Lost in Shangri-La
Posted: March 10, 2012 Filed under: Book Discussions, Book Reviews | Tags: real life adventure, World War II Leave a comment »
Lost in Shangri-La, by Mitchell Zuckoff
The library’s evening book group met recently to discuss Lost in Shangri-La. I read the book, and listened to it. Those of us who listened to the book enjoyed it the most, even without the photographs scattered throughout the print book. This is a real life adventure story that takes place on the island of New Guinea during World War II. Pilots discover a hidden valley in the unexplored mountainous interior of New Guinea, and many groups of American military personnel stationed on the coast make sightseeing flights over the valley. The entrance to the valley is very tricky, and often foggy. A flight in 1945 with several women WACs aboard crashes into a mountain, leaving few survivors. The survivors struggle to stay alive and reach an area where they can be spotted from the air. Encounters with the native villagers of New Guinea prove very interesting. The struggle to find and then rescue the survivors catches the interest of the media, and their story is followed all over the United States. We found it ironic that the valley turns out to be a very different sort of place then the fabled valley in the Himalayas. Photos and a wealth of information can be found on the author’s website, even some old documentary footage. While our book group had mixed reactions to the book, we certainly found plenty to talk about.
Brenda
Into the Silence
Posted: January 18, 2012 Filed under: Book Reviews | Tags: 1920s, history, real life adventure Leave a comment »
Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis
Before the space race, before the sound barrier, the conquest of Mount Everest was the final frontier, or so the British public thought after the disaster of World War I. The two poles had already been visited, and the British Raj were engaged in a tremendous effort to map India and the surrounding areas. In their endeavors they discovered the highest mountain in the world. Many veterans were terribly disenchanted with the war and its aftermath. Britain’s honor, dragged through the mud and gore at the Battle of the Somme, must be restored, but how? Everest was the answer. The British must conquer it or die trying.
Into the Silence chronicles three British expeditions launched in the early 1920s to attempt to climb Everest. There were numerous factors working against them. First was the woefully inadequate equipment. Clothing, climbing gear, tents, stoves, and oxygen tanks (if they had them), were not made to withstand the rigors of the extraordinary altitude. It would be like sending a man into space without a spaceship or spacesuit. Second was the non-cooperation of the local people. The Buddhist monks held that Everest, or Chomolungma as they knew it, was a sacred place guarded by demons, who would cast out anyone trying to climb its rarified slopes. Sherpas, who really are the unsung heroes in any Everest climb, before or since, were not in the business of climbing at that time. They all thought the British were mad. Why go to all the trouble of climbing the mountain? Of course we know why, “because it is there”, as Mallory famously stated. Thirdly, Nepal was closed to foreigners, and the expedition had to take an indirect route from their base in Darjeeling, India, adding about 150 miles to the route. In the end, the expeditions met with failure. On the second try, ten porters were swept to their deaths. On the third try, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine disappeared while attempting to summit Everest.
At 655 pages, this book was a bit of a challenge, with some sections bogged down in detailed descriptions of the expeditions and their privations, but the author gives the reader a great feel for what the people in the expeditions experienced.
Joel
Unbroken
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Book Reviews | Tags: history, real life adventure, World War II 1 Comment »
Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
Hillenbrand’s book is the extraordinary tale of Louie Zamperini’s life – from track and field star of the 1930s, participant in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, survivor of a B-24 crash into the Pacific Ocean in May 1943 followed by 47 days adrift in shark-infested waters, to a hellish and brutal existence in a Japanese POW camp. After the war he experienced years of suffering from what is now referred to as post-traumatic stress syndrome. Eventually he finds inner-peace by forgiving his WWII captors, especially the exceptionally cruel Corp. Mutsuhiro Watanabe. If you are interested in a gripping story that is destined to become a classic of narrative nonfiction, then this book is for you. Highly recommended. For more about Louie, visit the author’s web site.
George
