Robert Marshall (1) (1901–1939)

Superb read w/ numerous interesting observations and some great quotes:

" 'You know sometimes you buy a third hand Ford for about twenty-five dollars and they throw in a very much older car for extra parts. Well, this is about like that extra parts car.' "

"With every one a cook, it is a little surprising how seldom one hears recipes exchanged. Perhaps all that was done years ago. At any rate, I only recall three expositions on cooking technique during all my stay in the Koyukuk. One was for blueberry cold jam, one was for that sheep meat Bordelaise, and one was for cooking a porcupine. The last went as follows: 'Place the Porcupine and a rock in some boiling water. Cook until you can shove a fork in the rock. Then throw out the porcupine and eat the rock.' "

"In the following pages I shall present some of these talesin the exact English words which these Koyukuk Eskimos themselves used in telling me their stories.
'Nobody,' said Old Tobuk, 'knows how the world started. After the start Eskimo peoplehave it same way whites - man made first. The first man live all alone. One man cannot increase so they got to have pair. That's why nature made woman. But woman is not enough unless she can bear child. They tried all over where nature could find that child could come from. They try forehead - no good.They try breasts - no good. They try under arm - no good.They try between legs - O.K. Nature finally invented right placeand then man do rest.' "… (mer)

As much as I've enjoyed the other books in the National Geographic Best 100 series, I can't recommend this one. Marshall clearly loves the wilderness, and this journal of Alaska pioneering is full of details, but he tends to ramble, and doesn't really provide a coherent narrative to his travels. Basically, the book is "I went here, then we went here, then we saw this, then we camped here, then I hiked here . . . ." Marshall doesn't offer any unique insight or make this journal into any sort of memorable (for the reader) "adventure". In fact, the only part I clearly remember is when he recounts the overturning of his raft on some river. That part came alive, but was noteworthy only for its singularity. Apparently, it rains a lot in Alaska.
2 Pages, out of 5.… (mer)