My Odyssey

This book is recommended by Buzz Aldrin who, with Niel Armstrong, was on the first voyage to walk on the moon and who was recently honored by President Obama on the fortieth anniversary of this momentous event.

It is a series of short stories from the adventurous life of Dr. Paul Straub told in an easy going, humorous style. Among his many adventures he tells the story of the first ascent of the vertical cliff from where the world's highest waterfalls flows. This is ANGEL FALLS, nearly 3/4 of a mile high, which is deep in the jungle of Venezuela. This climb required 9 1/2 days for the ascent, during which time the climbers sometimes slept hanging from pitons pounded into the vertical rock wall. They ran out of food the last few days. They then had to descend which required a day and a half of repelling.

He also describes the 17th solo circumnavigation of the world in an airplane. Forty-four years were required for seventeen pilots to accomplish this feat. Dr. Straub's flight was done before GPS and much of the navigation was by dead reckoning.

Among the adventures are seven crossings of the Atlantic Ocean in a single engine airplane and miscellaneous adventures the world over.

Dr. Straub also muses about his humble orign at the beginning of the depression and how he paid his own way by working through college and medical school and graduated with no debts.

Dr. Straub describes SCUBA diving before the equipment could be bought in a store, parachuting before modern sport parachutes were available and hang gliding with the earliest Rogalo wing gliders. He describes learning to fly in airplanes with skids instead of tail wheels and no starters or brakes. He skied uphill with a motor and a propeller on his back and carried a motorcycle in his airplane so he did not have to depend on ground transplantation.

He has run 126 marathons and operated on the royalty in the palace in Saudi Arabia

There is something in this book which will be enjoyed by every age group both male and female.