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    Gold Fever: One Man's Adventures on the Trail of the Gold Rush
    Unavailable
    Gold Fever: One Man's Adventures on the Trail of the Gold Rush
    Unavailable
    Gold Fever: One Man's Adventures on the Trail of the Gold Rush
    Ebook363 pages6 hours

    Gold Fever: One Man's Adventures on the Trail of the Gold Rush

    By Steve Boggan

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    One Thursday in 2008 the price of gold went above a thousand dollars an ounce for the first time in history. All over the world, at least in countries with gold-bearing soil, people with no experience of prospecting began shopping for shovels and pickaxes, gold pans, tents, generators and all manner of equipment they had no idea how to use. And off they went mining.

    Steve Boggan followed them, packing his bags and flying to San Francisco to join the 21st century’s gold rush in a quest to understand the allure of the metal and maybe find a bit for himself, too. He also takes us back in time to the original San Fransiscan gold rush, two centuries ago, and gets a crash course in the science and economics of gold. Written with Boggan’s characteristic wit and self-effacing charm, Gold Rush is a hugely entertaining travelogue and a unique insight into the history and future of the world’s most seductive metal.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOneworld Publications
    Release dateApr 20, 2015
    ISBN9781780746975
    Unavailable
    Gold Fever: One Man's Adventures on the Trail of the Gold Rush
    Author

    Steve Boggan

    Steve Boggan has been a news, features and investigative journalist for more than thirty years. A former Chief Reporter with the Independent, he has also written extensively for The Times, the Guardian, the London Evening Standard and the Daily Mail. His first book, Follow the Money: A Month in the Life of a Ten-Dollar Bill, was published in 2012. He lives in London.

