Easter Island: The Mystery Solved

Heyerdahl, Thor. Easter Island: The Mystery Solved. New York: Random House. 1989. Print.

First Sentences:

Easter Island exists.

Hidden in the blue. And it is, as you suspect, the hiding place of mysteries.

Description:

Everyone knows about the enormous stone heads staring out to sea from the cliffs of Easter Island. But did you know that many of these heads actually have huge bodies below them, revealed only when centuries of dirt and ash were dug away? And that some head wear huge circles of red stone like massive crowns? And that these images somehow "walked" from miles from their volcanic quarries to their pedestals on seaside cliffs?

And everyone has heard of Thor Heyerdahl and his 3,000 mile voyage in the balsa and reed raft from South America to the Polynesian Islands to prove people from the Americas settled those islands. Now Heyerdahl is back to explore the stone carvings and culture found on the far-flung Easter Island, hoping to discover answers that have eluded scientists and anthropologists for centuries. 

The results of his historical research and his fascinating personal explorations are vividly shared in his book, Easter Island: The Mystery Solved. And are his findings revolutionary! 

After narrating the official history of the island using records from the first European navigators and even Captain James Cook, Heyerdahl painstakingly pieces together the oral history of Easter Island from the locals themselves (the islanders had no written language).

His findings show the island was settled first from the West by sailors from the Americas rather than by Polynesians from the East as was traditionally thought. Statues and stone walls show a strong resemblance to carvings in Peru, but not those found in Polynesia. Plants and ancient pollen traces reveal vegetation on the island common in South America, but again not found in Polynesia. And ocean currents and trade winds running west to east have been shown by Heyerdahl to pull voyagers from Peru right to the shores of Easter Island.

Unfortunately, none of the locals knew the origins of the statues, nor who built the roads and walls, nor who wrote the untranslated rongo rongo script found on wooden tablets. The islanders are very secretive of the few ancient items they have found, hiding small idols and other relics deep in caves throughout the island, rarely showing them to strangers. But Heyerdahl persists, winning the trust of the locals to uncover their secrets and help them understand their own culture.

Heyerdahl scientifically pursues and charts these mysteries then tracks down answers. He discovers (then demonstrates on an actual sEaster Island statue) how the huge images were transported using only ropes (the island is treeless); why some statues have white eyes inserted into their faces and others are sightless; why some images are only heads and others are complete bodies that have been buried over the centuries; and eventually who were the first settlers who built the images and what happened to those cultures that left current populations completely in the dark about their own history.

Easter Island is a thoroughly detailed story cleverly and breathtakingly told of the many mysteries unraveled by Heyerdahl and other scientists. Under Heyerdahl's probing, digging, and experimentation those long-buried secrets are explained to the world in patient, clear writings and a story-telling style of narration. 

Originally I thought I would just flip through this book and check out the many pictures of this island and images, but immediately found myself riveted by Heyerdahl's clear storytelling and discoveries that I simply could not put it down. A wonderful book that is very highly recommended.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Heyerdahl, Thor. Kon Tiki

The classic true-life adventure of the author and five men who constructed a balsa and reed raft, then sailed 3,000 miles from Peru to the Polynesian Islands to prove those islands had originally been settled by a culture of skilled boatmen from South America.

Moondust

Smith, Andrew. Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth. New York: HarperCollins 2005. Print.

First Sentences:

When you've shared a moment with the whole world, it can be hard to know precisely where your memories end and everyone else's begin. 

Description:

Andrew Smith, during an interview with Charlie Duke (the tenth astronaut to walk on the moon), heard a radio announcement that Pete Conrad (the third man on the moon) had just died in a motorcycle accident. "Now there's only nine of us," said Duke. 

Duke's words made Smith think about the day when there would be no one left alive who had been up to the moon. Twenty-four men had been shot up into space towards that target and twelve had actually walked on its surface. Twenty years later only nine moon-walkers were still alive. Smith felt someone had to record their stories before it was too late.

