Total Page : 432
Publisher : Anchor
Publication Date : 2006 10 10
>> Thrilling Adventure
Theodore Roosevelt is definitely on my Most Fascinating People Ever list After reading both volumes of the Morris biographies and then finishing The River of Doubt I wish I could spend hours talking with Roosevelt and asking him countless questions only I m sure I wouldn t be able to keep up on the hike he d make us take together
The River of Doubt is a thrilling and interesting narrative of Roosevelt s post presidency exploration of a previously uncharted major tributary of the Amazon River While the book is a definite page turner the tales of poisonous frogs man eating catfish piranhas and caymans vicious natives starvation canoe crushing rapids and countless varieties of insects and parasites just waiting to feed on human flesh did not inspire me to travel to the Amazon region ever
Millard s writing flows more smoothly than the river The book is detailed well researched and simply fascinating I couldn t put it down
>> No Amazon for Me
First I am never taking a cruise anywhere near the Amazon river or its tributaries such as The River of Doubt which this book is about It is a stirring story of Teddy Roosevelt s trip to explore an unexplored land it nearly killed him This is some great book Gripping is an understatement Millard has done a masterful job
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>> Teddy Roosevelt Battles the Amazon
Note it is extremely interesting to view the only movies shot of the 1914 Roosevelt Rondon Expedition currently on YouTube
River of Doubt is a rousing true adventure story that highlights the dangers of taking a trip too lightly and of not being prepared After losing his bid for a third term as President of the United States in 1912 with the failed Bull Moose Party Teddy Roosevelt was looking for new challenges He was invited on a speaking tour of South America and saw an opportunity both to visit his son Kermit who had been working in South America building bridges and to see the Amazon Roosevelt upped the ante when he found out about the River of Doubt which had just been discovered but had never been charted or navigated It soon became apparent that Roosevelt took his Amazon adventure much too lightly The expedition encountered killer rapids hostile indigenous tribes disease murder and death along the way Roosevelt hovers very near death himself and even seriously considers taking his own life to save the rest of the men
River of Doubt brings the amazing Teddy Roosevelt to an entire new generation of readers and you cannot help but admire the character of the man The book did raise a number of questions for me however The expedition nearly starves due to its inability to find game to hunt in the Amazon despite the fact that it carried two men with 25 years plus experience living and working in the Amazon with them Rondon and Cherrie Why did Rondon allow the Americans carry along such obscenely huge amounts of luggage Why did Roosevelt by all accounts an experienced adventurer allow the expedition to begin with such impractical and woefully inadequate supplies
River of Doubt is a terrific read but it left me with too many questions unanswered I wish the author had done more to explain the whys of the expedition s shortcomings
