‘Torrents As Yet Unknown’

When I was asked to review Wickliffe Walker’s book about first descents down 10 of the most dynamic and unexplored rivers in the world, I assumed it was because I was a canoe outfitter in an earlier life. That and a whitewater paddler.

I quickly learned that, by comparison, I was the equivalent of a flag football player to Roman gladiators. I was a recreational whitewater paddler. The protagonists in Mr. Walker’s accounts are not whitewater paddlers. They are wild water paddlers. A mistake on my part – and there were many – meant a swim. A mistake by one of these paddlers, like by a gladiator, could mean death.

And there are deaths in these accounts.