Footscray Mechanics' Institute Library

BOOK REVIEW: "N4 Down: The Hunt for the Arctic Airship Italia" by Mark Piesing.

A fascinating yarn of daring do, of which I had never heard of.

The book tells a tale of Umberto Nobile, an Italian engineer, and his adventures in the Arctic. Almost Tin Tin-esque, the man went to the Arctic in a form of dirigible. A first attempt at reaching the North Pole led to a overflight from Norway to Alaska. A second attempt ended in disaster. The Second airship, the N-4 of the title, crashes into the ice sheet after overflying the North Pole on its first attempt.

A dirigible was a gas filled balloon with a gondalier cabin underneath. The N-4 had 16 men aboard. When it crashed the cabin area hit the ices and 10 crew ended up strewn around, while the gas filled section flew away with 6 crew never to be seen again! The nine survivors then were stranded with a small tent and some limited supplies in extreme conditions. After failure to secure radio communication three crew attempted to walk out. One perished and was perhaps subject to cannibalism. The others remained on the ice. Nobile the leader was badly injured and must have suffered terribly. The stranding was a cause celebre in the international media and there were many players from several nations involved in the rescue . Russian icebreakers, (who rescued the two survivors who attempted to walk out), German planes et al, risked life and limb to reach the lost balloonists. Scandinavian pilots eventually saved most of the stranded men.

The story is much more than this, with the exploration of the Arctic generally being big part of the story, as told with the personalities of numerous ego maniacs in the mix.
Not least was that of Mussolini and his henchmen as Nobile was not one of the in crowd and his success not seemingly part of the plan. Didn't help Nobiles cause that when recued and back in Italy he seems to have given Mussolini a bit of a spray. He eventually worked in America and Russia, was eventually exonerated and lived to a ripe successful old age
The politics of Scandinavian vs Italian players gets detailed by Piesing, as does the intra Scandinavian rivalry. Amundsen is the most notable. A classic explorer who went to the Antarctica and the Arctic with dog sleds. Leader of numerous adventurous sorties by land and air, who then loses his life in the search for N-4. American millionaires both male and female enter the stage as detailed by the author. The bleak freezing environment is another player in the work - no land but ice and more ice. Australia's own Hubert Wilkins get some text time also.

The islands off Norway and Russia were a base for the operations. This took me down the rabbit hole of geography of todays Arctic. The islands are still there but the ice isn't. Cook looked for the NW passage in the Pacific. The ice was hundreds of feet thick. Earlier stories of ancient Greek voyagers encountering ice miles from where it now is in the North Atlantic. The new route from the Pacific to the Atlantic between Russia and Canada is regularly used by commercial bulk carriers nowadays, and is growing more popular as the ice continues to recede. Ports exist on the Russian arctic coast. Russia has huge atomic powered ice breakers to es**rt these ships so the seasonal passage achievable extends. It is only a matter of time before this shorter route competes with the Suez Canal.

The book could do with a good edit. Places where the text babbles on about pet dogs barking at polar bears, or the gulls swooping and calling AGAIN spoil the narrative. Equally at crunch point where N-4 crashed details are suddenly scant in my mind. That said fascinating yarn of fortitude and bravery by many assorted souls in pursuit of understanding how our planet actually is!

Another great new book in the FMI library
Review by Neil.

Thanks to our members and invited guests who filled the Reading Room last Friday for a most informative talk by Mary Healy - promoting her latest book "Heffernan of the Shamrock"

Some of our military books in our current ANZAC Day display in the Reading Room. Some of the titles in our catalogue here: https://bookmark.central.sa.edu.au/bmcpac.exe?dbname=fmi&pages=fmi&searchfor=military&keyword.x=8&keyword.y=18

Yes we have all the Kerry Greenwood books in our collection. Every series, not just the world famous Phryne Fisher Mysteries.

Mary Healy Book Launch - Friday 29th May 1pm

Book cover art & Studio Ghibli film poster for "When Marnie Was There", the 1967 book by Joan G. Robinson. A classic recently added to our collection, and enjoyed by our members.

Scenes from Japanese Lives refers to the celebrated 1991 essay collection (Geisha, Gangster, Neighbor, Nun) by renowned cultural critic and film historian Donald Richie. The book provides a masterful, intimate, and often startling mosaic of ordinary and extraordinary Japanese people he encountered during his decades living in Japan.

Donald Richie (1924 — 2013) was the doyen of writing, in English, on Japanese cinema. He produced a book on Japanese lives. Richie resided in Japan for generations and had a good grasp of spoken Japanese. His book is a useful guide to the many of us who are visiting Japan; forty million tourists in a yea,r and over one million Australians amongst them. This includes our very own librarian. Many of the visitors are OK with temples and the food and the skiing perhaps, but have no real knowledge of average Japanese people, and how they live. This book could be bit of an eye opener to some, but certainly informs the uninitiated as to the realities of their life.

