Customer Reviews

I Married Adventure: The Lives of Martin and Osa Johnson (Kodansha Globe)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Martin and Osa lived exceptional lives, of a sort that can't really be lived today. The strength of the book is that it is Osa's first-person narrative. This is someone who was really there. And the Johnsons do some amazing things together. The book keeps moving at a fast pace, the adventures keep coming, and I didn't want it to end.
The book is a window into a very different era. The Johnsons were products of their time, and some of their viewpoints will bother a few readers. They were not bigots, and in fact appear to me to be rather enlightened for the time, but some of her descriptions of native peoples seem slightly condescending. I may be reading something that isn't there. Some of their practices while exploring and photographing new places would now be totally unacceptable--Stirring up inoffensive animals to get some action for the cameras, or casually introducing an alien plant (watercress) into Africa. Again, these are products of the views of that day, rather than something to condemn.

The book does have some weaknesses: The biggest one is that this is (effectively) "The Authorized Biography". Many problems and difficulties are glossed over. I read in the modern Introduction that Martin continually struggled with health problems during his adventures, but there is no hint of that in the text. Because the book covers so much ground, in many cases the description of their adventures is scanty, and I wanted more detail. And I suspect there's more to the story in some cases. So I am going to find some other books on the Johnsons and try to learn more about them.

Perhaps that's the strongest thing to say about the book--That it left me wanting to know more, and inspired to find it out! I'm also going to visit the museum in Kansas dedicated to their work.

I read my girlfriend's mother's copy in 1943 when I was ten years old. All my life I wanted a copy of that book. I discovered Amazon and received my much beloved book. You learn to love Osa and Martin Johnson. What a brave girl Osa was to follow her husband to wild Africa, to be such a great helpmate and joy. I will read and re-read this book because it is like you are on an adventure that continues on and on. You feel like you are right there taking part in their adventures. I am so thankful that this book was republished for generations to come. (The book I read in 1943 was large, hardback and the cover was black and white like Zebra skin.) The book has great photographs. I highly recommend it and rate it 5 stars! Wonderful!

I first read "I Married Adventure" when I took this book out of my local library as a student. It fascinated me. I was pleasantly surprised when I found it to still be available.

Martin and Osa Johnson lived what they wrote. There is no pretense in their lives. They were true adventurers. They made a great contribution to the world of adventure. I'm sure they inspired many to further their boundaries.

This is an adventure that will cause you to hold your breath while reading, wondering how they got through.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to live outside their border. It's breathtaking!

My grandmother gave me this book 20 years ago and told me it was her very favorite book. I began reading it just to please her, but soon found out that it was ( and is) my favorite book also. I have recommended it so many times, but I only have one very old,worn out copy. I am so pleased to be able to find it at Amazon. This book is magical, and all the more beautiful because it is true. You will never forget this book once read. A note, I have recently found that there is a museum devoted to the Johnsons in Kansas. I can't wait to go......

I read the first edition of this book in about 1947 right after I left the service. (WW2) This book covered parts of Africa, and showed pictures so fine and detailed that to this day I can still see them in my minds eye. I still recall, they had a friend in A. Blaney Percival---Game Warden. Their head man around camp was named Boculy These and many other anecdotes are still vivid in my memory after all these years. For fine reading, I couldnt recommend a better book. I eagerly await

my re-print copy w5bok@txucom.net

I'm thrilled to see this book still (again?)in print. It was on my parent's limited and eclectic bookshelf back in the '40s and fueled my lifelong love of adventure and travel writing. When Osa and Martin Johnson went to Africa there were no tented safari camps, complete with martinis at the end of the day's animal sightings. This was true adventure. The book's original cover was faux zebra skin and I rescued it from my mom's throwaway pile with she was breaking up their household. Still have it and always will.

I have read this book twice, once at age ten and again this year. It holds the attention like a riveting novel. The adventure(s) it describes seem like fiction, yet they are the stuff that kids dreams are made of. The difference is that these two people really lived them...couldn't put it down!

A friend gave me this book almost 30 years ago, and I find that I read it every year or so.... it's inspirational and life-affirming. Every time I read it, I find myself wondering if it could really be true. It is a lovey, readable tale of two young mid-western Americans who find each other, and head out to explore the world. The love story is just as compelling as the adventure story. I find that I reach for this book at times in my life when I need to find an escape into a larger world... one full of faith and hope and openess to what's around the next corner....

Thanks to Kodansha for republishing this book. I bought it second- or third-hand twenty years ago as a young adult, and lost it in a house fire two years later. I¹ve been scrounging used book stores for it ever since. This book has often been in my mind over the years as a story of a determined young woman who followed her own dreams and found, in her husband, a friend who shared her ideas. If you have an interest in history from the first quarter of this century, photography, airplanes, anthropology, wildlife, Africa, headhunters, or just enjoy love stories -- you will find this a fascinating read. I heartily recommend it as a book about the role women had in the exploration of the world early in this century. Amelia Earhart didn¹t go half the places Osa did: she just had better press. The path that an average, turn-of-the-century woman takes from the ribbons and ruffles of her little-girl days to the pith helmets, rogue elephants, and head hunters that filled her life as a young bride is astounding. I believe that even if Osa had never met Martin Johnson, we would still be reading about her accomplishments today. What happens to them in their travels around the world will hardly be believed by today¹s young readers. This was a time when there were still undocumented civilizations, fantastic ³unseen² lands, and undiscovered creatures. Film cameras were turned by a hand crank at just so many revolutions per minute or the film was ruined. Precious film could be ruined by heat, fungus or moisture. Often, first-encounter footage was ruined due to spoiled developing chemicals, or was lost in the scramble to leave an island before the Johnson couple became the main course at the next party. This couple defined the ³travelogue" format in a time before talkies. They are the cinegraphic ancestors to Jacque Cousteau and to shows such as Omaha¹s Wild Kingdom, National Geographic Specials, and Nature. Osa writes of a time in history that few of us today can imagine. Please, let her show you our world, as she saw it for the first time.

I read this book as a 12 year old and have always remembered the excitment it stirred in me to live my own adventure! A very good book. The pictures are a lot of fun and the story unforgetable.