He decided to seek out and interview the remaining nine members of the Apollo space program who had been to the moon. He is clearly a huge fan of the moon program and its pioneers, entering into conversations with the astronauts like a kid seeking an autograph. He intended to ask them about their experiences with their trips, but actually learned much more about their lives after they had returned from space. Because he asked unusual questions, Smith was able to peak the attention of astronauts who had turned down hundreds of requests for interviews. And they do open up to him, telling him their stories with honesty and passion. 

Smith then compiled these interviews into the utterly fascinating Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth. Smith lets them talk about anything, particularly to what they felt on the moon, their relationships with fellow space travelers, and their adjustment to life back on Earth. What role do these men play in the space program now? What goals (if any) should the US pursue in space exploration? What it is like to see the moon overhead in the skies every night? Surprisingly, not all of their stories contained the positive words of awe and thanks which they originally spoke in regards to their experiences. 

These interviews fill out the character of the men who risked their lives on rockets blown into space. James Irwin (Apollo 15), Alan Shepard (Apollo 14), and Pete Conrad (Apollo 12) had already died by 1999 when the Smith began to collect these interviews. But the ones who agreed to talk, even the notoriously recluse Neil Armstrong, revealed fascinating stories of themselves, the program, and their philosophies about what they had done. 

Each of these men offers new insight into the experiences and events from an insider's perspective. Here are some interesting tidbits and quotes from the Apollo astronauts and other people involved with the space program:

• Reg Turnill - (BBC aerospace correspondent) - on the first moon landing:

     I never thought they could land that thing. 

• Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) - his secret mission:

     ...[Mitchell] conducted a private experiment...'transmitting' mental images of randomly chosen shapes to four people back on Earth at prearranged times.  

• Dick Gordon (Apollo 12) - the fun of being an astronaut:

     The second man after Mike Collins to not land on the Moon, and they say that he's never once complained about that...Along with commander Pete Conrad and Lunar Module pilot Alan Bean [they] really loved each other, like brothers. They drove matching gold Corvettes...and they always gave the impression that while what they were doing was important and dangerous, it was also fabulous. And fun.

• Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) - his first actions on the moon

     Among the fruitier revelations [in his book Return to Earth] there had been arguments about who would step onto the Moon first...that the spacewalks had not all gone to plan and lives had been in jeopardy...that the first thing he did when he got there was kick the dust and watch it sweep away in great arcs; the second thing, while the world watched in rapture, was pee... 

There are many, many other stories, histories, memories, and revelations, including those from Neil Armstrong, the reclusive astronaut who seldom grants interviews. Riveting, fascinating (did I use that word enough?), and eye-opening for any fan of space exploration, historical memoirs, and those just looking for a quality read on a program that the human race can point to with pride. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Tyson, Neil DeGrasse. Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier

Bite-sized essays that peek into and explanations of the history, current status, and future of space. Topics range from "Why Explore?" "The Next Fifty Years in Space," "For the Love of Hubble," to "The Last Days of the Space Shuttle." (previously reviewed here)

Burrows, William. This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age

The definitive history of the space program, both for the United State and Russia (after once-classified documents were releases). Insider conversations, reports, personalities, dreams, and failures in this absolutely fascinating compilation of research. A must-read for anyone interested in learning the facts about the efforts by the USA and USSR to put man into space. 

Mud, Sweat, and Tears: The Autobiography

Grylls, Bear. Mud, Sweat, and Tears: The Autobiography. New York: William Morrow. 2012. Print

First Sentences:

The air temperature is minus twenty degrees.

I wiggle my fingers, but they are still freezing cold. Old frostnip injuries never let you forget. I blame Everest for that.

Description:

Feeling a bit tired today? Under the weather? Is it inconveniently rainy and cold outside? Did your boss say some hurtful things to you? Maybe those chores around the house just seem too daunting. Is a nap your primary goal for the day?

Well, I've got the antidote to feeling sorry for yourself: Bear Grylls' autobiography, Mud, Sweat, and Tears,  Grylls, the world-wide celebrity renowned for his ultra-survival television series Man vs. Wild, recounts everyday occurrences he experiences in his life that put our petty complaints to shame. He faces more inclimate weather, strength-sapping hikes, and sleep deprivation in one week than all of us together experience in our lifetimes. But he loves it and rises to every challenge. Here is a man who chooses the hard road, forces himself to conquer tasks, and, upon completing the job, looks around for something else to do that is even harder. For that he is a person thrilling to read about, even if we do it from our comfy couch in front of a warming fire. 

