How I Found Livingstone

Just a note: This IS a very nice compact edition. Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.8 x 1.6 inches. Dont worry about the font size, as it is large enough to read easily. The pictures are quite well done, including engravings from Stanleys original edition and color prints and maps. The margins are one-half inch, so if you are one to write notes, this will be a little cramped for you. This is a straight-forward tale that reads like the adventure story it is.

You hear about this in school, but you dont learn a whole lot about Livingston and Stanley. The book puts a whole different light on things, and you not only learn about the finding but all the details of getting there which is really most of the story. This is a story of not just a wander through the jungle but about how they had to overcome difficulties almost insurmountable. I am glad to have found this book for kindle.

I have found this book extremely interesting from the point of view of total lack of knowledge of what actually went on in Africa at that time and the very difficult conditions encountered by those who chose to venture into such an inhospitable continent. As if the conditions were not enough to contend with there were also the natives with their requirements in order to pass through their land. Sounds a bit like how things are today!!! Having said that I found it written in the very much journalistic form rather than as a novel. I now note this was the purpose of the writing in general. All in all a very good and enlightening read.

I had heard the famous line when Stanley met Livingstone in Africa after a long search: Doctor Livingstone, I presume? This is the true story of Stanleys search, as told by him. It was an amazing adventure - though one most of us would prefer to experience vicariously. Stanley was working for a New York newspaper when his boss told him to look for the explorer Dr. Livingstone, who had not been heard from in years and was variously thought to be dead, in danger, or avoiding contact. Stanley simply picked up and went, without hesitation, on the way following instructions to visit and write about the opening of the Suez Canal, the sights of lower and upper Egypt, Warrens excavations in Jerusalem, Persia, and India. His real challenge started when he reached Africa and had to organize an expedition to the interior. Turns out that money was useless in the interior. To pay for food and tribute to local chiefs, he had to purchase and carry large bales of cloth and strings of beads - different types and colors for the various tribes whose territories he expected to pass through. And then he had to hire many native bearers to carry these heavy loads - with extra cloth to pay for their food, too. Of course there were other difficulties - malaria, greedy local chiefs, wars, difficult terrain, floods, ... . Sit in your comfortable chair in your screened home and read all about this most challenging and uncomfortable trip. Happy reading!

Very interesting true life storey of great historical importance. A must for history buffs. This detailled account of the story behind Dr Livingstone, I presume as spoken by Stanley brings to life the journeys taken by reporters of yesteryear.

This is a really boring book. The author, convinced of his own white superiority goes on and on making racist remarks. For example, when he was trying to build a bridge, he remarks, Be sure it was made quickly, for where the civilized white is found, a difficulty must vanish. At another point, he remarks Every pound of meat, and every three spoonfuls of musk or porridge I ate in Africa contained at least ten grains of sand. Ferajji was considerably exercised at a threat I made to him that on arrival at Zanzibar, I would get my gret English doctor there to open my stomach and count every grain of sand found in it, for each grain of which Ferraji should be charged one dollar. Imagine an explorer, even a racist one, complaining about sand in his food. Boy were those Victorian explorers used to luxury at the expense of native slaves. Ironically, at the same time he imagines himself to be a liberal, goes on and on about what wrongs his workers (whom he wouldnt call slaves, as he explains, in all his magnanimity, but wouldnt mind flogging or chaining) were idiots and ungrateful. The author shows the lack of respect for nature shown by most Europeans who were actually hunters and imagined themselves to be botanists and zoologists. For example, he writes: After seeing the work properly commenced, I sat down on a condemned canoe to amuse myself with the hippopotami by peppering their thick skulls with my No. 12 smooth bore. I found this statement quite disturbing. He misses out the entire point. Not a single map in the book. No mention of distances. No introduction to the origins and customs of the different tribes. I have read other travelogues of the time period, and while I have found all of them racial, many of them had excellent descriptions of the landscape, geographical features, distances, and anthropological customs. This book, unfortunately lacked all of them. Edit 1: A few years after the review, I happened to read more about this man in Hochschilds book Leopolds Ghost. Stanley grew up in Wales, and moved to America where he lied about his Welsh origin. He fought in both sides of the American Civil war, and was a deserter. Throughout his life, he was given to lying about his achievements and blowing them up way beyond proportion. He made most of his money inventing fantastic tales about his travels. During his travels, he himself indulged in a fair bit of tyrrany, and single handedly enabled King Leopold (of Belgium) set up a murderous regime in the Congo that was responsible for the death of about 10 million Congolesse.

This is a really interesting book worthy of your reading, and very informative. I really like reading about missionaries from early times in history and what all they went through on little or nothing.

I really liked this book but I gave 4 stars because he often seem to ramble into other stories. It was not hard to follow but I thought is had to many hmmmmmm asides I guess. But the look into Africa and the their way of life and especially the way they were thought of at the time and most especially the way they treated. I know that today it is still often thought that way and about our African-Americans here in the USA. It was hard to read because of the frankness in the truth. I do whole heartedly recommend this book to everyone. It should be required reading.

This is Henry Stanleys first hand account of the expedition to find Dr. David Livingstone who went missing in Africa. The book is both an account of his search and a travelogue of Africa during the Victorian period.

This first hand account is the definitive work of how Stanley found Livingstone as well as conditions surrounding the exploration of eastern Africa in the 19th century.