Customer Reviews

DRUMS ALONG THE CONGO CL

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A good read but an even better document to the pursuit of dreams (well, maybe not dreams, but dinosaurs) by an adventurer. I couldn't help but think of Indiana Jones, except with a lot of modern red tape and government bureaucracy. Just being able to go after the dinosaur is a miracle, and Nugent paints a great picture for me. So many modern "adventures" are media-hyped, corporate events that pass as "sports" but this guy goes into the dark of the Congo and no one seems to care except the people he has to bribe and barter with along the way. Definitely check this one out.

A truly great book for anyone yearning for adventure! Nugent brings the wilds of the Congo into startling clarity. So vibrant are his descriptions, so compelling his pacing, that I couldn't put this book down for a moment once I began reading. I was so moved and inspired by Mr. Nugent's adventure looking for the Mokele-mbembe, that I spent a year searching for Bigfoot in the forests of the Pacific Northwest! Very few books have ever had such an impact on my life. I loved it.

The author has an amazing account to tell and he does it with great skill -- drawing his reader into the world, not only of primeval jungle and native folklore, but of the vibrant social structure of African life, where a visitor's knowledge of American television shows becomes a better item for trade than a pocketful of gold. As I finished the last, breathtaking chapter (it took every ounce of willpower not to peek ahead to it), I was ready to quit my job, pack up my bags, and set sail to Congo to go looking for the legendary beast myself. What a great read

Travel along with Rory Nugent, and you will experience an adventure not soon to be forgotten.I very much enjoyed the premise of his trip, as outlandish as it may seem.

Rory Nugent was so close to me in actual footage for so many years here in my home town of New Bedford. Only hearing stories of some cat who live in one of the city's old textile brick building mills. Stories of his adventure lost at sea and adrift for weeks before Coast Guard planes see this impossible little spot...stranded.

Strange how I never new him until he's long gone on the other side of the planet when I read On The Docks...Pink Headed Duck....and this beauty.

Well done classic scenario appealing to every human being. The great unknown and the quest in search of is a long way from our modern day touch of a button, but.......after all it's in our cellular makeup/DNA. It wasn't too long ago in human history when we were all "on the road" if you will...in order to survive...and educate ourselves.

Rory's a throwback in a good and completely useful way.

Buy the book man.....what are you thinking about?

pistol

pete

Nugent writes well,has a fun sense of humor,but was very little actual monster searching done, as most of his time was spent tied up in beauracratic red tape. Still I enjoyed the sense of adventure, the culture he spied and shared with us.

Over all not a bad read,but not what i had hoped for, in that i wanted more monster action, although it did demonstrate the difficulties an expedition faces or in Mr.Nugent's case, a single man has in achieving the goals of their dreams .

I was really looking forward to this book, but oh what a disappointment. The title is completely misleading, there's very little 'on the trail' of anything. It just seems to me to be one of those pointless travelogues that a journalist wrote because his real purpose (finding a dinosaur) bore no fruition. Undoubtedly there were setbacks that hampered his search, but I don't think these warrant a book. My advice is to call it a day when you know you know you haven't got a story and leave the rest of us a few quid richer. On the plus side, I only have to read three pages every night before it sends me to sleep, so a pretty positive experience for anybody experiencing insomnia.