A former member of the elite British Special Air Services (SAS) force, Grylls is also one of the youngest men to have scaled Mt. Everest, a black belt karate expert, and a survivor of a horrific parachute accident - all before he was 25 years old. Mud, Sweat, and Tears carefully puts readers in Grylls' mind as he experiences each step.

The big three of any quality read are, of course, characters, story, and writing style. Having two of these can overcome a weakness in the third. Grylls offers all the plot and character you could want in any book. If at first his writing seems a bit bland and not on the same level as the other two criteria, wait just a minute. By relying on plain facts, observations, and emotions rather than fanciful descriptions, Grylls lets readers focus on the actions and characters without being caught up in overly embellished phrasings and descriptions. I found the beauty of this book to be its straightforward, clear of narration of its many spectacular escapades. What I initially thought would be a weakness to Mud, Sweat, and Tears actually is one of its strengths.

Witness the opening sentences, simply written but tightly focused to reveal compelling details. You can't help but be yanked into the next pages of the book to answer questions. Where is he that is so cold? Is he injured? And what's this about a previous Everest experience? With each sentence Grylls lures you on further and further as any great storyteller does. You simply must read on, heart in your throat, marveling at his tenacity, strength and will.

His words are simple and honest as he talks about his childhood freely roaming the wilds of Northern Ireland and Isle of Wight, as well as his rude awakening to bullying in a private boarding school. Eton University introduces him to lifelong friends in mischief as well as mountaineering, karate (to protect himself from bullies), and the possibility of joining the British special forces. The training for this elite group is unbelievably daunting. No one is failed if he can achieve the goals (run up hills in full packs, cross-country rendezvous without maps, hike in freezing cold through swampy lands, etc.). Most trainees just give up and are escorted to waiting trucks to remove them from this crushing life.

I had a hunger to push myself, and I found out that I could dig very deep when I needed to. I don't really know where or how this hunger came about, but I had it. I call it "the fire."

After injuries force him out of the elite SAS, he reevaluates his life and choices. 

I had come within an inch of losing all my movement and...still lived to tell the tale. I had learned so much but above all, I had gained an understanding of the cards I had been playing with. The problem was that I had no job and no income.

So he reinvents himself from an elite soldier into a mountain-climber of the highest order. As he trains for the Everest trip, he again lets readers see what he sees, understand each thought he has, feel each step in the biting cold as he trudges upward en route to the summit. 

It was like climbing a mountain of waist-deep molasses while giving someone a fireman's carry, who, for good measure, was also trying to force a pair of frozen socks into your mouth.

Throughout his later success of giving travel and motivational presentations to corporations worldwide and starring in his Man vs. Wild television series (global audience of 1.2 billion people in 180 countries), Grylls stresses his love of "the focus, the camaraderie, and above all the acquiring of an art that requires the use of guile over power, technique over force." His favorite quotation is from John F. Kennedy:

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

These guiding tenets strengthen him as he faces each new, more difficult challenge. While you may secretly dream you could survive these tests as he does, deep down (or maybe not so deep) you know you would have given up long ago.

This is a great tale of personal triumph, of a man who continually seeks out and then rises to conquer challenges. Throughout he maintains a love of nature, of perseverance, and of self-confidence in the ability to dig deep down for that final bit of energy. It's satisfying to know that, while I cannot do any of these things, there is a man out there who epitomizes the strength of will to never give up, to find a way to take just one more step without complaint in order to accomplish his goal. Admirable and fascinating on every level.

I am ordinary, but I am determined.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shakleton's Incredible Voyage

Historic account of Ernest Shakleton's ill-fated voyage in 1914 to the Antarctic in a quest to reach the South Pole, only to find his ship and crew locked in by ice, with the only possibility of survival to hike across the froze wasteland pulling boats and then sailing to find help. Astonishing.

Grylls, Beat. A Survival Guide for Life: How to Achieve Your Goals, Thrive in Adversity, and Grow in Character

Wisdom and skills learned from Grylls' adventures that can be applied to everyday occurances in one's life, helping to find the strength to push on when faced with advesity.  

