Double tap to start dictation this is an unbelievable story of curry age and ability to survive under terrible circumstances. The story was informative about President Roosevelt and his personal character and The primitiveness of the rain forest along the Amazon river. I recommend this book for people of all ages.

TR's final adventure and death are quite interesting and not so well known. For me, there was a bit too much natural history but the writing is fine and the related history and knowledge do add a lot to the story, which is a great and dangerous and foolhardy adventure that lead, sometime after his triumphant return, to TR's dying at 60 from the wounds on the trip.

TR's character and survival

Excellent characters

SPOILER ALERT: Just cry a bit when he was finally sure to survive and then when his sons died.

I loved every minute of the book. Learned almost as much about Roosevelt as I did the Amazon.

Candice Millard's look at Theodore Roosevelt's post-presidency jaunt through the Amazon wilderness is...well, it's a head-scratcher. The story, that is. What the heck would make an aging and physically-compromised man take a months-long underprepared journey through one of the least-known and most dangerous parts of the world? Perceived invincibility? Absolute power? Maniacal control? Scientific possibilities? Just because he can? Probably a mix of all these.

The book is far more than just an adventure story, however. The narrative explores much of Roosevelt's personal life from his early childhood through losing his first wife, political success followed by political failures, and into his semi-retirement returning to his interest in natural sciences. The story does not follow chronologically, instead using the journey to dip back and forth into different parts of the president's past, from his illness as a child to his time in the Wild West. His political career is seen more from a lens of the personality behind the power, rather than his political decisions (for example, he was once shot on the campaign trail but refused medical rest and made a speech later that day still wearing his bloodied clothes - for maximum emotional impact of course).

The journey down the River of Doubt - so named because nobody knew where it led - is fascinating. The expedition itself was only half on the water, as the men and supplies needed to march through the jungle for over a month just to reach the source of the river. The struggles the men faced, including a mutineering and murderous aboriginal worker, uncertain relations with the local inhabitants, illness and poisons, relentless rapids and whirlpools, and starvation, are enough to get your heart racing, but this became so much more than just an adventure to conquer nature - it became a fight for Roosevelt's life, and one that he never really recovered from.

I really enjoyed the story, was captured by the adventure story but enthralled by the human interest stories about the president and his motley crew of companions. I was left laughing in bewilderment at the foolishness of the marauding men who, knowing nothing better in the early 20th century, set out with dozens of pounds of tea, 8 sets of eyeglasses for the president, volumes of French poetry, and nary a tested canoe between them.

I was most interested in the way the men around the president worried over and cared for the great man himself. Perhaps politics is on the mind, but it was an interesting analogy to watching today's presidential inner circle. This story deals with how an arguably very competent outdoorsman and expedition leader could be put so much at risk by power-hungry people refusing to see the bigger picture of their actions for the president and those around him, notably how putting the president before all others might result in the presidents support dropping away from him as people grew dissatisfied or dead. It is hard to imagine a president today taking on a journey such as this - for the time, danger, and even just the required fortitude.

I have a new appreciation for Theodore Roosevelt after reading this book. While I'm not sure I like the man, he does embody some lost element of pioneering, guns blazing, Renaissance man explorer. I think I'm ok with the presidents of today not holding dear to some of those qualities, but it shows the difference between our perceptions of importance that a president setting out to conquer nature would at the same time be devoted to his literature and find it his saving grace in the darkest days in the jungle.

The audiobook version I listened to was excellent, the narrator perfectly alternating between English and Portuguese names and words, his pace and voice instilling the adventure and power of both the river and the politics. I'd highly recommend this book.

Great story and history! I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the reader! I highly recommend this book!

The problem with the book is that - like the River of Doubt - it just goes on and on and on and on. I'm wildly impressed by the tenacity of T-Roosevelt, and the insight into Brazilian culture in the turn of the 20th century was cool, but it could've been like....3 hours shorter.

This is a compelling read that you won't be able to put down. It's hard for me to asses them as brave or fools. With a little wilderness canoeing under my belt, I know if I faced the river with their provisions and equipment, I would have turned around. It's amazing any of them survived the trip.

The narrator was excellent. The story was an intimate introduction to Teddy's post-president years that proved inspiring, enlightening, and at times bittersweet! Would recommend to any and all fans of Teddy or exploration.

The River of Doubt, is a great book, will written and completely historically accurate. I would recommend this book to anyone even if they are not a history nut like me. Candice Millard is my favorite author.

You will want to keep reading and not put it down... Author describes every detail and educates throughout the book...