I just finished reading The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. Back on President’s Day I mentioned that my favorite president was Theodore Roosevelt, since the guy finished a speech after being shot in the chest. They just don’t make guys that tough anymore. So my co-worker was kind enough to share this book about his journey down the Amazon River with me.
I really didn’t know much more about Roosevelt besides what I’d learned back in 7th grade history and a few web articles detailing his toughness. Early on in the read, you get a pretty clear picture of just how crazy he and people in general were way back then. I don’t know many if any people who would take nearly the risks that they would take on a daily basis back then.
A 55 year old ex-president taking a several months long journey down an uncharted river in the heart of the unexplored Amazon is just plain stupid by today’s standards, but the desire to explore at the time was really impressive. It really made me feel like a lazy person to hear of all of their accomplishments and feats.
I doubt many of us would survive 2 days without a cell phone, let alone suffer of dysentery and fighting off 103 degree malaria induced fevers while traveling down raging rapids in an undeveloped part of the world. Oh and there’s venomous creatures all around and natives who kill for fun in the area too. Again, these guys were crazy.
Event though I knew that everyone in the story had to of died by now, it was still very sad to hear of each of their respective death’s in the epilogue. It was most sad to hear of Kermit, Roosevelt’s sons death. This was a pretty solid read, and I’m glad that it was recommended to me.