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Looking for Legends: Let Us Take You Somewhere You've Never Been Before, and Introduce You to Our Friends
427 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 2, 2024
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13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 25, 2024
Travel and adventure books may be a dime a dozen, but Scott and Tarantino’s “Looking for Legends” feels like a million bucks. They spent 25 years researching interesting people and traveling to the parts of the world where these people became legendary. Because their interests are wide-ranging, so are the topics in this book. We meet everybody from Queen Noor of Jordan to Richard Schultes, a man who left Harvard and spent most of the rest of his life in the Amazon basin, becoming an expert in hallucinogenic natural substances. While the most common themes here are exploration and mountain climbing, the book really contains a little bit of everything, including cooking lessons:
Their special dish is kiviaq. It is made by stuffing unplucked, un-cleaned, dead auks (small black and white birds) in seal skins and burying them under stones where they are bathed in the melting seal fat. After a time, decomposed and fermented, the birds are served up as a delicacy. (p. 64)
If, for some reason, that fails to appeal, they later guide you to the best restaurants in Marrakesh and Kathmandu.
This is really not a book for stay-at-homes.
They mention Napoleon:
Without a doubt, though, his most successful defeat was in Egypt.
We don’t often equate ‘success’ with ‘defeat,’ but in this case, his team turned up the Rosetta Stone, a famous tablet carved about 2500 years ago in three different languages. We jump ahead to the 1820s to sit with the Frenchman Jean-Francoise Champollion, the first person to decode the hieroglyphics and thus open up the past to Egyptologists ever since.
They mention Stalin, and more specifically describe the life of poet Anna Akhmatova, who in her way was every bit as courageous as Edmund Hillary or Roald Amundsen. We meet the inventor of the tango and learn how and why it came about; we learn about the founders of national parks in India and Botswana.
The book literally encompasses all seven continents, and ranges from windy mountaintops to university libraries, corporate offices to filthy prisons, from prehistory to modern times. I’d be hard-pressed to think of anybody who couldn’t find something of value here.
–Did you know the founders of Patagonia and The North Face, two corporations that have done enormous amounts of good for the environment, were originally buddies in a rock-climbing group in California known as The Dirt Bags? On a lark, they drove (!) to southern Argentina in an old VW van and, with no Alpineering experience, climbed up some of the nastiest mountain-climbing challenges known before founding their famous companies.
–Many people have heard of Zorba the Greek, but were you aware he was a real person? The man at the end of the film who famously begged, “Teach me, Zorba! Teach me to dance!” is now buried under a headstone that reads simply:
‘I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.’ (p. 230)
This was the essence of Zorba’s life.
There is simply too much here to cover. Let us leave this review with the following:
Before you climb a mountain, you have to dream about the mountain. But you can only dream about the mountain if you know about the mountain. And that is where books come in. (p. 101)
Their special dish is kiviaq. It is made by stuffing unplucked, un-cleaned, dead auks (small black and white birds) in seal skins and burying them under stones where they are bathed in the melting seal fat. After a time, decomposed and fermented, the birds are served up as a delicacy. (p. 64)
If, for some reason, that fails to appeal, they later guide you to the best restaurants in Marrakesh and Kathmandu.
This is really not a book for stay-at-homes.
They mention Napoleon:
Without a doubt, though, his most successful defeat was in Egypt.
We don’t often equate ‘success’ with ‘defeat,’ but in this case, his team turned up the Rosetta Stone, a famous tablet carved about 2500 years ago in three different languages. We jump ahead to the 1820s to sit with the Frenchman Jean-Francoise Champollion, the first person to decode the hieroglyphics and thus open up the past to Egyptologists ever since.
They mention Stalin, and more specifically describe the life of poet Anna Akhmatova, who in her way was every bit as courageous as Edmund Hillary or Roald Amundsen. We meet the inventor of the tango and learn how and why it came about; we learn about the founders of national parks in India and Botswana.
The book literally encompasses all seven continents, and ranges from windy mountaintops to university libraries, corporate offices to filthy prisons, from prehistory to modern times. I’d be hard-pressed to think of anybody who couldn’t find something of value here.
–Did you know the founders of Patagonia and The North Face, two corporations that have done enormous amounts of good for the environment, were originally buddies in a rock-climbing group in California known as The Dirt Bags? On a lark, they drove (!) to southern Argentina in an old VW van and, with no Alpineering experience, climbed up some of the nastiest mountain-climbing challenges known before founding their famous companies.
