An incredible, horrifying, and amazing trip
348606
This 1999 winner of the Orbis Pictus Award (given for outstanding nonfiction for children) is a detailed and well-researched account of Sir Ernest Shackleton's incredible 1914-1916 voyage to Antarctica. Jennifer Armstrong does an excellent job of creating interest all through the book, sharing interesting details about what the men ate, and the games and activities they use to passed the time. The book includes many photographs taken by the photographer on the expedition, giving a sense of realism and immediacy.
The author follows Shackleton's trip from England to South Georgia Island, then the failed attempt to get to the Antarctic continent. The ship becomes stuck in ice, but the ice migrates, moving the Endurance further north, toward the open ocean. Before they reach the sea the ice crushes the ship, forcing the men to abandon it. It is after the sinking of the Endurance that the narrative gets so exciting that the book is impossible to put down. The reader reads with growing horror of the crew's travail across the ice and out to tiny, barren Elephant Island.
When it seems that the men can't possibly have anything worse ahead of them, Shackleton and five men sail a small lifeboat eight hundred miles back to South Georgia Island. Armstrong's description of the harrowing fifteen days spent in the lifeboat holds the reader in a vise-like grip. She winds down the tension with a very satisfying epilogue relating what the crewmembers did with the rest of their lives. The captioned photograph at the end of the book showing the entire crew shortly after their return to civilization is a perfect touch.
870889
I was dumbfounded that the events in this book actually happened in the United States. The book was extremely well written and gave an incredible account of the horrors in the lives of the people in the FLDS community and how difficult it is to escape from that life. The psychological damage to the women and children is astounding! Their fear of the "outside" world kept many from leaving and when they did could barely adapt to a "normal" life.
1688448
Don't read this book if you don't want to be horrified.  While Nazi atrocities are well documented and never fail to produce horror when discussed, personal familial stories are not well documented.  Martin Goldsmith draws you into this book immediately, and it's impossible to put it down until the book is finished.  You get to know his family and live this with them.  Rather than have me describe Mr. Goldsmith's style,  I suggest you click on both Inextinguishable Symphony and Alex's Wake on Amazon and read his prefaces.  You will know what I mean; you'll be captivated and want to buy the book.  While you're at it, buy both books.  You won't be sorry.

The important aspect of this book is the well-researched and well-documented presentation of the effects of the Holocaust on Mr. Goldsmith's family and particularly on him.  This is one story  out of millions of untold stories.  The seeming "ordinariness" of the cited familial atrocities to millions of people, particularly the Jews, is what makes this book both compelling reading and horrifying at the same time.  I read it in two days, not being able to  leave it alone, and yet dreading what I knew was the inevitable outcome of his journey.  He shares it most personally, and that is what makes it so compelling and yet painful.  After such a journey for Mr. Goldsmith, he also shares his liberation from the guilt of having done nothing where he could have done nothing, while questioning his father's inactivity, where he could possibly have done something.

While the final chapter does not make the horror go away--you will think of this book for days and days after--it is cathartic in that Mr. Goldsmith finds peace.
901268
It's been two days since I finished this book and I can't stop thinking about it.  I think it is one of the best horror novels I have ever read.

  It makes no sense for people to give this book a bad review because it isn't about Mayan culture or the exploration of ancient ruins.  The "ruins" the title refers to are what the characters themselves ultimately end up becoming.  These people (who can be annoying, but who can't?) are put in a horrible, impossible situation and end up becoming the victim of a relentless, unbelievably cruel and malevolent being.  This story really is an essay on what people will do when facing their ultimate doom, and how far they will go to survive.

  If you are not a fan of gore, psychological torture, self mutilation or improptu medical prodedures described in graphic detail, then stay away.  Otherwise, go outside, take a seat by your garden, crack this open and enjoy.
732809
The semi-official story of one of the most amazing journeys,
2021807
It's just one bizarre thing after another in a world that high-flying travelers never see.  Danger lurks at every stop in the most curious forms. Highly recommended.
1931220
The wonderful journey that you as a reader  gets to take with the author is mind blowing. It presents the human side of learning and working as a paramedic, that we as either patients or society in general just don't think about as we should. It's true that we often want to hear the gory stories, without thinking about the people who went through it. We need to thank and honor these heroic people, that are taken for granted .
4158111
At once thrilling, funny, and horrifying. There is such a strong parallel  to the events unfolding before us, on the nightly news.
As the world goes to hell in a hand basket, we're at the edge of our seat, and laughing  all the way. A rollercoaster  from start to finish, you certainly
won't be bored. Gleason has done it again.
I highly recommend this book.
3189847
An incredible journey from start to finish. John Skipps The Art of Horrible People is a fantastic collection of dark art that steps well outside the boundaries of taboo while showing us what weve all feared was there all along. You know those questions we have but rarely voice except at parties? What do those dark Hollywood artsy elite really do up in their lofts? Would the zombie apocalypse really be all crossbows and exploring-the-human-condition serious, or would it be fun? What makes clowns so scary? Just how bad would an asylum break be?

