The Mosquito Coast

The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux

Dad is upset with society. He feels America is falling apart. There is too much materialism and too much control from external forces. He is also an inventor and a tinkerer. He feels he is not respected. 

He decides to take his family via boat to the middle of nowhere in Honduras. On the boat, he is remote, criticizing others. He also encourages his kid to do dangerous activities. Nobody seems to like him. However, he understands what is causing problems with the ship and offers to help fix it.

Once in Honduras, he buys a remote location from a German who was unable to succeed in business there. He tinkers and creates ice making machine and sends icebergs down the river. He refuses to use "natural" bug repellant, but works on various inventions. Most of the people abonden the village. Later three guys come to threaten them. They get locked in the ice maker, and shoot their guns, causing it to explode. This results in the death of the three as well as pollution in the river.

They move further out to more remote locations. Dad is convinced that the United States has been destroyed. He is upset that he keeps finding "civilization" and the missionaries that bring it. He eventually suffers his own demise.

The book is told from the point of view of the son. Dad seems quite stubbornly crazy, yet his family still respects him and goes along with his plans. The book is long and moves at a slow pace.

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown by Paul Theroux

The author had spent some time teaching in sub-Saharan Africa earlier in life. This time he wanted to travel from the north to the south of the continent. He prefered to interact with the people of the bush. However, in the cities he would try to be with the "real" people rather than the foreigners. He observed that most of the Africans were unemployed and that those that had public jobs tended to not do much work. Many businesses were run by foreigners.

Aid workers and missionaries often have noble intentions. However, the results have been lacking. Aid workers often live in the nicer areas, while those that they help are in greater squalor. Schools are often created with foreign teachers. The students that succeed are often likely to leave Africa for greater opportunities. Without continued foreign investment, the institutions tend to fail, rather than being continued by locals. Aid money is just as likely to get siphoned away by government kleptocrats than it is to reach individuals. The aid may even make things worse as it limits the growth of internal industry.

Each country in Africa has its own culture. Some are better off than others. They often present a different face to tourists than they do to the locals. Infrastructure in general is lacking and not reliable. Some are still using early colonist railroads. Schedules come and go as available. Crime is in general a serious problem in many places. However, in spite of all the challenges, there are many positives in the continent. Perhaps the rapid western industrialization and urbanization is not what they need.