Mother of God

Rosolie, Paul. Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon. New York: HarperCollins. 2014. Print

First Sentences:

Before he died, Santiago Durand told me a secret.

It was late at night in a palm-thatched hut on the bank of the Tambopata River, deep in the southwestern corner of the Amazon Basin. Beside a mud oven, two wild boar heads sizzled in a cradle of embers, their protruding tusks curling in static agony as they cooked. The smell of burning cecropia wood and singed flesh filled the air.

Description:

You just cannot get a better opening than reading a dying man's secret as told in a mud hut on the bank of an Amazon river with wild boar heads sizzling on coals nearby. Paul Rosolie's Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon immediately checks all my boxes for a good read: interesting setting, Check; unusual characters, Check; potential for great plot, Check; intriguing use of words, Check. After just these first sentences, I'm all in. 

Mother of God are the true experiences of the author, Paul Rosolie, and his life in the wildest areas of the Peruvian Amazon jungle. When his dyslexia and disinterest in school cause him to struggle with academics, he obtains his GED, drops out of high school, and works as a life guard to save money to travel to the Amazon, a word that has caught his attention. He has always had an interest in nature, hiking, and rescuing injured animals, and later develops a fascination with isolated environments and real possibility they might disappear before he had a chance to experience them. 

Through writing letters to anyone working in a jungle environment, he eventually obtains a volunteer research position on a 27,000 acre preserve in the Peruvian portion of the Amazon jungle, an area known as the Madre de Dios ("Mother of God"). Emma, a British biologist, and JJ, an indigenous guide and her partner, have scraped together enough funds to purchase this land and ecotourism lodge to create the Las Piedras Biodiversity Station. 

Surrounded by hundreds of miles of untouched jungle, the LPBS is heaven for the inquisitive Rosolie, and his real education begins to take place every day under the tutelage of JJ . They daily walk the trails throughout the preserve and observe the diversity of the jungle, identifying and observing tracks, medicinal plants, and the animals themselves. 

[from a plane] it was like looking into the vault of the universe to where all the greatest secrets were kept, the library of life....the foliage of the Andes/Amazon interface ... constitutes more than 15 percent of the global variety of plants....rough tallies for the entire Andes/Amazon region: 1,666 birds, 414 mammals, 479 reptiles, 834 amphibians, and a large portion of the Amazon's 9,000 fish species.

One of these creatures is Lulu, an orphan baby giant anteater that Rosolie rescues and raises at the lodge. What is a baby giant anteater like? Imagine "if you bred a hyper baby black bear with Edward Scissorhands"...with "three-inch-long black sickles that could tear through denim and skin with ease." And there's that two-foot-long sticky tongue. Undaunted by Lulu's huge claws and her need ride on his back and sleep on his chest in his hammock, Rosolie patiently learns to hand feed her until he can teach her (somehow) to identify ant hills and how to use her claws and long tongue to feed herself.

And, oh, the adventures he has each day, including:

• a cayman (crocodile) that swallowed a 4' bag of Brazil nuts, cooking pot, and fish in one gulp;
• footprints from tapirs and jaguars found many mornings only inches from tents. (JJ feels it is "probably the smell of fresh white gringo that was attracting them.")
• spider monkeys that taunt and throw figs at the fiercest animal, the peccaries (wild pigs);
• awakening one night in his hammock to the hot breath of a jaguar only inches from his face;
• gliding ants that can sail back to tree trunk when wind blows them off.
• a 15' anaconda (snake) (Rosolie'e encounter is scoffed at by Santiago who tells of an area that has anacondas are over 40' long 24" wide - and Rosolie later actually finds one!)

Not all his experiences are with the animals, nor are they all pleasant. He notices the impact of each action on the jungle has repercussions, some temporary and some permanent. The jungle is a living organism that suffers from any modification in its system of life. 

