Jon's review
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
I found this book exciting, even though I knew how things would eventually end up with Roosevelt's journey. The author does an excellent job of bringing us into the lives not only of Roosevelt and his son, Kermit, but also all the other major players in the expedition. You become quite attached to these people and worry about them as they face the perils of the journey. References to political issues at the time are also interesting as is the information about the history of Roosevelt's family. Millard presents all of this in an engaging fashion.
The most surprising facet of the book comes in Millard's exploration of rain forest ecology and her detailed descriptions of the species that have, through highly specific evolutionary paths, made this unique area their home. Some might find these forays into biology kind of distracting, but I thought they were quite interesting and found too that they were important to the events of the journey.
Overall, I was engrossed in the book from...more
The most surprising facet of the book comes in Millard's exploration of rain forest ecology and her detailed descriptions of the species that have, through highly specific evolutionary paths, made this unique area their home. Some might find these forays into biology kind of distracting, but I thought they were quite interesting and found too that they were important to the events of the journey.
Overall, I was engrossed in the book from...more
