I love old books like this - I used to spend hours pouring over ebay (and yahoo auctions) picking up all sorts of weird and historically interesting books for less than £5 each.<p>Some of the most interesting (to me) I found through reading the 'you may also like' or 'by the same author' in the front or back of random purchases - and would then spend a period tracking then down. 'An Island to Oneself' and 'The Insecure Offenders' were probably two that I had the biggest impact on me and that were the most interesting, that I found this way.<p>I tried to buy a copy of 'A Island to Oneself' for a friend recently and couldn't get one for less than £250 so directed to him to the Internet Archive instead.
From the first few pages: "As is well known, the Russians now make a work day of Sunday, taking their rest instead every sixth day."<p>Never knew this. Indeed, from another source:
"The nepreryvka was supposed to revolutionize the concept of labor, set a match to productivity and make religious worship too troublesome to be worth the effort. But it failed on virtually every count. Adjustments were made and in 1931, the cycle was extended to last six days. After 11 years of trial and error, the project was axed in June, 1940."<p><a href="https://www.history.com/news/soviet-union-stalin-weekend-labor-policy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.history.com/news/soviet-union-stalin-weekend-lab...</a>
There is something so charming about the economy of expression of English books, particularly travel or personal accounts, written before about the end of the 1950s. The accounts tend to be straightforward and almost stoic in their description of hardship, death, joy, and pain. Very little hand-wringing, no political correctness, and no navel-gazing about feelings. I can’t say I always prefer it but it is refreshing to read now and then. One also sees this in old war propaganda films or documentaries from the 30s and 40s.
A mere 13 days by train! Interesting that only 30 years later the trip would take under half a day.<p>My great aunt was in Taiwan (Formosa) before the war while it was occupied by the Japanese, as a Christian missionary, and now I wonder how she got there from Liverpool. It must have been an epic journey.
The commentary on page 25 -- on Koreans and Korea under Japan rule -- is extraordinary for how unfiltered it is. I suspect most Koreans back then would have objected.
This is very interesting to me. I have downloaded and will read on my kobo.<p>There is a certain appeal to the early days of traveling, before the mass market availability that exists today. I think it's that unexplored pioneer type of semi solitude which makes it adventurous. My only analogy is living through the transition from pre internet days to the present saturated social media days.<p>But a person on YouTube doing the same thing today would result in me just ignoring or at best, fast forwarding through the video. I think future generations might appreciate that same video for other reasons... and think me a moron for not appreciating it.
"The author received in Keijo this photograph of his own children from a Japanese stranger, Mr. Kuroda, naval engineer, who had taken it by chance in Stockholm"<p>(Page 40 in the pager)<p>What are the odds!
reading about siberia / volga / russia reminds me of tolstoy's short story: how much land does a man need. also liked book called tiger by john vaillant.