BoGardiner
8th September 2010, 05:43 PM
Before reading this I presumed this book would primarily be of interest to kayakers. But I wasn't surprised to learn after finishing it that it's considered a classic in adventure literature. A fun read.
This is a tale of human endurance and team psychology. At first I was disappointed in the relatively scant description of the terrain and Amazonian peoples. There is virtually no natural history -- the expedition had no naturalist. They had no time to look around. It was about putting mile after mile behind them... over 4000 miles, millions of paddle strokes. It was grueling misery.
What there was, however, was a detailed depiction of the wrangling of egos that likely plays a role in most intense expeditions. The expedition fell apart, and of the ten who began, only two completed it, including the author. Kane, invited by the team organizer so as to write about it and do PR, crucifies the organizer in his book, stating that he departed bitterly after losing the confidence of most of the crew, taking critical resources with him. The allegedly deposed leader wrote a differing account called "Rafting the Amazon," which apparently tells quite a different story.
Very Rashomon.
This is a tale of human endurance and team psychology. At first I was disappointed in the relatively scant description of the terrain and Amazonian peoples. There is virtually no natural history -- the expedition had no naturalist. They had no time to look around. It was about putting mile after mile behind them... over 4000 miles, millions of paddle strokes. It was grueling misery.
What there was, however, was a detailed depiction of the wrangling of egos that likely plays a role in most intense expeditions. The expedition fell apart, and of the ten who began, only two completed it, including the author. Kane, invited by the team organizer so as to write about it and do PR, crucifies the organizer in his book, stating that he departed bitterly after losing the confidence of most of the crew, taking critical resources with him. The allegedly deposed leader wrote a differing account called "Rafting the Amazon," which apparently tells quite a different story.
Very Rashomon.