Mr. Skipp uses his unique voice to transport us to believable settings, from the modern LA noir-chic scene to a gut-busting redefining of movie industry terms. Then to the shadows where people do horrible things to themselves and others. The collection opens with a tension builder of a horror piece, but it soon spans a full spectrum of emotions, with fantastic moments of love and endearment.

I fully expected to be disturbed and entertained as I read thisand was not let down to say the leastbut I never predicted the stories would be so fully-imagined and encompassing as to hit nerves on the emotional side. I love this collection. From its disturbing opening act, all the way through the heart-swelling acknowledgment, John Skipp delivers an incredible page-burner well worth the read! Highly recommended with Five-Stars.
1934487
Sometime in the early or mid 90s, travel writer and former pilot William Langewiesche set off from Algiers, Algeria to travel through the Sahara desert in north Africa. I am glad he undertook this arduous journey because the book he wrote, Sahara Unveiled was one of the best travel books I've read in the past couple of years (I read a lot of them). As in most travel books by Western travellers chronicling the non-Western world, there are schemers, crowded and poorly maintained transportation, generous hospitality, amazing scenery and terrible poverty. Anyone who reads such books will not be surprised. Mr Langewiesche's has some similarly terrifying adventures, including his account of being ditched in the Sahara by his guides and travelling in a filthy river ferry along the Niger River. He is not unemotional, and more open and personable than many travel writers, but doesn't go too far along in how he feels when encountering the many cruelties and deprivations of such a stark land. If anything, he cites the fatalism of the Sahara's inhabitants and how their mentality began to creep into his own way of thinking. In a place filled with war, intense heat, barren wastelands, sandstorms, disease, dangerous animals, he starts to see the Sahara as akin to God, a force that determines life and death, unconquerable and unstoppable.
3200708
I ordered this book because I like to take trips into the wilderness, and though fortunate never to have met with disaster, have had my moments of hardship and uncertainty.  I wanted to read an account about a trip that had more serious outcomes.  This book provided me a view that revealed much more than the logistic dysfunction of a trip gone wrong.

The author tells an account of his trip into the Canadian wilderness.  It is an environment at once both bleak and beautiful.  He relates his mindset as he experiences the months on the trip, together with four other's and the expedition leader, who ultimately loses his life.  This takes place in the 1950's which means that the outfitting for such a trip is crude by today's standards.  There are no dehydrated foods.  The tents, canoes, clothing and other gear are heavy, decidedly not weather-proof, and the navigational aids require skill uncommon even in the 1950's.

Notwithstanding, the group makes progress for some months in this harsh, difficult environment, and each member of the "team" come face to face with their personal demons.  We read a chronical of the interpersonal relationships that develop and shape themselves over the course of the experience.  The author bares his soul in a way that is very generous but at the same time not morose, not self-pitying, and not inconsequential.  He takes us on a journey through the experiences on the expedition that change him forever, invalidate much of his life up to that time, and forever imprint him with a changed value system, and a different way of perceiving the natural world, and even reality.

Anyone who has gone into the true wilderness will recognize many of the sentiments, and identify strongly with the feelings that, at times when natural beauty defies belief, can be very powerful and compelling.  Anyone who has been party to an excursion that has gone terribly wrong will certainly recognize the many dimensions of pain that are recounted here like individual nerves to be probed, healed, but not forgotten.

In this age when so many have so much, and take so much for granted, and those a part of cultures that place great emphasis on material wealth, there are strong messages that tell of the inevitable folly of investing too much of the soul in such pursuits.

What makes this both rewarding, but at the same time hard to read, is the fact that six men really lived this experience, with one making the ultimate sacrifice in what was described as his quest for peace and truth.

