The Wager

"The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder": https://tinyurl.com/3mcp7z2s

Yes, this is about a boat, not a bet. Not that I could remember months after I reserved it at the library.

This is a certain kind of book, that may or may not appeal to you. If you're interested in exploration, the Arctic and Antarctica, especially expeditions gone wrong, this is a highlight in the genre. I mean with the trip around Cape Horn...

Now David Grann, the author of "The Wager," is the same guy who wrote "Killers of the Flower Moon," which was recently made into a movie by Martin Scorsese. I haven't seen it. And I don't plan on seeing it until after I read the book. But although I had the book from the library for three weeks, I couldn't get to it, I was backed up.

I'm still backed up. Right now I'm reading Peter Heller's "The Last Ranger," which is a return to form after 2021's "The Guide," which was too simplistic, too obvious. Before that, Heller wrote "The River," which I wrote about back in 2019, you can read what I had to say here: https://tinyurl.com/73ztk7j7 "The River" is an easy read, I recommend it. "The Guide" is an easy read, but I was disappointed. "The Last Ranger" is not the easiest of reads, Heller is showing his writing chops, which decreases readability/understanding a bit, furthermore it is set in Yellowstone and it's hard to paint a mental picture of the locations, even if you've been there, which I have. "The Last Ranger" brings you completely away from today's world, and for that alone it is worth the read. But dive in at your own peril. Meanwhile, Heller made his bones with the cult book "The Dog Stars," a story set in the future that has some of the dense writing of "The Last Ranger." So, start off with "The Guide," and then read "The Dog Stars," and then you'll know if you want to read more, which you probably will, Heller is addictive.

And when I say cult book, I don't mean a personal pleasure that no one is aware of, I'm talking about a book that has not penetrated the entire universe. There is a movie, without great reviews, that I have not seen, but "The Dog Stars" is a book readers talk about, tell people about, implore you to read, and it's got 8,173 ratings on Amazon, and that's a significant number, and by the way, it's got a 4.4 out of 5 rating, and that's extremely high.

Getting back to "The Last Ranger" for a minute... I've spent a lot of time in the wilderness. But that was so long ago, seems like another lifetime. Yet there's so much I can resonate with here. A lot of the people who live in the hinterlands can't fit into regular society, or don't want to fit in. They don't like to compromise, they want to do things their way. But in the hinterlands there are not that many people, and they all don't get along. Some of these square pegs that don't fit in round holes are edgy, rub you the wrong way, and this friction can result in consequences you don't get in the city.

But I'm talking about "The Wager."

Now one of the paragons of this exploration genre is Hampton Sides's "In the Kingdom of Ice - The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette": https://tinyurl.com/4d62fptx This has a 4.6 out of 5 rating and 6,683 ratings. I'd recommend you start here if this is the kind of book that appeals to you.

Actually, you might have heard the story of the Jeannette recently, since Sides's book it's been many places. And the problem here is it's history, all true, but if I tell you what happened it's going to ruin the surprise. Same deal with "The Wager." But the Jeannette set sail in 1889, over a hundred years before the Wager. The Wager set sail in 1740, the dark era, you're stunned they even made the journey, when maps were inaccurate and communication methods were mostly absent.

That's one of the fascinations of the book. You put yourself in these circumstances, and then you realize these guys thought they were living in advanced times, even though they were positively antiquated from our viewpoint.

And by reading the title you can see what happens.

Only you can't. What do they say, the devil is in the details?

And there's an arc, it's inherent in the story, then again so do Erik Larson's books and they're flat. Larson's books are a retelling, almost sans emotion...this happened, then that happened and that's the end. What Larson is writing about is fascinating, but the style undercuts what he has to say. However, having said that, the best is "Devil in the White City," start there if you want to jump in. And my personal favorite is "In the Garden of Beasts," all about the U.S. ambassador to Germany at the advent of World War II. He's got a married daughter who seems to have screwed seemingly every famous Nazi. And when you go to Berlin, which is haunting in its own way, especially if you're a Jew, and you pass the locations, the park where meetings took place, it's eerie.

Recently Larson has been on a losing streak. "The Splendid and the Vile" is a disappointment. Especially if you've been to the Churchill War Rooms, which I highly recommend, for your second trip to London, and on that same journey also take in the Imperial War Museum across the river.

And before that came "Dead Wake," the story of the Lusitania. Interesting, but flat.

"The Wager" is not flat. But it's not for everybody. You know if you like to read nonfiction. You know if you like this kind of explorer history. And if you do, I highly recommend it.

But having said that, I must make you aware that the beginning is slow, before the boat leaves England. What is said is interesting, but it's only when they journey to South America that you get hooked.

Now "The Wager" is not some secret, it came out in April of this year and already has 16,093 ratings on Amazon, with an average of 4.5.

As for my links to Amazon...

You know I'm into digital books. These are all Kindle links. Furthermore, you can get these books digitally via Libby, the library app, and they're completely free.

In other words, there's less friction, even though the digital copy may be just as expensive to purchase as the physical copy.

This is a longer conversation, and the people who disagree with me, who insist one must read physical books and they must be purchased from an independent bookstore, are like Trumpers, whatever you say not only can you not convince them they're wrong, they cannot even accept that you've got a different take.

But that's a fruitless argument for another day.

Sure, "The Wager" is a ride, and it's enjoyable, but the book has stuck with me, and therefore I'm making you aware of it.

P.S. To give you some perspective on the numbers, "The Last Ranger" came out in July, and it has 1,209 ratings on Amazon, illustrating the great uptake of the books above. Having said that, the rating is 4.2 out of 5, and that's great. My metric is if it's under 4, be wary. It has served me well, like under 80% on RottenTomatoes. It's not definitive, but in a world overloaded with product, it's helpful.

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