, and even James Bond and _Gilligan's Island_ (that latter which he detests by the way). It also of course took him to over a dozen islands and islets in oceans throughout the world.
Does Clarke find the answers to his question? He doesn't find a definitive answer, but does find many theories. Some islands may be appealing because they are so close to many images of the Garden of Eden; the Bandas of eastern Indonesia are the "archetypal island paradise," with palm trees, gorgeous beaches, reefs teeming with fish, dense forests, and verdant mountains. This very attraction has doomed many islands to rampant overdevelopment, pollution, and an eradication of indigenous fauna, flora, and culture, something that Clarke recounted again and again in the book. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the Caribbean, where too many islands had become what he called "mooring blocks" for cruise liners, lands where the locals had been encouraged to sell their precious property, spent the money, and in the end became maids, cleaning buildings they couldn't afford on land that their ancestors used to own. Parrot-haunted jungles, crumbling colonial forts, and small fishing villages were razed to make way for condominiums, exclusive resort hotels, and fast food restaurants.
Some like the near timeless, open-air museum quality of some islands, islands which became natural attics, holding all manner of relics. Islanders in Vanuatu walk daily among the ruins of World War II equipment, hoping for the Americans to return. The South Pacific island of Kosrae's Christians - nearly the entirely island - faithfully preserve nearly identical services to those brought to them by 19th century New England missionaries. The private island of Niihau in the Hawaiian Islands preserves some of the last native Hawaiian Polynesian culture and many otherwise extinct Hawaiian plants.
Others were attracted to islands because a small number of people or even one man or woman could make a huge difference there, their actions remembered for years, decades, or centuries later. Des Alwi, an entrepreneur and preservationist, is adored on the island of Banda Neira and will likely be remembered by islanders for many decades to come for his numerous great deeds on behalf of the islanders. On Espiritu Santo (part of Vanuatu in the South Pacific) Clarke met the local man Tommy Wells, a person who had worked with the Americans when they had a bustling military base during World War II, who not only pined for the Americans to return but remembered with great affection two individual American serviceman, one of whom Wells found out died on Guadalcanal and still caused him sadness. Clarke wondered if anywhere in the world were memories of this man, Captain Burke, fresh enough in anyone else's mind to evoke tears. Wells told his children and grandchildren about Burke, so it is possible that a century from now he will still be remembered.
Other islands were attractive because of the sense of community and belonging that they offered. Though he sneered a little at pensioners who moved to islands, thinking that they suddenly belong to a community because they exchanged pleasantries with store employees, many islands, often very isolated and underdeveloped ones, like Utila near the coast of Honduras and Eigg off the coast of Scotland, were places where everyone knows everyone else, children are safe to run around and play without worries, towns and communities so small that one can recognize who was coming by their familiar silhouette in the dark or the sound of the engine of their particular car.
Still other islands are not quite resort islands but comfortable vacation islands, ones that offer many of the attractions of islands I just mentioned, if only for a few weeks or months each summer, back in the days when families took long vacations together, mingling with the locals who lived there year round and becoming friends with them. These islands - like Fishers Island near Long Island and Campobello Island (a Canadian island just north of Maine) - also offered shared experiences for families who returned year after year and became fixed in the memory of their children and their children, associated with happy times, good food, and summer romances.
Others come to islands for a marvelous sense of isolation. The Roosevelt loved Campobello because of its relative lack of telephones and electricity. Many flee to Crusoe's (or rather Alexander Selkirk's that is, the inspiration for Crusoe) island of Mas a Tierra for its profound sense of isolation, located as it is four hundred miles off the coast of Chile, perhaps to escape financial or romantic problems at home.
A well-written book with nice maps and a great bibliography.
A rich and fascinating trip.......2002-08-11
One might think that Thurston Clarke is compiling his travel books by geographical feature, first a book on the equator and now one on islands. We might expect his next to be about the Tropic of Cancer or salt marshes. Whatever it is, I suspect it will be a worthy and fascinating concoction.
While he writes this book from the perspective of what he calls a "islomane", one who fascinated with islands, it makes compelling reading for someone who lacks this particular fascination. As a prairie boy I am more fascinated by mountains than islands, but because Clarke weaves so much collateral information into his text, you will never be anything less than fully engaged. He visits all kinds of islands from tourist meccas to summer cottages to northern coal mines. These journeys seem terribly difficult, but Clarke never lets the encumbrances of modern travel get in the way of his examination of both the fascination he has with islands in general and the particulars of what makes any given island worth visiting. He comes to many surprisingly interesting generalizations about the nature of islands and islanders (that for example changes on islands are usually more permanent than elsewhere).
