Chapter 13 - Teddy Roosevelt

Hello my book-loving friends!  I am rising from the internet graveyard, shaking off the blogging dust and resurrecting my forsaken (but still loved) By the Book blog.  Hopefully you are willing to climb back aboard and read on!  Things have been, and still are, busy but I will try to get back to putting up a review more frequently.  And I am still accepting guest reviews!!!  Anyone and everyone is welcome to submit a guest review of a recently-read book, or just one of their favorites.  Now, on to the review...

Of all the historical figures I have learned about in my life, I don't know if there are any who are more fascinating and interesting to me than Theodore Roosevelt.  You may remember him as the President of the United States who had the small round glasses and the round face.  Or you may remember hearing that "teddy" bears got their name after

You may also have once heard that he was an early proponent of national parks in the US.  And you may remember him as the sickly old man who served as President during World War II.  Of course, in this last case you would be wrong.  That was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  But in any case, the other things are all true.  Yet, they don't even scratch the surface of the man who is Teddy Roosevelt.  Interested?  Let me tell you a little more...

Although he was born into an established, well-to-do family, Teddy had a physically-challenging childhood where he suffered from, among other things, a debilitating asthma condition.  From this meek beginning, he rose to overcome his physical trials, and pretty much any other trial that stood in his way.  By the time he was my age, he had accomplished an unbelievable list of things, including: became a self-taught biologist and naturalist (writing a paper on the history of insects before he was 10!), became well-versed in hunting and taxidermy, graduated from Harvard, married and had his first child, became a widower (2 days after the birth of his daughter), studied law at Columbia, lost both parents to death, became an influential New York State assemblyman, investing in and built a cattle ranch in the Badlands of North Dakota, published a naval history of the 

war of 1812 to great acclaim (he would go on to publish many books), and many other remarkable things.  And remember, this was all before he was 30 years old.  It makes me wonder what I have wasted all my time doing thus far.  From there, he was to serve on the unpopular but important US Civil Service Commission, president of the New York City police commissioner board, and assistant secretary of the navy,  all before he gained further fame by successfully leading the "Rough Riders" during the Spanish-American war.  During all of this, he found time to marry for a second time, have several more children, and publish extensively on an incredible variety of topics (government reform, hunting expeditions, historical essays, biology and conservation, to name a few).  Let me remind you that all of this was before he was to become vice president and then, following the assassination of President McKinley, President of the United States at the young age of 42 (still the record for youngest president).  

Later in life, after he was out of politics, he was to explore Africa on an extensive expedition where he and his comrades killed and collected over 11,000 animals.  What?  Is that right, you ask?  Yes.  And that's not the end of it.  He also completed an incredible exploratory expedition through the Amazon jungle of South America to chart the previously unexplored course of the River of Doubt (later renamed the Rio Roosevelt in his honor).  During this journey alone the ex-president faced hostile indian groups, deadly river rapids, unknown diseases, insufficient food, murderous crew members, and the fear of the

unknown course that lay ahead of them.  Ultimately he made a narrow escape from death and returned to his wife and family in the US.  Whew...I'm tired just thinking about this man.  And I haven't even mentioned a single thing from his presidency.  Do you know why?  Because I don't know anything about his presidency.  Not yet at least.  So far I have read three books on Teddy Roosevelt and not one of them has covered a single day of his presidency.  There is enough interesting stuff about this guy to write a whole library of books, even without the presidency.  The books I have read so far are:

Mornings on Horseback:  The Story of an Extraordinary Family, A Vanquished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt - by David McCullough.  If you've read my first post on this blog, you know that McCullough is one of my favorites.  And this book won the National Book Award.  It covers Roosevelt's early childhood up until his mid-twenties.  I enjoyed this book very much.  However, I must say that I enjoyed the following book even more:

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt - by Edmund Morris.  This book won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award when it was published in 1980.  It covers Roosevelt from birth up until the moment when he hears about McKinley's assassination.  This was a fantastic book and I enjoyed it very much.  I would highly recommend this to anyone.  The third book I read about Roosevelt is:

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey - by Candice Millard.  While this book didn't receive the accolades of the previous two, it was also a very fascinating, well-written book.  This book recounts the remarkable journey through South America that I mentioned.  This is a quick read that I would recommend to anyone who wants to know more about Teddy's search for adventure.

There are many other books on Teddy Roosevelt out there (such an interesting subject matter is sure to attract a lot of attention).  I am anxious to read Edmund Morris' 2nd volume in his planned trilogy of Roosevelt titled Theodore Rex (it's sitting on my shelf).  I'm also anxious to hear from any of you who have read other interesting books about Teddy Roosevelt.  So, if you have a good one to add to the list, please add a comment to this post, or email it to me so that I can add it.  

So. in conclusion, I think that there are few people as accomplished, interesting, and captivating as Theodore Roosevelt.  So if you haven't yet read anything by or about him, I highly recommend you Buy (one of) these Books!

Chapter 11 - A Sense of the World

Do you like to travel? Do you consider yourself "well" traveled? And when I say “travel” I mean for pleasure, not because you have to for work. If so, how many countries and cultures would you say you have visited? And what would be the total number of miles you have traveled in your lifetime, assuming you summed up the total amount of mileage you have covered on each trip? For example, let’s say you went on a trip from Philadelphia to London (a trip I would love to make). That puts you at about 3550 miles each way, for a total of 7100 round trip. Add in a few side day trips and you might add 7500 miles for that trip. Not bad. So, what would your lifetime total be?

Would you be impressed if I told you about a man that traveled a quarter of a million miles in his lifetime? Yes, 250,000 miles. And that he visited over 200 separate cultures? I doubt any of us come close to that. And what if I told you this man traveled without the help of airplanes, steam ships or railroads, instead traveling on foot, horseback, in carriages or on boats powered by the wind? Impressed yet? And what if I told you that this incredible world traveler was totally and utterly blind? Astonished? Amazed? Then read on!

The man I have described is James Holman, a British naval officer who lived in the early 1800s, who lost his sight early in his adulthood. His story is told in A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts. This is a quick, enjoyable book about this remarkable, if nearly forgotten, man. Talk about challenging yourself and not letting life’s obstacles slow you down! Besides losing his sight to an unknown illness, Holman also suffered great pains in his joints. Soon after becoming blind, he decided to travel south through Europe to get some fresh Mediterranean air. His doctors thought it would do his joints well and that he might be able to find some treatment for his eyes. While he never was to regain his sight, Holman discovered that traveling was a great thrill to him and invigorated his body and spirit incredibly. After returning to England, he couldn’t wait to be on the road again. He made a lengthy trip to Russia and eastward out into Siberia, attempted to complete a circumnavigation of the globe. When the Tsar’s personal messenger retrieved him in Siberia, brought him westward and exiled him in Poland, Holman’s circumnavigation plans had to be put on hold. But not for long. He soon left on what would become a wild, five-year journey westward that eventually took him around the entire globe, with memorable stops off the coast of Africa, in Brazil, Madagascar and China. His last major excursion was through Scandinavia. Although his books describing his journeys were often met with criticism ("How can a blind man possibly write a travel narrative? He didn’t see anything!"), Holman insisted that his sightlessness allowed him to experience and absorb his surroundings through the other senses in a more complete manner than if he was relying on sight alone. A very interesting concept. The author sums up Holman this way: "Alone, sightless, with no prior command of native languages and with only a wisp of funds, he had forged a path equivalent to wandering to the moon." Pretty remarkable!

I’ll stop here so I don’t give away the whole story. This is a really wonderful book and if you want to hear more about Holman’s unlikely travels, the interesting and often famous people he met, his deaf friend and traveling companion (could there be a more unlikely duo?), his knighthood or his unique method of tapping a stick to "see" his surroundings (echolocation), I recommend you Buy the Book! I don’t think you’ll regret it. And who knows, Holman may just inspire you to get out and add a few miles to your lifetime total!

Chapter 5 - The Prophet Joseph Smith

I apologize for the month-long break. I have been busy at school/work, but am happy to report that I was successful in completing my thesis proposal on March 28th. Hooray! Next big step will be my thesis defense in 18-24 months or so, if things go as planned.

