People used to cross the ocean in soggy piles of wood.

Hell, they probably still do.

The first David Grann book I ever read was KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. It was a best-of-2022 book for me, totally blew my mind, covering a series of murders I’d never heard of in eastern Oklahoma. There’s a movie coming soon.

It was so well-written and researched that naturally I wanted to find more of Grann’s writing. He had a new release just this year called THE WAGER, covering another event I’d never heard of, this time about a 1740s shipwreck off the coast of South America.

The particular element of intrigue here is that the crew mutinied a few months after they wrecked. The captain and the sailors were at odds, the sailors ultimately left on a ramshackle raft that was more or less a Pinterest DIY projected put together with twine and prayers. They sailed into Brazil a short while later and pretty much stayed there.

The captain and some others who were left behind also made it to Brazil, heard what became of their companions, and returned to England quite upset at it all. The ordeal ended in a court case, which I won’t spoil for you. (Not because it’s super high court drama, but because it’s interesting and I think you should read it.)

Books like this are of value to me because it gives a glimpse into pre-industrial life and the risks inherent thereto, and the level of discomfort to which people were accustomed. Life was just flat-out always hard. Your ship broke. Your food went bad. You broke a leg and died. If you didn’t die, you kept going until you did. It’s nice to live in an age of abundance, even if we’re ruled by retards, and understanding the level of convenience and security I enjoy relative to my ancestors is something that helps me count my blessings.

I also thought it was interesting when the crew of the Wager met some local Amerindians on their little island. I can’t remember the name of the tribe, and since I listened to the book, I wouldn’t have a prayer of spelling it. Grann did a good job of picking through journals and written records to get the whole story; for a brief time after arriving, the crew met seafaring Indians who knew the area and had small boats. Communication was tough, but they figured out what they were doing, and the Indians started to help out with food and stuff.

Then, sailors did what sailors did, and a few of them tried to get busy with the Indian wives, to which the Indians said “[middle finger emoji]” and sailed away, never to return. (Smart.) You can’t always known what the norms are among people who’ve been isolated from your culture since it started, but come on…sexual propriety can safely be assumed on a universal level.

Anyway, I’m super paraphrasing the entire summary here because it’s a fairly up-tempo book, and you should read it on your own. It didn’t blow my mind was much as FLOWER MOON. It’s still worth the read.

In other news, I’ve read 70 books this year. My brain is a little tired so I might not try to tackle as much this week. On va voir.