This book reminds me of Thoreau's "Maine Woods", a collection of three accounts of Thoreau's trips to the Maine wilderness in the early 1800's.  Comparing these books, there are both striking parallels, and differences.  But in both cases, there is an uneasy peace to be acquired by reading the account of people who take the decided risk to go beyond the boundaries of everyday existence and discover the incredible beauty and power of the natural world, and the unfathomable depth of the human spirit.  For those that return, as we see in "Death on the Barrens", the soul is changed forever.  Indeed, Thoreau's book moved me to retrace his steps with my father and two friends.  We were deeply moved by our experience even without having any major disasters.  Our biggest crisis was a temporary loss of power in a GPS...

I find myself tempted to research and take on the Canadian Barrens.  But I must face the fact that I am much older and definitely not in the physical condition (or mental condition) to embark on such a trip.  The descriptions of the places are fascinating and romantic, and at times cruel, but may very well stimulate interest in a part of the world that is no doubt full of undescribably beauty.
290120
I just finished reading this book last night and my emotions and reactions were all over the place throughout this book. I came to this book having been in the same realm as Alec, having known a few Alecs, having been an Alec - in some respects. So I have a little bit of insight there and that's what initially drew me to this book. And I can attest that it's accurate in many respects there. This is a world that is not easy to delve into, it's scary, it's not emotionally safe, it's raw, it's definitely not acceptable to talk about at tea parties - BUT - it can be the most amazing experience - out of body experience. E.K. Blair captures all of that. She takes you on this emotional roller coaster of a journey where you want to empathize with the heroine, and you want to smack her at the same time. The writing is so good, there are so many instances where i stopped and thought 'that's a beautiful statement' or 'wow - beautiful description'. It will make you squirm in a good way much of the time, and definitely in an uncomfortable way.
774539
A shocking read that was utterly frightening! I could not put it down!
1057589
The horrifying story of being kidnapped in broad daylight, drugged, beaten, rapedthis really happens.  And while this book is a work of fiction, the subject is a very real issue.  I was completely hooked from the very first chapter.  The detail of Wrens encounters with her captors is absolutely gut-wrenching to read.  And the stories shared by other women who had been victimsyes, I cried.  This book is heavyheavy a matter that most people choose to turn the other cheek towards.  The statistics are staggering (and those are real) for how sick and terrifying our world really is.  The words on each page are pure goldalthough embellished because hey, its fiction, there is so much information to absorb.  To say I loved it would be wrongI didn't love it.  How can I?  The Missionary evoked such a strong emotional reaction out of me, love is entirely the wrong word.  I don't even know if I have the right word(s) to describe this book.  I couldn't do it justice.  Jack Wilder is so talented in the way he pulls the reader in, keeps them guessing how things will turn out, and still managing to weave a love story into an otherwise tragic telling of abduction, abuse, drugs, sex, life, death, faith and hope.

*stands and claps hands*

Well done, Mr. Wilder.  You are an amazing writer and this is proof that heavy subject matter can be tragic, yet beautifulbut most of all, informative and educational.  At the end of the day, this book has done its job; it made me think and feel, but most importantly, it opened my eyes to something very real and has encouraged me to want to make a difference.  For that, along with this amazing book, I thank you. ~V~

**5 Not Broken, Just Bent Stars**
1886387
This is an incredible journey and the author gives fresh realism and awe to every experience. Wherever I opened the book, I was plunged into an entirely different world ...all within America.
3179840
Excellent tale of a trip few of us would ever attempt!
2160077
I read this book in anticipation of our trip in August 2015. It is an incredible true story of Paul and his native friends and guides discovering the unique natural wonderland that is the Amazon less traveled. What is really great is the contribution to science about the flora and fauna of the area and to the conservation of the land. Respect for the native peoples and their culture has always been a priority of Paul and his wife, Dolly.
The stories are crazy, scary, am-I-ready-for-this, great! Then (spoiler alert) it was revealed that these types of camping trips into places unknown are no longer offered as part of the Peru Amazonia Expeditions adventure that now offers lodges and a research facility for guests.

I highly recommend reading this book even if you are not planning to join Amazonia Expeditions. But I'm pretty sure anyone with a sense of awe and wonder of the world will definitely add this trip to their bucket list after reading this book. Afterall, it is required reading for anyone going on this trip.

Mary Womble
Youngstown, Ohio