Today I decided to review some biographies of Joseph Smith that I have read. I think everyone should read at least one biography of the Prophet. He has such a fascinating life and we get so much more appreciation for what he accomplished when we learn about all he went through during his lifetime. He truly was a remarkable man! There are a lot of biographies of Joseph Smith out there, but I would like to mention three that I have read. While all three are quite different in approach and style, I enjoyed each of them in their own way.

Life of Joseph Smith the Prophetby George Q. Cannon was the first of the three that I read. George Q. Cannon was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the age of 33 and was later a counselor to four church presidents – Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. His biography is unique compared to most others in that he was a contemporary of Joseph Smith, having met the Prophet and known many of the people who were intimately involved in the early history of the church. Cannon’s biography is full of praise and admiration for Joseph Smith, and serves as a testimony-of-sorts to the divine call and work of the Prophet. Of the three biographies, Cannon’s is certainly the most biased, with a pro-church, pro-Joseph Smith stance. This, I should say, is not a bad thing; it’s just the nature of the writing style of the book. I read this book a few years ago and really enjoyed the stories and descriptions in it. It is a wonderful biography of the Prophet of the restoration.

Joseph Smith An American Prophet by John Henry Evans was the next biography I read. I don’t know anything about the author other than that John Henry…he could hammer…he could sing. Oh wait, different John Henry. So, no, I don’t know anything about the author other than that he wrote several books on church-related topics. (If anyone does know more about him, please let me know!). Besides his biography of Joseph Smith, I also have a book of his entitled One Hundred Years of Mormonism. His biography of the Prophet was printed around 1933 (I don’t have my copy with me right now to check) and had a much more ‘scientific’ style to it than Cannon’s. By scientific, I mean it was unbiased, with the facts presented clearly, and interpretation often left to the reader. I really enjoyed the style of this book and felt like I was reconfirming my faith in the prophet throughout the book, but not because of any convincing that Evans did. Rather, he presented the facts in such a way that I drew my own testimony-building conclusions throughout. I’m not sure if the style of this book will be enjoyed as much by everyone, but for me and my scientific mind it was a delight to read.

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman was the last biography of the Prophet that I read. Bushman is an emeritus professor of Columbia University and a patriarch in the church. He wrote one early biography of Joseph Smith called Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism but Rough Stone Rolling is a more complete, full account. This book is fairly new, having come out at the end of 2005. The subtitle of this book is “a cultural biography of Mormonism’s founder,” which is a good description of what the book seeks to accomplish. The book tells all about the life of Joseph Smith but also presents the historical and cultural context in which he lived. By providing a more complete picture of the people, places and ideas that surrounded him, Bushman is better able to help us understand events in the Prophet’s life. I really enjoyed learning more about the cultural environment of the early 1800s and I think it does give significant insight to understanding Joseph Smith and what he did. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is that no stone is left unturned. Bushman doesn’t hide or shy away from any of the ‘controversial’ or complicated aspects of Joseph Smith or the early Church. Rather, he discusses these topics but then gives his interpretation or understanding, which always seemed to strengthen my view of the topic. I read somewhere that Bushman said he wanted to present Joseph Smith as he was, “warts and all.” But he does so in a very intelligent, positive way. (If you happen to like this book, you should also check out David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory Prince and Robert Wright, a fascinating biography of David O. McKay that I’ll review sometime in the future).

So, in conclusion, there are some great biographies out there on the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I have given a few comments on three of these, all of which were quite different in style, but all very enjoyable to read. I would highly recommend any of these three to anyone. If you’re interested in reading one, I would suggest picking the one that seems to match your style most. Whether you pick one of these three or not, if you haven’t yet read a biography of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I would highly recommend you Buy the book!

At this point, I should mention that I am far from being an expert on Joseph Smith or Church history and many of you are much more knowledgeable than me. I would love to hear feedback or comments from any of you who would like to add to my thoughts on these three biographies. (Especially you Ben Pykles, who worked with Bushman and who’s work is referenced in Rough Stone Rolling!). AND, if any of you have read other biographies of Joseph Smith, please write up a short summary/review that I can post on the blog for others to read. It would be most appreciated and would be really great to have reviews of additional biographies.

(If you are looking for earlier copies of either of the first two books, I recommend Eborn Books or Benchmark Books in SLC.)