Biographies Archives -

Finding Gobi – Dion Leonard – A Wonderful Tale

By ekkarn November 22, 2017 October 28, 2025 Books-NonFiction

Finding Gobi: The true story of a little dog and an incredible journey – Dion Leonard

Dion Leonard’s Finding Gobi is the typical boy finds dog, boy loses dog, boy searches for dog, ultimately finds him and brings him home. Only the boy is an ultra- marathoner who races in some of the most grueling races around the globe. And it was at one of those races that Leonard found Gobi. The race was a grueling seven-day 155 mile run that crosses the China’s Gobi Desert.

Gobi and Dion Leonard Meet

Actually, I guess it’s more correct to say Gobi found Leonard. That’s because at the start of the initial stage of the race, little Gobi started attacking The shoe covers Leonard had on his running shoes. The covers were in place because during the first part of the race, the runners would be going up a sand dune! Anyway, as the race started Gobi started running too and stayed by Leonard’s side through the whole 26.2 miles! That night Gobi slept in Leonard’s tent.

The following morning Leonard and Gobi set off again on the next leg of the race. All and all Gobi stayed by Leonard’s side through three marathons! Of course there were a couple of times that Dion had to carry Gobi.

When it came to cross the scorching black sands of the desert, which was virtually devoid of life, Leonard knew that he could risk allowing Gobi to run. So Gobi moved ahead with the race official and met Leonard at the finish line.

Bringing Gobi Home

When the race ended Leonard couldn’t imagine leaving Gobi behind. But bringing a dog out of China and into the United Kingdom (the Leonards live in Edinburgh, Scotland) proved to be quite a challenge. The cost in money and time was going to be much higher than anticipated. Ultimately bringing Gobi home would require crowdfunding and a six month sabbatical for Leonard.

Additionally, after Leonard returned home to begin the arrangements for bringing Gobi to Scotland Gobi went missing. So Leonard went back to China to join in the search!

Bottom Line

Finding Gobi is a great book on many levels. If you are a runner you can enjoy Leonard’s description of the Gobi Desert race,as well as, past races. However, Finding Gobi is also about the impact that an animal can have on a person‘s life

At first saving a little orphaned dog he had named Gobi seemed like the right thing to do for Gobi. But eventually it was an even better thing to do for Dion Leonard.

So check it out!

Goodreads Rating:4.11. My Rating : 4.0*

*Really,really liked it!

Links for the Further Exploration of Gobi

Wikipedia
FindingGobi.com
Facebook: Dion Leonard
Facebook
Goodreads

Book 57 on a goal of 60 books read in 2017!

Book 3 of 2013 – Destiny of the Republic – Candice Millard

By ekkarn January 18, 2013 October 28, 2025 Books-NonFiction

Borrowing the closing line from King Kong and morphing it a little “Oh no, it wasn’t Giteau that killed Garfield, it was the doctors!”, makes it fit Book Number 3 of 2013 Destiny of the Repbulic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard. The subject of the book is the assassination of the 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield. Considering the mass of information that most history classes cover about all you ever hear is that Garfield was shot by a disgruntled person who wanted a civil service appointment. What we weren’t told was the appointment Charles Giteau wanted was Ambassador to France, or what an amazing man and beloved President, Garfield was,if only for a short period. The tale of the assassination involves obviously Garfield, and Charles Giteau his assailant, but also includes the theories of Joseph Lister and the inventions of Alexander Graham Bell! Millard has taken these pieces and woven a fine and easy reading and enjoyable book!

A little about the characters. First James A Garfield. Garfield was born into extreme poverty his father was killed when he was to and his family was left with nothing, but through hard work and education Garfield rose to become a graduate of Williams College, a Union General and eventuallly the Republican nominee for President, When on the 34th ballot at the Republican Convention, Garfield’s name was placed in nomination Garfield’s reply was ” I challenge the correctness of the announcement. The announcement contains votes for me. No man has a right, without the consent of the person voted for, to announce that persons name and vote for him, in this convention,. Such consent I have not given….”. The chair refused his objection and eventually Garfield became the nominee. Garfield was a staunch abolitionist and his election was the first time blacks and whites voted along side each other to elect a President. In many ways his election reminded me of Obama’s because of what it meant to African-Americans!

Charles Giteau was insane no question about it his mission in life was to remove the President and save the nation and in the process, he would be loved by the new President Chester Arhtur and Sherman would march to the jail to free him! Giteau was known around the White House and visited often and at one point he even met the President! He stalked him for days before finally deciding on the train station for the execution. He never believed that he was doing anything wrong just removing the President much as if he died of natural causes!!

But the real kicker is that if it wasn’t for the treatment he received after the shooting lead by Dr Willard Bliss, he probably would have survived. Millard comments that if he were a derelict shoot in the Bowery of New York he would have survived. One of the main reasons for this is that the American Doctors did not believe in the antiseptic theories of Joseph Lister! Even though death related to infections were dropping rapidly throughout Europe where Lister’s methods were employed!! The US doctors still wouldn’t believe, so they probe the wounds with fingers and unsterilized instruments and eventually Garfield rotted from within!

National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC.
For 11 weeks Garfield endured unsterilized probings, large doses of quinine and a vermin-infested sickroom.

Finally, Alexander Graham Bell was thrust into the story as he rushed feverishly to create an induction machine that would find the bullet! He may have succeeded but Bliss was convinced that the bullet lay on the right side of Garfield’s body and would only allow Bell to search that side of Garfield’s body!

In this book that I think is the key to loving history she focused on the people that made the history and made the time period come alive with her descriptions of the cast of characters that surrounded the assassination!

NY Times Review: The Doctors Who Killed a President

Book 5 of 2012 – American Emperor – David O. Stewart

By ekkarn February 9, 2012 October 28, 2025 Books-NonFiction

So most tines when I read non-fiction I start out well, then get bogged down and end up only reading a third to half of the book. Well, I decided to stick with Book 5 for 2012 American Emperor:Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America by David O. Stewart and I finally finished it tonight! I renewed the book from the library about three times! The book follows Burr’s life basically from the duel with Alexander Hamilton through to his death and focuses mainly on Burr’s plans to conquer the Spanish possessions in Florida and then invade Mexico and set himself up as Emperor. The book was a little slow in parts but overall it was well written. While I have read before about Burr’s treachery and his association with that weasel General James Wilkinson (see another non-fiction book setting on my shelf An Artist in Treason about Wilkinson which I have stopped about a third of the way through) I had not read much about Burr’s trial for treason which I found very interesting. A couple of other parts of the book that I found interesting included a discussion of the Louisiana Purchase most times I just think, oh Jefferson bought this area in 1803 and never think about the assimilation of the people who lived there into the US! It was hard for the Creoles to adjust. The other was the time it took to get from place to place. The description of Burr’s return trip to Washington from New Orleans in 1805 took from July to November and the description of having to almost cut your way through the forest as you traveled made me realize what an ordeal it was to travel! It took Wilkinson three months to get from New Orleans to Washington for Burr’s Treason trial!