As a traveler he reminds me of Paul Theroux, and certainly his writing is on that level, though without the annoying flashes of ego that often make Theroux painful. It is interesting to compare Clarke's island jaunts with Theroux's Happy Isle of Oceania. Both authors distinctly render the sense of desperation that emerges from these isolated places, but Clarke appears to have a greater sense of the humanity of the people who inhabit them. Perhaps it takes an islomane to truly empathize with those likewise afflicted.
Much as I enjoyed this book, I would also recommend Clarke's book on his travels around the equator. I found these places more interesting, and the quality of the writing is just as high.
Customer Reviews:
Don't miss this one.......1999-12-22
The Island Light is a fabulous book for children and their adults. The story is simple and very moving. The characters are appealing, real and fully revealed. The illustrations are out of this world. Have a hanky ready. Be prepared to be uplifted.
A wonderful book for a father to read to his children........1999-08-20
This book, which my 14 year old son still enjoys as much as he did at age two, reaches deep deep down into the place inside all of us where we most want to be with our parents: safe, warm, cozy, together. It never fails to choke me up; it never fails to comfort my children. The other books in the 3 book series evoke the same feelings, too.
Excellent book in an excellent series.......1998-06-24
All three books in the Bunny Planet series are classics. We discovered them when my son just turned two and a year later he still requests them often, even though he has them memorized.
Book Description
As little Manu watches, his older brothers prepare for a great journey to find a new island, far away under a distant star. Manu hides in the canoe, and when he is discovered, it's too late to turn back. "Make yourself useful," his brothers tell him. But what possible use can gentle Manu be when a great storm hits? It is commonly thought that Hawaii was settled by people from the Marquesas Islands who traveled more than 2,000 miles in double-hulled canoes, relying on the stars, clouds, ocean currents, and seabirds to find their way. This tale highlights the glories of these seafaring people as well as the love and cooperation that allowed them to undertake such incredible voyages. The year 1998 marks the hundredth anniversary of the annexation by the United States of the Hawaiian Islands, a sad time for the Polynesian natives, for they lost both their land and their sovereignty.
Customer Reviews:
wonderful.......2002-10-24
It is a peaceful and beautiful story about a journey of 5 brothers who "discover" Hawaii. My daughter brought it to school and the teacher enjoyed the story too.
not only a story of exploration but also one of family.......1999-01-03
This delightful tale of the possible exploration and discovery of the islands in the Pacific creates a sense of adventure to hold the attention of the young readers. I found the relationship of the brothers a good example of how every member of a family has a part and how often the youngest has difficulty "prooving" him or her self. All children dream of showing their best and getting the respect of siblings, parents, and peers--this story kindly embodies those inner feelings. The lively watercolors add to the excitement and mystery of the tale. An added treat was the tale's translation into the Hawaiian language enclosed in my copy of the book.
It soars!.......1998-08-24
"In the days when the stars were a map of the earth below, there lived on a tiny island in the South Pacific five brothers who loved adventure," opens this enchanting historical fiction story about early Polynesian explorers discovering the Hawaiian Islands. The brothers, each with a special skill, navigate their way across the vast ocean by stars, waves, clouds, wind and birds. Over 1,500 years ago, the brothers set out to find an island beneath a far away star. The youngest, Manu, stows away in their canoe, which turns out to be a blessing. After a storm leaves them lost, Manu spots a bird that helps lead them to their island. This story celebrates the exploration of the Pacific by Oceanic peoples as an expression of their culture. It soars with the humanity of their endeavor. Even through the storm, the blue and brown water color illustrations add a soft, soothing touch.
Books:
- Facing Your Giants: The God Who Made a Miracle Out of David Stands Ready to Make One Out of You
- Global Strategy (with World Map and InfoTrac )
- Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve (Magic Tree House, 30)
- Heartland #17 A Season Of Hope (Heartland)
- High-Power Audio Amplifier Construction Manual
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- How to Stop Candida & Other Yeast Conditions in Their Tracks
- I Am
- In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America
- It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Multivariate Data Analysis
- Czechoslovakian Perfume Bottles and Boudoir Accessories,
- The Retail Manager's Guide to Crime and Loss Prevention: Protecting Your Business from Theft, Fraud,
- Watchdogs of Democracy
- All Together Dead
- Here It Is! The Route 66 Map Series
- Breastfeeding the Newborn: Clinical Strategies for Nurses
- The French Ecotourism Market
- Untitled
- A Blessed Event: A Novel
AKU-AKU: The Secret of Easter Island
Pyramids of Tucume: The Quest for Peru's Forgotten City
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft
