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313 reviews for:
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon
Kevin Fedarko
4.34 AVERAGE
313 reviews for:
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon
Kevin Fedarko
4.34 AVERAGE
This book is full of adventure, chronicling the fastest journey through the Grand Canyon on a watercraft. I would have rated it higher except for the fact that the first 100 pages were a struggle. The author’s writing style was very cumbersome and he seemed to take two or three sentences to say what could have been said more simply with one. The book provided the exploration history of the Grand Canyon, and while interesting, was a struggle to read through. Once the book was talking about present day activities the pace picked up and the writing style became more casual. Overall I really enjoyed the book. I would have rated it higher if the first part of the book weren’t so slow.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
A little dry to start, but once I was into it I loved this engineering aspect of the dam and the story was amazing of the actual trip down the canyon
SO GOOD. A history lesson about the Grand Canyon and a thrilling story that I had such a hard time tearing my eyeballs off of that I almost missed my bus stop on more than one occasion
Loved this book! The story is captivating, pulled from multiple parts of history & perspectives to give a complete presentation of the speed run.
This book is a masterpiece! If you love wild places, if you love water, if you love adventure, if you’ve ever pushed the limits, if you got a little geek in you, you must read this book!
A delight for anyone who has been fortunate enough to experience the Grand Canyon from a raft and enjoys a bit of history. Fedarko's style reminds me of Pollan and Gladwell; he presents every turn of the story with a deep, curiosity-driven dive into background information and character-setting. He loves his descriptions, and I love them, too.
Expecting a mild adventure read, I ordered this book based on some comments in the Outside book club Facebook group. I didn’t expect it to be so dense looking! But once I started reading I was enamored by the stories of the history of the canyon and those that experienced and changed it over the years. I knew almost nothing about the Grand Canyon or the Colorado River watershed when I picked up this book, now I’m swimming in information and loving it! Well-told, deeply-researched, engaging to read book. Recommended!
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
I really loved parts of this: the dam engineering, the beautiful writing about nature, the suspense of The Emerald Mile's speed run. However, as an impatient reader waiting for that speed run to happen, I would have enjoyed it more if there was less lead up. Definitely a well researched and interesting read, I'd recommend this to anyone who loves rivers, engineering, or just a good adventure story.