He encounters poachers who kill a wide variety of wildlife with disastrous impact on the jungle. Rare trees with unique holes are chopped down to secure a nest of endangered baby birds, thus destroying not only the birds but a very rare nesting spot for similar birds. Rubber plantation owners exploit and destroy both the trees and the natives. Loggers clear-cut mahogany trees that take years, if ever, to regrow. Government road-builders blast huge swatches of the jungle to cut a highway across from Brazil to Peru to provide access to the resources and animals, as well as the opening of areas for human settlement. Small tribes of "uncontacted" natives move deeper and deeper into the jungles and became fiercely suspicious of outsiders and deadly protective against intruders. 

But Mother of God is a work of hope and survival. There is so much fascinating information presented as the author explores trails, animals, and survival knowledge from the indigenous people he encounters. Page after page of beauty, wonder, and adventure fill this book and pull readers onward, deeper into the world of the Amazon.

And, of course, Rosolie must seek the lost world described by Santiago, the old native who tells stories of the giant anacondas and many other wonders, and who is never proved wrong in his knowledge.  Access is treacherous, but Rosolie sets off alone to find it using Santiago's ancient directions.

He said it was a place where humans had never been. Between rivers and isolated by a quirk of geography, it had remained forgotten through the centuries. The only tribes who knew of the land had regarded it as sacred and never entered, and so it had remained untouched for millennia...He told me that it was the wildest place left on earth.

Mother of God is a book of exploration, whether learning about tracks or seeking means to keep the Amazonian jungle and its inhabitants protected. So much beauty is described and experienced by the author, an adventurer and seeker of knowledge and understanding about this wild land. As he writes on the departure of his solo journey to find the lost world:

In the most savage and dizzyingly vast wilderness on earth, the rule is simple: never go out alone. Yet there are those among us who have difficulty accepting what we have not found out for ourselves, who pass a WET PAINT sign and cannot help touching the wall. We simply have to know. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Grann, David. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon.  

Detailed adventures of British explorer Percy Fawcett in the early 1900's and his many forays into the Amazon jungle in search of the City of Gold. (Previously reviewed here). 

Adams, Mark. Turn Right at Machu Piccu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time  

The desk-bound author sets out with a modern-day Fawcett as his guide to walk the routes of Hiram Bingham in order to re-trace that explorer's search for the fabled city of gold in Peru, with very humorous and serious adventures along the way. (Previously reviewed here). 

Davis, Wade. One River.  

Memoirs of the author who traveled the length of South America via the jungle, meeting and interacting with isolated tribes, describing their friendships, rituals, food, hunting practices, languages, and social structure.

Vaarty, Boyd. Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home.  

Fascinating memoir of the author and his family who lived on their game reserve and ran a safari company for four generations in the wilds of South Africa. The book opens with the author awakening, at age 11, to a deadly 9' mamba sliding over him - one bite is fatal. And it goes on for there with encounters with all forms of wildlife on the reserve.

The Martian

Weir, Andy. The Martian. New York: Crown.2013. Print

First Sentences:

Log Entry: Sol 6

I'm pretty much fucked.
That's my considered opinion.

Fucked.

Six days into what should be the greatest two months of my life, and it's turned into a nightmare.

I don't even know who'll read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe a hundred years from now.

Description:

Sorry for the profanity in the first sentences, but what would you say if you have been left for dead by your fellow astronauts as they blasted off for home? If your Mars-to-Earth communication system has been destroyed by a violent storm? If the next mission to Mars is four years away and you only have enough food for 400 Sols (Martian days)? 

Yes, I thought you might say the same thing as Mark Watney, now the sole inhabitant of Mars in Andy Weir's gripping, fascinating, and humorous survival novel, The Martian. 

But Watney, the Botanist/Engineer of the ill-fated Ares 3 Mars landing team, is a resourceful cuss. Someone who does not take kindly to a hopeless situation and is determined to spend his 400 days at least trying to survive and even increase his highly unlikely chances for rescue.

The Martian is a Robinson Crusoe for the 21st century, complete with technology gizmos, NASA egg heads, highly-trained astronauts, and a smart aleck, brilliant, humorous hero. It is a story for anyone who enjoys The Swiss Family Robinson, Endurance and Packing for Mars books, as well as MacGyver, Apollo 13, and Cast Away TV shows and films.