The biographies in the book are short and easily readable. They include famous artists and writers such as Mishima, and Kawabata who won a Nobel Prize and/or were short listed. FMI has couple of Mishima's novels for loan if you are interested. Other bios. are of common folk e.g. the boxer who joined a gang, or the girl that did Richie's hair. A story of an old man's last consolations in a bar is moving and completely humanistic in its take on life. Also there are bios of the good and the great from the world of cinema.
Akira Kurosawa who made Ran, or his often main star Mifune. Mifune appears in many classic Japanese films eg the 'Seven Samurai', upon which the 'Magnificent Seven' was based as well, as a nifty little movie called 'Red Sun', set in the cowboy times in the USA.

There are 40 odd vignettes in this book, and I suggest it is good introduction to the lived experience of a country far removed from the visitor's realities. Although a little dated perhaps as it was published in 1987, it is still a great little read generally. Come on in and check it out! Review by Neil

Next Free Talk to members:
MARY HEALY - Book Launch Fri 29th May 1pm "HEFFERNAN OF THE SHAMROCK"

BOOK REVIEW : "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.

The adventures of 'Huck' Finn follow on from 'Tom Sawyer", a previous book by Twain. Mark Twain is the pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens who was an American author who published at end of 19th century. Huck's adventures are a key book in development of the American novel. In Tom Sawyer the two main characters were Huck and Tom, who end up phenomenally rich as a result of their exploits. The version reviewed is from series 'The Great Writers', of which the FMI library has eighteen, many of which were donated by members.

The story follows the young Huck . He is residing with a 'decent family' unlike his own, and attending school much to his chagrin. His father, a drunken illiterate ne'er-do-well, is after the money and kidnaps Huck who stages his own death and flees alone. While hiding out on and island, he meets Jim, a slave of a family friend who has fled as he is for sale. The two have numerous adventures along the Mississippi river.

The river forms a back drop to the story. The area is based on Hannibal, a town which still exists in Missouri between the states of Missouri and Illinois. The two are on and off rafts and canoes as they roll down towards Jims objective of the mouth of the Ohio river, so that Jim can escape to a free state where he can be freed from slavery. They overshoot and continue on downstream. Huck is the novel's narrator.

While the the key character is a child in years (if not experience) this is not a childrens book as the author Twain said. There are childrens versions which many of you may be familiar with. The characters speak in the patois of the time. This makes for slow reading in places and work on colloquialisms take time. The tone of the book is humerous though many of the yarns are tragic and violent. One set of stories is a family feud which comes to tragic denoument. Another where is the raft run down by a river boat, while another focuses on a pair of grifters Huck get lumbered with. Tales of violence include murder, and tar and feathering. These same grifters in one scheme sell Jim and the book ends with the reuniting of the two boys and Jim's rescue.

The book could be called the 'Adventures of Jim' as he is such a part of the narrative. The book was published in 1880's but is set in antebellum time 40 years earlier. Twain's family held slaves and Twain knew many slaves personally. Slavery in the USA had a long history by 1860 - it is estimated that 4 million, mostly African heritage people, were slaves. This was chattel slavery where one could be bought and sold, and it was hereditary ie children of slaves were slaves. Some states were 'free', others slave-based with a north - east south- east division on the Mason Dixon line.

A complex and contentious issue. It lead to and took a major civil war to resolve the issue. Jim is in a cushy position for a slave but his owner needs money and plans to sell him. This like in 'Uncle Toms Cabin' an earlier novel by Beecher Stowe, which could have lead to a much much tougher situation, and also would have lead to separation to Jim's wife and children, who it seems were separately owned and held on local properties. Jim expresses his desire to gain freedom, so as to work save money and return to purchase the freedom of his family. This paradoxically leaves Huck in a quandary as to whether he should continue to cooperate with Jim, as to Huck's white folk mentality this was a moral hazard. At one point in the book Huck reasons that Jim is a good guy (not in those words) so he is conflicted.

The book uses the "n" word more than 200 times. It is more common than in a current rap song. It is used to refer to Jim and others of color. If you are offended by this word this is not a book for you.

The novel is replete with a mishmash of interesting characters from the time. Foibles and eccenticites are keystone of some of the humour. One yarn has a comic take on biblical stories utilising some amazing misinformation and imagination. As is the role of truth. The ending of the book for me is a bit weak but parts of the book are very enjoyable. Incidentally the character of Jim as been developed in the book 'James' by Percival Everett and the perspective of narrator handed to him I understand. This book is on order at the FMI library for those interested.

Thanks to wikipedia and AI for background on slavery. All errors are mine. Review by Neil