Ed Stafford

It felt like it took 860 days to get through this book!

This was an incredible feat by Ed Stafford and his companion Cho but this book is awful. The narrative is choppy and hard to follow, the descriptions of the Amazon are meager and fail to paint any kind of picture for the reader, and Ed Stafford himself is really an unpleasant guy.

Most of the book is him whining about one thing or another, belittling the people of Peru and Brazil (who are, according to him, feeble minded, fat, drunk and corrupt), and describing his ineptitude with planning, navigation and a score of other things.

I read a lot of adventure books and I've come to realize that the people that undertake these kinds of tasks tend to make decisions that make baffle me. Stafford seems not to sweat "small things" like money, visas, permits or even carrying enough food. He just forges ahead, backtracking willy nilly to survive and still adhere to his "rules" for his expedition.

He also does crazy things like letting a Peruvian woman who he barely knows and who comes dressed in skinny jeans to join the expedition. She was only there for a few days but other random strangers he lets join for weeks at a time, and then he wonders why they suck at living in the jungle. CRAZY MAN.



… (altro)

Fieldnotes:
The Amazon River Basin (all the way from Nevada Mismi, Peru to the river delta in Brazil, 2008-2010

1 Self-Absorbed, Overconfident and Underprepared "Adventurer"
Many Idiotic Ground Rules
1 Pointless Expedition ("Getting into the Record Books" doesn't count as a point)
860 Days
Over 4,000 Miles
Over 200,000 Mosquito/Ant Bites (His Reckoning)

Too Much Motivational Speaking Nonsense Focused on "Controlling One's Mental State"
Not Enough Description of Flora, Fauna, History, Culture, Geography or Issues facing the Amazon
Complete Lack of Self-Awareness Masquerading as Self-Reflection

The Lengthy Rant:
Look, I should have known to get rid of this early on. Stafford's overbearing machismo "laddishness" was on display early on when he talked about how the entire expedition was essentially born of a drunken brainstorming lark and then a game of chicken about backing down while ball-scratching in line for the shower (the ball-scratching detail the first of several unnecessary descriptions of the state of Stafford's scrotum).

On page 79, he's run off his expedition partner through adherence to undiscussed, un agreed-upon and nonsensical "ground rules", bubbling resentment and a desperate need to blame every suffered discomfort on the other man (and other asshole behavior). But I persevered because I thought we would start getting descriptions of the Amazon.

Reader, we didn't. Ed talked about thorns in his feet, about his crappy footwear, about his poor mental state, about how much Inca Kola they drank. He does not talk about any of the things that make the expedition interesting - descriptions of scenery, people, wildlife, history. He talks about Ed. And only Ed. Anything else only exactly how it relates to Ed and his feelings.

Most frustratingly, the expedition just seems a mess - he didn't realize the first leg was through a desert, so they don't have sunscreen or adequate gear. They never seem to carry adequate water or food supplies - so his "no hunting" policy is abandoned with simultaneously smug and defensive justification about "the food chain". He lets medical insurance lapse. He doesn't bother with visas because he paid a bad fixer and he decides being illegal for 6 months is a better choice than sorting it. He's too tired to make observations about the jungle and hasn't learned the languages enough to speak to people (nor does he have the energy to make an effort). The whole things sounds a misery and as such, it's miserable to be slogging through the book.

The rest of the book is a mess of Ed trying to convince the readers (or himself) about how he "controlled" his mental state through positive self-talk and coaching. A springboard for the motivational speaker career he touts in the author's note. No, thank you.… (altro)

The author decided he wanted to maroon himself on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific (I believe in Fiji) for 60 days with nothing, including no clothes! Now, because he got a tv deal, he did have to take a camera and microphone, and there were daily “checks” (via note), if needed; also the drop place for the notes was also meant to replenish batteries. The notes were not to include anything to motivate.

This was interesting. I listened to the audio, though, so as is often the case, I did lose interest at times. I had a real hard time listening to how he hunted and killed, though. (Even the tv show did not air one of his (more brutal) kills.) The book not only looked at how he survived, but also he reflected on his mental state being so isolated.… (altro)