–Many people have heard of Zorba the Greek, but were you aware he was a real person? The man at the end of the film who famously begged, “Teach me, Zorba! Teach me to dance!” is now buried under a headstone that reads simply:
‘I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.’ (p. 230)
This was the essence of Zorba’s life.
There is simply too much here to cover. Let us leave this review with the following:
Before you climb a mountain, you have to dream about the mountain. But you can only dream about the mountain if you know about the mountain. And that is where books come in. (p. 101)
August 9, 2024
Would you rather have dreams or memories? This poignant question forms the crux of Looking for Legends, a captivating memoir/travelogue by Scott and Tarantino. The book recounts the extraordinary adventures of a married couple who have lived a legendary life, blending personal anecdotes with tales of their globe-trotting exploits. Determined to lead a life of exceptional experiences, they embarked on a series of adventures that mirrored some of the most celebrated journeys in history.
Looking for Legends is more than just a travel narrative; it is a love story between two individuals who share an insatiable passion for exploring the world and an equally strong affection for each other. This unintentional sentimentality adds a delightful layer to the book, making it a truly heartwarming read. The couple's adventures span the globe, from China to Ecuador, Switzerland to Greenland, and Jordan to many other destinations. However, their travel choices were far from random. As avid history enthusiasts, they often selected their destinations based on the writings and significant works of historical figures like Pablo Neruda, Knud Rasmussen, and Zorba the Greek. This historical context enriches their narratives, offering readers a deeper understanding of the places they visited. The sheer audacity and enthusiasm of Scott and Tarantino make this book a sublime experience. Their infectious wanderlust and joy for exploration are so vividly conveyed that even the most devoted homebodies might find themselves inspired to embark on their own journeys by the book's end.
Complementing the engaging prose are images and hand-drawn maps that beautifully illustrate their travels. These visual aids not only enhance the storytelling but also showcase the couple's profound appreciation for the planet and its myriad wonders.
Looking for Legends invites readers to reflect on their own lives and decide whether they are content with merely reading about such adventures or whether they will choose to create their own memories. This book is a testament to the extraordinary life that awaits those who dare to dream and take the leap into the unknown.
Looking for Legends is more than just a travel narrative; it is a love story between two individuals who share an insatiable passion for exploring the world and an equally strong affection for each other. This unintentional sentimentality adds a delightful layer to the book, making it a truly heartwarming read. The couple's adventures span the globe, from China to Ecuador, Switzerland to Greenland, and Jordan to many other destinations. However, their travel choices were far from random. As avid history enthusiasts, they often selected their destinations based on the writings and significant works of historical figures like Pablo Neruda, Knud Rasmussen, and Zorba the Greek. This historical context enriches their narratives, offering readers a deeper understanding of the places they visited. The sheer audacity and enthusiasm of Scott and Tarantino make this book a sublime experience. Their infectious wanderlust and joy for exploration are so vividly conveyed that even the most devoted homebodies might find themselves inspired to embark on their own journeys by the book's end.
Complementing the engaging prose are images and hand-drawn maps that beautifully illustrate their travels. These visual aids not only enhance the storytelling but also showcase the couple's profound appreciation for the planet and its myriad wonders.
Looking for Legends invites readers to reflect on their own lives and decide whether they are content with merely reading about such adventures or whether they will choose to create their own memories. This book is a testament to the extraordinary life that awaits those who dare to dream and take the leap into the unknown.
May 13, 2025
This is a beautifully written book about travel, history, influences and inspiration — and it’s tremendously fun to read. Barbara Scott and Thomas Tarantino go out in search of legends, men and women whose journeys and books inspired their choices and their lives, people like T. E. Lawrence, Jim Corbett and — to my particular surprise and delight — Richard Halliburton. Following these voices from the past takes Scott and Tarantino into the present; it’s not just Lawrence’s Wadi Rum; it’s today’s climbing destination.
Many of these “legends” were familiar to me and I was thrilled to find them again, but many were new such as the brave Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova. This is not just a book about journeys; it is a journey itself. I can imagine it inspiring other travelers just as travelers from the past inspired the authors of this book.
Many of these “legends” were familiar to me and I was thrilled to find them again, but many were new such as the brave Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova. This is not just a book about journeys; it is a journey itself. I can imagine it inspiring other travelers just as travelers from the past inspired the authors of this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews