I know this is supposed to be a 'historical novel' about the famous Franklin Expedition but the author should at least stick to known facts. He has Graham Gore alive until about the last page when he in fact was dead before the trek to Back's Fish River began. Also, Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier - the only true Polar expert in the entire expedition - is portrayed constantly as the bad guy. Captain Crozier had been to the Arctic numerous times with Parry and to the Antarctic with Ross so he had experience in any ice condition. Sir James Clark Ross thought highly of him and called him his 'tried and trusty friend'. John Irving of the Terror wrote his sister how much he liked 'my Skipper'. Sir John Franklin only wanted to lead the expedition because of his political troubles in Tasmania and he was trying to heal his wounded pride. Captain Crozier had, in fact, commanded the Terror during Ross' Antartic expedition and conned his ship through many dangers. I can't understand why Fitzjames is made out to be the big hero when in fact he got where he was because of his friendship with Sir John Barrow's son. If you want to read an outstanding 'historical novel' about this famed expedition, then buy NORTH WITH FRANKLIN: THE LOST JOURNALS OF JAMES FITZJAMES by John Wilson. For the actual historical story itself (not a novel), you can't do any better than ARCTIC GRAIL by Pierre Berton, BARROW'S BOYS by Fergus Fleming and the 2 books by David C. Woodman (by far the best of them all): UNRAVELLING THE FRANKLIN MYSTERY and STRANGERS AMONG US. Don't waste your money buying THE BROKEN LANDS - I'm sorry I did.

The quest for the NorthWest Passage has always fascinated me. Reading accounts of Nansen, Frobisher and Hudson fuelled my early love for adventure and the North.

Broken Lands does not disappoint. This novel tells of an expedition into the Canadian North by the "Lion of the North," Sir John Franklin. The research that author Robert Edric must have done is showcased in the detailed account of the effects of extreme cold on the expedition's ships and sailors. He gives the North a distinct character in Broken Lands: one of a harsh, merciless adversary.

The characters are believable and the story is captivating. the descriptions of the Arctic are evocative and powerful. Edric writes for his audience. The combination of personal struggle and taut action makes Broken Lands immensely readable.

The Franklin expedition may not have happened exactly as Edric presents it, but after reading Broken Lands, it certainly feels possible. An excellent fictional supposition of what the expedition was like.

This collection is a travesty indeed. Great poems no doubt, but abysmally read. Furthermore they should have put all the introductions together separate and apart from the poems. It's nice to hear intros the first time around. But who wants to hear the intros everytime you listen to the poems? Sometimes I want to hear just a stream of poetry without any interuptions and this format makes that impossible. It's incredible that such a great concept could be so terribly executed.

I could not get this back to the store for a refund quickly enough. While the poem selection is great and the poem introductions are narrated well, the choice to use "modern poets" as the readers made this compilation utterly unlistenable. The only one that I found acceptable was Anthony Hect--the others were notably bad. In particular, I found Jorie Graham's "readings" to be abysmal. She reads each poem as if it were simply a string of unconnected words, giving equal stress to each, with halting pauses between them, never breaking out of a drowsy monotone. Other readers were not much better.

There are three major flaws in the readings:

1) The readers are no better than the average untrained person, and often much worse. (You've just got to hear them for yourself to appreciate how bad they are.)

2) Successive poems by the same poet are read by different "readers." It's jarring to hear 3 or 4 poems from Poet X, each in a wildly different voice.

3) No regard is given to matching the sex of the poet and reader. In general, it is really annoying to hear your favorite poet read by the wrong sex. In particular, making this mistake on "gender specific" poems (like having a woman read Poe's "Annabel Lee") is unforgivable.

Why is this all so upsetting? Because it is practically impossible to find poetry collections on CD, making this a serious waste of limited resources. If you are looking for a good collection on CD, buy "81 Famous Poems CD" by Audio Partners (ISBN 0-945353-82-0). It's a good collection on two CDs and is read by professionals: Alexander Scourby, Bramwell Fletcher, and Nancy Wickwire. In the meantime, we can only hope that the producers of this collection will eventually come to their senses and re-record the poems with the services of trained professionals.

If you are prepping for the GRE in literature or are trying to gain a basic understanding of literary periods and poets, this audio-collection is a must. It features a brief introduction about each poet's life. It also includes a brief introduction about the theme of each poem. The fact that you have to listen to these introductions before listening to the poem inculcate the poem and aids retention. If literature has turned into a cumbersome and overwhelming task, this collection will not only provide you with a sense of direction but will also make literature far more pleasurable.

John Templeton is a great man. A successful investor who gained, if not the whole world, a large part of it without losing his soul. His life story should hold valuable lessons for all of us. Yet this book, displaying the lack of perspective and questioning that offen occurs when a close friend and coworker attempts biography, paints an image of a rather robotic being with discipline and intelligence but lacking humanity.

Templeton is disciplined, focused and successful from his youth. But he buries his mother and wife in quick succession seemingly without letting those traumatic events interfere in any way with the business of business.

World War II, a defining moment for his generation, is little more than an investment opportunity for Sir John- no mention of having contributed to the war effort in any way. Was he exempt for physical or family reasons? Was he a contentious objector? Did he feel badly that others were fighting and dying while he went about building a fortune?

He leaves America for the Bahamas and becomes a British citizen. Why? He seems to have changed national allegiance with no more thought than most of us give to changing a shirt. No explanation is given, no soul searching is hinted.

In the end, this book fails to tell anything more about who John Templeton really is and the forces that shaped him than could have been gleaned from a newspaper interview. Even the chapter on Humility theology is so filled with references to "Sir John" that one wonders if the word has been given a new meaning!

Where is the humility?, where is the humanity?