Author: Jason Lewis
Title: Dark Waters (The Expedition Trilogy, Book
1): True Story of the First Human-Powered Circumnavigation of the Earth
Description: Lewis
and his partner attempt a circumnavigation under only their own power. This
book is first in a planned trilogy, and covers the building of their pedal
boat, the Moksha, their bicycle ride
across Europe, their Atlantic crossing, and their crossing of the U.S., Stuart
by bicycle, and Jason by roller blade.
Source: One of
seven books nominated for Foreword’s award
in the travel category (I’m a judge this year).
Writing style: Lewis
is funny and pretty self-aware. He admits his shortcomings when he sees them.
Lewis moves fluently between life-threatening danger—rogue waves, pirates, lack
of food—daily drudgery, and his efforts to discover the meaning of life.
Audience: those
who enjoy high adventure.
Major ideas: Writing
about the meaning of life (or trying to) is a dangerous temptation. All too
often, someone will spend hours in meditation and contemplation and come up
with profound revelation, only to fail hopelessly to put it into words that
rise above the trite. Of course, I’m tempted to go into long digressions here
about the nature of language and its relation to reality, but I’ll resist. I’ll also refrain from telling you the
meaning of life—it’ll be much more exciting when it’s revealed to you in the
book.
Wrap-up: Definitely
worth a read. 4/5*
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