How I Found Livingstone
Henry Morton Stanley
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Sir Henry Morton Stanley is famously quoted for saying "Dr Livingstone, i Presume?". Born in Wales, he migrated over to the United States at the age of 18, he eventually became an overseas correspondent for the New York Herald. In 1869 Stanley was told by James Gordon Bennett Jr to find Livingstone, a Scottish missionary and explorer. When Stanley commented on the cost Bennett's reply was:
"Well, I will tell you what you will do. Draw a thousand pounds now; and when you have gone through that, draw another thousand, and when that is spent, draw another thousand, and when you have finished that, draw another thousand, and so on; but, FIND LIVINGSTONE."
How I Found Livingstone is Stanley's personnel account of his trip from Zanzibar to Lake Tanganyika on this quest, including time spent exploring the area with Livingstone.
- Written by Lizzie Driver (Modified from Wikipedia) (16 hr 57 min)
Chapters
Reviews
whiteness overload
Bill Cosby
This crazy story depicts crazy honkies going where they should not go in search of adventure and glory. It is the whitest thing ever. In order to be acceptable to a modern audience the story could be rewritten as such follows: The protagonist is assigned to write a story about the urban expressive hip hop dance competition sponsored by Stanly's newspaper. Stanley is a pre-op male to female beat reporter. In process of writing story, Stanley enters the competition him/herself. Over an exhaustive 19 month period of self discovery, Stanley develops and perfects her/his/their routine. This is all documented in excruciating detail in his newspaper owned by a hereditary Bostonian Brahmin who enjoys deconstructing American society for shits and giggles. In the end Stanley comes out 2nd place. However Stanley is a given a role of brand ambassador to the 2sLGBTQTIA+ community by Nike. So, in the end, all is well and we have a feel good Disney movie
Of Interest to Specialists in the Field
gaboora
Dr. Livingstone was a 19th century Christian explorer whose dream it was to discover the sources of the rivers in Egypt, and particularly, the headwaters of the Nile. Sir Henry Stanley was the man dispatched, at great cost, by a newspaper mogul in New York City, to find Livingstone. Precious little background information is supplied over and above these facts. The book, true to its title, is about the quest to find Livingstone, not about Livingstone or his exploits. We learn about Livingstone just incidentally. That Stanley traveled over 1200 miles to complete his task, up to fifteen miles in a single day in thick wilderness and harsh conditions, will give some idea of the arduousness of his chore. Some parts of the jungle were too thick even for a tiger to creep through. The ‘milk and honey’ promised just ahead usually wound up being nothing but ‘gall and bitterness.’ He came back, after what seems to have been a year or so, ‘emaciated and grey,’ hardly recognizable to some of the people who knew him. The readers are various. Since there is a lot of tedious detail in the book, a collective effort is a plus.
How I Found Livingdtone
Tellmeatale
My second time listening to this very well read book by all the volunteers ! I find this to being one of the hardest books to get through ,while one I can't walk away from at the same time! I found Stanley as a very unlikable man & one who I could never follow or stand along side of! That said I guess it took a man like him to get the task of finding Livingstone possible in that era & place he was traveling through! All said & done it is a very good read full of adventure plus a look at life in that time and place!
Well recorded, but the original author is simply a horrible human being
Timothy Ferguson
There's something about the British desire to tell you how immoral and weak the natives are, while complaining that there's no sport in killing wildlife if its not going to either attack you or run away, that made me progressively loathe Stanley, until I was very glad to part company with him when the book was over. This is, of course, a great compliment to the reader, who really made me feel like I was in the presence of someone I actively disliked. So, bravo on the read!
A very interesting read
Matt
The volunteers did a good job with the reading. Some things in this book can be quite shocking to the modern reader. Slavery, killing wildlife for no reason, tribal war... and all from the perspective of a white man. This being said; It's very neat to get a glimpse into this time period. I really recommend it even though it can be a bit of a slog to get through. Just remember this all took place at a very different time.
great book and incredible adventure. well read by the volunteers
Rob
great book and incredible adventure. well read by the volunteers.
Long story but hard to stop listening.
Harald Solberg
Well read by the volunteers
JohnnyBob
ruined by some readers and I use that term loosely!