BOOK
REVIEW
The Sharks Of Lake Nicaragua is a bona
fi de adventure-travel experience from the
mind’s eye of a great American writer. Randy
Wayne White offers a fusion of authentic essays
that highlight his
extensive travel ranging
from winter fi shing in
Minnesota to searching
for landlocked bull sharks
in Nicaragua.
The author refi nes a
diffi cult defi nition for
adventure-travel.
“Adventure-travel is an
activity used as a conduit
to observe, share, enjoy,
suffer, encounter, or
experience that which is
outside the boundaries
of one’s own day-to-day
life. You don’t have to go
to Thailand or Central
America to be an
adventure-traveler, but
you can. And it’s probably
better not to have a specifi
c goal, but there are
no requirements about
that, either. “Boundaries”
is the operative word
here; real, implied, or
imagined, if your body or
mind crosses a boundary, you are doing it.”
Whether he’s engaging in mock aerial combat or
riding an Iditarod sled, Randy Wayne White is one of
America’s most adventurous travelers. In this
collection he studies anti-terrorist driving techniques,
dives for golf balls in an alligator-infested pond, hunts
42 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE January/February 2020
his fellow man with a paint gun, ice-fi shes for walleye
with X-ray-stunned night-crawlers, and goes pig-
shooting with Dr. Pavlov. With self-effacing optimism,
White captures the joys and fears of wandering the
earth’s surface with an eclectic cast of fellow travelers:
a frog that won’t jump, a
group of expatriate Brits
who’ve developed an
interesting cure for “road
jaundice,” and even a mad
Australian scientist.
- randywaynewhite.com
One essay, “Croc
Poachers of Panama,” has
a very surreal feel.
“Panama is as fun as
it is beautiful, no matter
who’s in charge, and all
the invasions in the world
aren’t going to change
that. The country’s
possibilities are varied
and often strange. One
minute you’re roaming
the streets of Panama
City, hunting for
Pepto-Bismol, the next
minute you’re in a dugout
canoe with two strangers
hunting crocodiles. It can
happen. It happened to
me.”
The Sharks of Lake Nicaragua stands out for an
array of reasons.
Who knew sharks could live in lakes?
This title alone offers intrigue.
“For many years, Nicaragua has taken pride in
having what was in past years claimed to be the only
A Book Review
By Jonathan Herbert
THE
SHARKS
OF
LAKE NICARAGUA
/randywaynewhite.com
