A little out of character to waste a whole day and not set my hand to work of some sort or another but this was truly a book I could not put down.

How "quaint" that we should call our canoe trips "adventures" when in reality they are little more than a holiday, a literal "walk in the park".

This is a good read and Hampton Sides is quite exhaustive in digging up details and weaving them together. You get a very real sense of the personalities and the events of the 33 men that make up the voyage of the Jeannette. You are also made privy to a love story that unfortunately ends quite tragically. But not all are lost and some extraordinary persons exemplifying the best traits that humanity has to offer also rise from its pages to provide inspiration.

I also found it rather fascinating that the accepted science of the day was that the north pole was free from ice and was only ringed about by a "band of ice" and that band was slushy and penetrable where the gulf stream abutted it. The author goes into great detail revealing the current scientific thought of the day which would cause such a fools errand as to be able to sail to the North Pole.

A good read.

MT