During a ferocious wind storm, the commander of the third landing on Mars decides, to ensure survival for her crew of astronauts, to abandon the three-month mission, return to the escape ship, and head back to Earth. Unfortunately, while sprinting to the ship, one crew member, Watney, is blown away by the wind and stabbed by the communication antenna, piercing his space suit. The crew cannot find him in the blinding sand storm and, before the wind permanently damages their ship, reluctantly leave him behind as dead.

Upon regaining consciousness, Watney understands his situation and considers what needs to be done to survive until the next planned Mars mission in four years at a landing site 3,500 kilometers away. With no communication system, three months of food packets for the six-person crew, an inflated Hab living space, some solar panels, two Mars rovers, six space suits, and other miscellaneous technology, he is severely limited in his options. But he does have his brain. And duct tape.

He learns how to communicate with Earth using their orbiting satellites to photograph signs and Morse code messages he constructs. Potatoes can be raised in the Hab using dirt from Mars enhanced by the Earth sample and his own "fertilizer." Water can be extracted from a complicated, dangerous chemical process that nearly kills him.

For relaxation, he has the personal property of the other astronauts, consisting of the complete TV series of "Three's Company" and "The Dukes of Hazard," as well as a computer full of disco tunes from the 1970's. Whether he starves, is killed by a Martian storm, blows himself up, or goes crazy from the entertainment is the ongoing question. 

But there is hope. Watney carefully considers every problem, then doggedly creates a solution - some that work and others that don't. He knows NASA is dedicating all its resources to figuring out how to save him if he can hold on somehow. Seems an impossible task as effort after effort fails. 

He tests a makeshift bracket for solar panels by hitting it with rocks because "this kind of sophistication is what we interplanetary scientists are known for." There are some technical work-around fixes that seem perfectly reasonable, although very confusing to a non-astronaut like me. But each action is carefully detailed as to why it might/will/won't work for each problem and off he goes to try it out. 

And Watney keeps his sense of humor, calmly wondering: 

• "How come Aquaman can control whales? They're mammals! Makes no sense."

• "It's clear that General Lee can outrun a police cruiser....why doesn't Rosco just go to the Duke farm and arrest them when they not in the car?" 

• How can Three's Company ever be the same after "the fiasco....replacement of Chrissy with Cindy?" 

The writing is solid, from the desperate or humorous interchanges of Watney between whomever he can communicate with to the personal entries in his log. Author Weir spins a gripping scientific yarn with puzzles to be attacked, solutions to be attempted, and fears to be dealt with.

I was in awe at the expertise Watney, the other astronauts, and ground support displayed over and over again. These are the real geniuses of our generation, the can-do people who make things happen in face of incredible odds against them, much like the NASA ground support team and astronauts did to rescue the crippled Apollo 13.

It is a fascinating book, a suspenseful premise with many shocking surprises as problems are tackled with incredible thought and skill. Highly recommended for science nerds, space fanatics, survival story junkies, and those just looking for a humorous and admirable main character overcoming hostilities by his wit and skills.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Roach, Mary. Packing for Mars 

A wildly interesting book as the author details her time visiting NASA and other training programs to answer questions about space travel, specifically a Mars exploration project. She offers chapters on how to survive for 1000 days in a Greyhound bus-sized space craft, riding a Mars rover, using a zero-gravity toilet, sex in space, and much more. Delightful, funny, and scientific. (previously reviewed here) 

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles

Stories of the exploration of Mar from the earliest voyages by astronauts to the flights of everyday people and their effect on the Martian planet and civilization. (previously reviewed here)

The Collector of Lost Things

Page, Jeremy. The Collector of Lost Things. New York: Pegasus Books. 2013. Print

First Sentences:

Perhaps I would be too late to save them. 

The last dozen had been spotted on a remote island in the North Atlantic, on a bare ledge of rock, but it was already rumoured the final breeding pair had been killed -- their skins sold to private collectors -- and the single egg between them needlessly crushed.  

These were only rumours, I kept telling myself. But as I set out for the Liverpool docks, on that breezy April morning in 1845, I couldn't help hoping that I might be able to reach them in time, the last of the birds. 

