Grab the Nearest Book...

[trysail]

"...Now, more than five hundred years after his birth, when the day of Columbus' first landfall in the New World is celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the Americas, his fame and reputation may be considered secure, despite the efforts of armchair navigators and nationalist maniacs to denigrate him. A glance at a map of the Caribbean may remind you of what he accomplished: discovery of the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola on the First Voyage; discovery of the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the south coast of Cuba on his Second, as well as founding a permanent European colony; discovery of Trinidad and the Spanish Main, on his Third; and on the Fourth Voyage, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Columbia. No navigator in history, not even Magellan, discovered so much territory hitherto unknown to Europeans. None other so effectively translated his north-south experience under the Portuguese flag to the first east-west voyage, across the Atlantic. None other started so many things from which stem the history of the United States, of Canada, and a score of American republics.

And do not forget that sailing west to the Orient was his idea, pursued relentlessly for six years before he had the means to try it..."​

-Samuel Eliot Morison.
The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages 1492-1616
New York, NY 1974.​

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I've read Morison's accounts of the European discovery, exploration and exploitation of the Americas several times before. As I embark on another sail in the Caribees, I thought to re-aquaint myself with Cristobal Colon's (Columbus') four voyages to and through the region.

Say what you will about Columbus, there's no denying that he was an extraordinary sailor. The idea of sailing off into the completely unknown through uncharted, reef-strewn waters is mind-boggling. The man undertook a calculated high risk enterprise and succeeded.

There were no second chances for errors of seamanship, navigation or piloting. It was a very simple and stark proposition:

you wreck the ship— you die.​

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[trysail]

"...As a measure of dietary intake, the calorie has a number of failings. For one thing, it gives no indication of whether a food is actually good for you or not. The concept of 'empty' calories was quite unknown in the early twentieth century. Nor does conventional calorie measurement account for how foods are absorbed as they pass through the body. A great many nuts, for instance, are less completely digested than other foods, which means they leave behind fewer calories than are consumed. You may eat 170 calories worth of almonds, but keep only 130 of them. The other 40 sluice through without, as it were, touching the sides..."​

-Bill Bryson.
The Body: A Guide For Occupants
New York, NY 2019.​

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Years ago, whilst wandering through a bookstore, I spied a book titled A Walk In The Woods: Rediscovering America On The Appalachian Trail. I'd never heard of the author before.

Having hiked major portions of the AT at one time or another, I was intrigued. On a lark, being flush with cash at the time, I bought the book, read it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. As it turned out, the book sold well and ended up as a best-seller (it was Bryson's breakthrough work). While an enjoyable read, it did not strike me as the work of a particularly gifted writer and I consigned the author to the category of "One Hit Wonders."

(Obviously) I did not imagine that Bryson would go on to write a long string of best-selling books on an impressively wide range of topics from the truly magnificent, incredibly erudite A Short History of Nearly Everything to Shakespeare: The World As Stage to Bryson's Dictionary For Writers and Editors.

Almost needless to say, as I continued to read his books, my opinion of him changed dramatically. I now accord him near-genius status and, without hesitation, read nearly everything he publishes.

With this book, Bryson has penned yet another highly-readable and informative work. The Body is written in plain English (there are, of course, the normal Latin anatomical words), is quite accessible to laymen and is chock full of fascinating material.


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[sally_sparrow]

The answers to those questions are: Yes, yes, and I believe I do.

 

[Justgettingbi]

The bald man was staring at him with cyanosed eyes, his hands clenching and unclenching on the splintered and gouged surface of his table.


(Source: The Gunslinger by Stephen King)

 

[Dirtydave1974]

“Mr Drew wanted me to give you a message,” Mark said, hand clenching into a fist.

Star of Fate by David T Myers

A bit obscure, but was the closest book on hand.