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jenbsbooks 's review for:
Frozen in Time
by Owen Beattie
This one is likely not a book that would have crossed my radar ... but my bookclub read a fictionalized story of a rescue/serach mission (manned by women) for the Franklin expedition [book:The Arctic Fury|49181796] - so I recognized the subject when I saw this book/blurb. It was also mentioned in [book:Into the Wild|1845] - I likely wouldn't have registered the reference if not for reading the bookclub novel.
The audio was available on Hoopla, and I was able to get the Kindle copy from my library. In the Kindle copy, there was an intro by Margaret Atwood, which was very interesting. It was not in the audio. I'm not sure if the intro to the Kindle "revised and updated" edition was after the audio was recorded? The audio was updated, as there were references to the 2003 Columbia disaster (which obviously could not have been in the original, published in 1987 - per copyright, there were several updates with the latest being 2014). I would have liked the introduction to be dated, to know exactly when it was written.
This felt fairly "scholarly" to me ... like instead of just listening to the audio while multi-tasking, I should really be studying the text, taking notes. I have to admit that I probably wouldn't do particularly well if quizzed, to remember exact dates, names, etc, although I certainly have more general information in my head than before listening.
From "The Arctic Fury" novel ... another expedition was hired by Franklin's wife, in an attempt to rescue if possible, or at least find out what happened. In THIS book, there was a statement "There is something unnerving about people who can't be located, dead or alive." Closure is needed, and as there were (fact, not fiction) attempted rescues, and follow-up expeditions, a hope to at least learn from previous failures.
The arctic conditions of the possible Northwest Passage were challenging in their own right - an attempt to find an alternate route from England to India by crossing the top of the Arctic, rather than having to navigate all the way around South America. Beyond battling the cold and ice, food was a concern ... people knew of scurvy, the need for fresh food, but "new" technology of "tinned" food had been thought to combat the problem. Described as "embalmed provisions" ... doesn't sound appealing! The main takeaway from this book, is that the tinned packs, soldered badly, caused lead poisoning (this had not been mentioned at all the The Arctic Fury, but that book was also based in the late 1800s and they wouldn't have known the cause). Cannibalism was mentioned in both though. Ironically, in Into The Wild, while not lead poisoning, it WAS poisoning/starvation causing the ultimate demise there.
The audio narrator had a very strong British accent - I had been having my audio sped up, but had to slow it down to the regular 1.0 for this listen. I loved the pronunciation of some words ... invent-ory, communal, contributed, syncope and of course aluminum. Loved the word "debility" ... I've heard "debilitating" and "disability" but not "debility". Cache ... a little confused as it was pronounced two different ways (cash, cash-ay). I was a little confused, as the text did seem British (several spellings ... haemorrhages, odour, etc) yet all measurements were given in the "odd to the rest of the world" American foot/miles, with the "metre" equivalent listed in parenthesis. Seems like it should have just listed the metric?
While the listen was interesting, I was glad to finish it up and move on. Looking on GoodReads I see there are SO MANY more books on this subject, both fiction and non-fiction. I might look into some additional reads, but would need to space the books out.
The audio was available on Hoopla, and I was able to get the Kindle copy from my library. In the Kindle copy, there was an intro by Margaret Atwood, which was very interesting. It was not in the audio. I'm not sure if the intro to the Kindle "revised and updated" edition was after the audio was recorded? The audio was updated, as there were references to the 2003 Columbia disaster (which obviously could not have been in the original, published in 1987 - per copyright, there were several updates with the latest being 2014). I would have liked the introduction to be dated, to know exactly when it was written.
This felt fairly "scholarly" to me ... like instead of just listening to the audio while multi-tasking, I should really be studying the text, taking notes. I have to admit that I probably wouldn't do particularly well if quizzed, to remember exact dates, names, etc, although I certainly have more general information in my head than before listening.
From "The Arctic Fury" novel ... another expedition was hired by Franklin's wife, in an attempt to rescue if possible, or at least find out what happened. In THIS book, there was a statement "There is something unnerving about people who can't be located, dead or alive." Closure is needed, and as there were (fact, not fiction) attempted rescues, and follow-up expeditions, a hope to at least learn from previous failures.
The arctic conditions of the possible Northwest Passage were challenging in their own right - an attempt to find an alternate route from England to India by crossing the top of the Arctic, rather than having to navigate all the way around South America. Beyond battling the cold and ice, food was a concern ... people knew of scurvy, the need for fresh food, but "new" technology of "tinned" food had been thought to combat the problem. Described as "embalmed provisions" ... doesn't sound appealing! The main takeaway from this book, is that the tinned packs, soldered badly, caused lead poisoning (this had not been mentioned at all the The Arctic Fury, but that book was also based in the late 1800s and they wouldn't have known the cause). Cannibalism was mentioned in both though. Ironically, in Into The Wild, while not lead poisoning, it WAS poisoning/starvation causing the ultimate demise there.
The audio narrator had a very strong British accent - I had been having my audio sped up, but had to slow it down to the regular 1.0 for this listen. I loved the pronunciation of some words ... invent-ory, communal, contributed, syncope and of course aluminum. Loved the word "debility" ... I've heard "debilitating" and "disability" but not "debility". Cache ... a little confused as it was pronounced two different ways (cash, cash-ay). I was a little confused, as the text did seem British (several spellings ... haemorrhages, odour, etc) yet all measurements were given in the "odd to the rest of the world" American foot/miles, with the "metre" equivalent listed in parenthesis. Seems like it should have just listed the metric?
While the listen was interesting, I was glad to finish it up and move on. Looking on GoodReads I see there are SO MANY more books on this subject, both fiction and non-fiction. I might look into some additional reads, but would need to space the books out.