I love David McCullough's books because they are histories and so you really learn something, but they read like a novel. He has a gift for organizing information so that the pages seem to turn on their own.
I actually listened to this one on tape.. same concept though... and the reader is great. The only thing is that the tape version of the book is an abridgement and I hate that. I know I am missing important details like, I know that McCullough must have talked about what this canal would mean to the major economies of the world, but it is barely mentioned in the abridgement. Somebody read the long version and fill me in.
I like books like this though, you know the kind where there is an impossible task and then people just rise to the occasion and accomplish it anyway.
I found the section about disease particulary interesting. Yellow fever and Malaria were terribly common in Panama until they discovered ways to eradicate or atleast greatly reduce the mosquitoe population. They were just learning that those diseases were spread by mosquitoes instead of the popularly held idea that it was bad air.
In the end, how they put together the moving parts for the locks and how they work.... fascinating stuff.
2 comments:
I am currently reading this. Having seen the Panama Canal as a child, I have been fascinated by the history in this book.
This reminds me of my mother in law who, as an American, was raised in the Panama Canal Zone. She had amazing experiences.
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