New Worlds to Conquer

Well, I thought GR had got over it's losing of draft reviews issue, but apparently not.

So on that basis here is a short version of the review I wrote, and GR decided not to save.

This is my second Halliburton book - and it confirmed my experience with the other - I referred to Halliburton as ‘unconventional'. Some examples from this book - he climbs the volcanic Popocatépetl mountain in Mexico, but his photos didn't turn out - so he sets out and climbs it again; he finds the Mayan Well of Sacrifice - a 70 foot deep well into which virgins are sacrificed (a large number of bodies were exhumed from the depths of the well) and on a spur Halliburton dives in to see what it felt like to be cast down it - fully clothed with wallet, passport etc - not only that but he does it again a few days later to collect his shoes he left on a ledge at the bottom! He also swims the length of the Panama Canal, including the locks - he pays the same as ships, by tonnage - around 36c per lock (he was accompanied by an army sharp-shooter in a small boat who shot the alligators and beat the water to scare off the barracuda; he also is likely the only man who snuck into prison in French Guiana to sleep a few nights with the long term prisoners.

Halliburton is an absolute optimist, he is ridiculously determined, refusing to accept no, or to give up - a trait which probably led to his death some 10 years after this book was published. He was in his late twenties in this South & Central American journey, and the travel was around 1929, the book being published in 1930. In 1939, in a specially commissioned 75 foot Chinese junk he set off from Hong Kong bound for San Francisco. The junk never arrived, and he was presumed dead - at 39.

I have a couple more Halliburton books unread in my shelf, and I can see I will need to limit myself. He wrote quite a few books - eight or nine I think, and I would recommend picking up a copy of any Halliburton book to anyone who is amused by this type of adventure and exploration.

5 stars!