Description:

It is the most delightful of reading experiences to have a book give you a completely unexpected shock -- some twist in the plot, some unforeseen action by a character. Something that throws out all your smug little preconceived notions about how the book will continue, who is the good guy and who is the bad, and the eventual conclusion. Something that makes you stop, re-read the last paragraph, and then take a deep breath before continuing. The book has now been born again with new vistas opened and a clean or at least revised slate on all characters and plot. 

Now the reading fun begins. It is suddenly all new. You can only settle in and wonder what will happen next.

Such a wonderful book is The Collector of Lost Things by Jeremy Page. I was so completely caught unaware three, yes three, different times in this book that I looked around the room to find someone, anyone, I could tell about this story and the unexpected turn of events that just had occurred. (Note: I'm working to keep my mouth shut until asked about books, but sometimes, like a great secret, the goods are just too juicy to keep to yourself.)

Set in 1845, the novel opens with Eliot Saxby embarking on a sailing ship bound for the Arctic. His mission is to discover whether any evidence of the Great Auks, an extinct flightless bird, might possibly exist. Hunted by collectors and museums for their skins and eggs, these birds only recently became extinct, with the last living bird discovered five years previously on a lonely island near the polar ice. That bird was strangled and its eggs crushed by fishermen who thought it was a sea-witch. 

Saxby, a trained naturalist, harbors a secret hope that he might actually discover a living specimen on some forgotten island. While excited about the possibilities, he knows it is highly unlikely he will find anything, even a feather, much less a living bird.

There are two other passengers on board: Bletchley who wants to hunt arctic wildlife to prove his manhood, accompanied by his cousin Clara, a very sickly young woman who is embarking on the journey for unknown reasons.

Saxby immediately recognizes Clara as a woman from his past, but when he approaches her, she claims not to be the woman he thinks she is and to have no previous knowledge of Saxby. However, her secretive actions, her avoidance of questions, and her peculiar relationship with Bletchley all puzzle Saxby. 

Each person has hidden motivations that make their words vague and even suspect for their truthfulness. Who can be relied on and who should be suspected of bad intentions and outright evil? Who can be loved and who should be carefully avoided? Aboard the small boat, all activities fall under constant scrutiny, changing these answers again and again. These twists of plot and individual behavior pull you onward.

At the ice fields, everything changes again. The desolation of the endless ice, the cold, and the isolation challenge each person, including the captain and his crew, in different ways. Events on the ice bring new revelations about each character, casting a new light on their actions and the events still to come.

And, boy, can Jeremy Page write! His words reflect a slight Victorian style of formality and attention to emotions and detail, but without overwhelming the plot. The descriptions of the ship and sailing are absolutely first rate. 

Narrator Saxby, as a newcomer to sailing, ably describes the smells of the tar on the deck, the sounds of the sails catching the wind, and the shouts of the deckhands. From climbing up to the crow's nest to gazing over the bow to crouching in the hold where slaves were once transported, Saxby's observations and feelings are expressed with such clarity and emotion that a reader is completely absorbed into the world and population of the ship.

• [from the crow's nest] I closed my eyes. Sounds I had heard on deck -- the eerie shrill wind or the low moaning I'd heard from my cabin at night, the soothing sighs of ropes and canvas, the release and hold of iron fixings, or the creak of the mast, stretching like the tree it once was -- these sounds surrounded me, explaining their origin.

• [Getting the Amethyst underway] The air collected across the sail's face, a hesitant caress, then gently eased forward. Suddenly it filled in one smooth intake of breath and snapped taut, as if punched by a giant fist. At the same moment I heard the ropes stretch, and along their lines I saw a mist of droplets being wrung from them.

The Collector of Lost Things is a story of survival. Saxby feels he a person with the ability to save things, not just observe and collect them, and he dreams of finding and saving not only an Auk but also Clara who seems so sad and dominated by Bletchley. For after all, Saxby knows "a happy woman is a righted world."

And it is a story of ice, of cold, and of life. As Saxby relates:

I felt the presence of ice itself. Frightening, moving unpredictably, spreading in brittle sheets across the ocean -- reaching out with living intent for the small pocket of warmth that is brought with each person who ventures to the Arctic. It is as though the ice searches for the glimmer of fire that burns in the hearths, and the pulse of warm blood that flows through our veins.

This is a great book, one of the most captivating, encompassing, adventurous, and thoughtful novels I have read in years. I does not disappoint on any level. And remember - there are unexpected surprises awaiting!


Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Absolutely riveting account of Earnest Shackleton's ill-fated 1914 voyage to Antarctica and subsequent cross-country race for survival across the South Pole. His boat and crew are locked in by ice and only through incredibly heroic measures can Shackleton and his men hope to live. Riveting!

Mowat, Farley. Never Cry Wolf: Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves

Scientific but highly humorous notes from a naturalist studying the life and activities of the arctic wolf in northern Canada. Mowat is a tremendous observer of wildlife, willing to challenge accepted notions about these wolves in light of his first-hand experiences with them. Great read for all ages looking for fun, science, and wildlife behavior.

The Martian Chronicles

Bradbury, Ray. The Martian Chronicles. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1960. Print

First Sentences:

One minute it was Ohio winter, with doors closed, windows blocked and the panes blind with frost, icicles fringing every roof, children skiing on slopes, housewives lumbering like great black bears in their furs along the icy streets.

And then a long wave of warmth crossed the small town. A flooding sea of hot air; it seemed as if someone had left a bakery door open.

Description:

Maybe you are tired of shiny, techno-crazy science fiction stories of gee-whiz gizmos, rigorous space travel, and all-knowing computers. Maybe you just want some good stories with solid characters facing commonplace challenges in their everyday lives on a realistic world -- albeit in the future on another planet. 

How satisfying it would be to read about people we can identify with, feel their conflicting choices, and struggle along with them as they face hope and fear in their changing, yet human world.

Step up to the classic sci-fi/fantasy short stories that make up The Martian Chronicles, written by the absolute master of science fantasy, Ray Bradbury. Bradbury, when first starting his writing career, was inspired by Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio which depicted a small town with people sitting on front porches, experiencing the thoughts and conflicts of humanity. Bradbury in his new introduction to The Martian Chronicles, relates that he felt "If I could write a book half as fine as this, but set it on Mars, how incredible that would be." 

So he started jotting down his ideas about the exploration and subsequent life on Mars for its native denizens and newcomers. Stringing them together at the urging  of an editor, The Martian Chronicles were born.

Strap yourself in to follow the series of events that chronicle the exploration of Mars by Earthlings. From the opening story, "Rocket Summer," where the first man blasts off for Mars, through early encounters with the ancient Martian civilization, colonization, conflict, and the final Martians, each story presents a human response to the hope and reality offered by Mars. 

In these stories, some people go to Mars to be the first to step foot on a foreign land, some to conquer, some to learn from the ancients, others to find freedom, and still others to create a new, better Earth. Astronauts, explorers, immigrants, and minorities all journey to the planet with different ideas ... and each must deal with the world they actually encounter and how they will respond to it. 

Of course, this emigration affects things back on their home world, Earth, as Mars travel becomes more available to larger populations after the initial settlement period. And the Martian civilization, too, faces these newcomers with intelligence, fear, and uncertainty. The interaction between these two cultures provides challenging situations and unexpected actions by both.

This is a great book for adults, young adult readers, and even younger children wanting exciting stories to be read to them. Always well-written and challenging, each story grips and entertains from the start with unique situations and outcomes. I love this collection as a satisfying, fascinating look at the nature of Man and how Earth's inhabitants might employ their strengths and weaknesses in their interactions with the Red Planet. 

Highly recommend to anyone with a dream of a new life in a new location, even if it might be on Mars.  

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot 

Fictionalized history told in progressive short stories of the development of robots, from an early nanny/baby-sitter to miner on distant planets, to one who runs for president. Each story is infused with a personality that is unique and strangely real, giving each short story a "humanized" look at this possible human/technology world.

Clarke, Arthur C. The Collected Short Stories of Arthur C. Clark 

My absolute favorite collection of science fiction stories. Each on original in content, characters, plot, and writing style, with impossible-to-predict solutions to conflicts and human heroics and shortcomings. If you only read one sci-fi short story collection (afterThe Martian Chronicles, of course), this is it.