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    Reviews for Gold Fever

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      The California Gold Rush. 1849, right? Yes, but did you have any idea that people are still prospecting for gold in the modern day? You've probably seen ads offering to buy your old unwanted gold jewelry for top dollar or maybe you've been invited to a gold party where you take old, tangled chains and other assorted pieces you no longer want and sell them to the consultant running the party, a kind of reverse Tupperware situation. The ads and the parties may not be as prevalent today as they were just a handful of years ago, but like modern day gold prospecting, they are similar results to the global financial crisis that saw prices for gold and other precious metals skyrocket in the early twenty-teens. In Steve Boggan's Gold Fever, the UK journalist set out to try his own hand at panning for gold, to illuminate the history of the past Gold Rush, and to chronicle the community hard at work in California rivers and streams.There's something addicting about gold and the idea of making a fortune overnight after finding just one sizable nugget and even a journalist who recognizes that panning for gold is akin to playing the lottery isn't immune to that lure. As the price of gold climbed in 2011, Steve Boggan decided to see just what it was about gold. He had no experience. He didn't even live in the US, never mind California. All he had was a healthy curiosity. So like the original '49ers, he set out to make of this mini gold rush what he could. His experiences, the people he met, and a historical perspective all weave together beautifully in this narrative travelogue.Boggan as a prospector is charming and lucky, not because he finds gold, but because he finds acceptance and help in the small community of people looking to strike gold in modern days. His recounting of his travels through gold country today and the historic places of yesteryear are appealing and descriptive. He talks to people who have made panning for gold their reason for being and he discusses the ways in which the technique today, aided by technology, differs from 1849. He meets some real characters and he offers up his own sometimes bumbling attempts in this quest, keeping the reader fully engaged in the tale he's telling and rooting for him to actually find gold. The tone is familiar and casual and Boggan is dryly funny. He is also openly surprised by his own attraction to the hunt, his own gold fever. I'm not sure I'd want to learn to prospect for gold but I sure did enjoy going along for the ride as Boggan did. This is a delightful and interesting read for both those who know about and are interested in the 1849 Gold Rush and for those who aren't.
    • 5/5
      I received this book as one of the Early Reviewers, and while I'm not quite done reading it yet, I have to say this book was a pleasant surprise, and right up my alley! I have a bit of "gold fever" myself although I've never actually (yet!) become a gold miner, I did several years ago embark upon a quest to visit old western ghost towns (most of which are or were mining towns.) One of the delights of this book, is it's like revisiting some of those places and seeing them from a new perspective.The author is an excellent writer, his facts seem spot-on from what I know about some of the places he talks about, and the book is an interesting mix of history and first person adventure. It's written in a style that keeps you wanting more. It's also educational, and explores the similarities between the gold rush of old, and the modern day revival, including the dark realities of it all.All in all a really fun book for adventurers at heart. I'm very glad I got picked as an early reviewer, I really wanted to get this book and it exceeded my expectations of how much I would enjoy reading it.
    • 4/5
      It's pretty amusing when an Englishman decides to go join the Gold Rush. Especially when it is the 21st Century. "Gold Rush" tells us the history of the 49'ers, their plans and schemes and some great stories of individuals who struck it rich - for awhile.It also tells us about modern-day prospectors who use technology to help them find their goal. Tiny slivers, hopefully some decent nuggets and not injuries are their plan. There is a really funny paragraph about bears; stories of extreme prospecting and going about thing sin the usual way. All told with typical British humor.A good book for history buffs, would-be gold hunters and just for something to read.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.In this book the author, Steve Boggan, chronicles his adventures in his search for Gold. Steve is a British Journalist who makes his way to America to cover a modern day gold rush. During the recession of the late 2000s a small number of Americans took to the streams and rivers of Califronia in hopes of finding a little "color" in the bottom of their gold pans. Steve is a self-admitted neophyte when it comes to finding gold. He partners up with a number of characters along the way. These characters become his mentors and friends. The book oscillates between tales of his own adventure and tales of those that braved the original Gold Rush in the 1840s and 1850s. The interjection of his own story keeps the history from becoming dull and boring.Throughout the course of his adventure Steve finds for himself what I'm sure every other gold seeker finds. The addiction of the hunt is strong and keeps him craving more and more regardless of the outcome.This was a fun read for me. I enjoy tales of outdoor adventure and esoteric hobbies. This book had plenty of both.
    • 5/5
      I won this book through a free giveaway from Librarything.One of the best travelogues I've read! For the adventure seeker in my fellow travelers. when you catch yourself thinking about a novel during the day, you know you're reading something good.
    • 4/5
      I received this book from Early Reviewers. This was a very interesting and entertaining read. Steve Boggan arrives from the UK to trace the history of the Gold Rush in modern day California. Not only to trace the history, but he sets out to become a prospector himself and immerse himself in the experience.This made me want to visit the places he talked about in Northern California and Oregon. It came close to making me want to try my hand at prospecting, but I would settle for just visiting the areas.He meets a cast of characters each and every one special people that help him on his way. The book starts with alternating chapters from his modern day travels and adventures to a historic point of view of several prospectors who made the journey across the country themselves. By the end the stories blend almost effortlessly into one and in ultimately I feel that we learn that maybe the most important thing isn't the gold but the adventure along the way. Read it!!
    • 5/5
      This is a fabulous adventure of a journey to explore a modern day Gold Rush intertwined with California's famous Gold Rush of 1849. Great reading. Well written. I took my time reading this book outloud, sharing the adventure--savoring the details of familiar places.
    • 4/5
      I didn't know much about the Gold Rush going into this book, but since I love travelogues I was still excited to read this book.It was interesting to read about the current day rules and regulations associated with panning for gold. I also enjoyed the characters Boggan met along the way. I did feel that the historical aspects he brought in dragged a bit.
    • 4/5
      A good-hearted look at the folks who keep the dream of "striking it rich" alive. If the thought of moving half a ton of dirt in order to, if you're lucky, find a flake or two of "colour" sounds appealing, apparently you're not alone.
    • 5/5
      Boggan, an author and Englishman, set off on a quest to the United States to try to understand the allure of gold. Living as a "prospector" for several months, he learned to pan for gold in the streams of California. Along the way, he learned, and recounts in the book, about the history of the original "49'ers" gold rush of the mid-1800's, the economics of gold, and the modern-day quests for gold. He also met a wide variety of characters, and vividly describes his interactions with them. As he tries to understand what gold "fever" was, he continuously examines his own feelings, finding that he, too, can feel himself drifting off into the "fever". Excellently written, you cannot help but feel the pull of the search for gold yourself. The book is very thoughtfully written, yet entertaining and great fun. Highly recommended!
    • 3/5
      This book chronicles the author's adventures as he follows in the footsteps of the California Gold Rush "49ers." Interspersed with his modern travails as a prospecting novice, Boggan, a British journalist, provides the history of the original 1849 gold rush, relying heavily (and to good effect) on the first-person journals of several “Argonauts” (seekers of the “golden fleece”) of the day. That the excerpts from those journals are the most memorable and riveting parts of “Gold Fever” tells you that this book is ultimately a disappointment. Boggan’s writing, while earnest and competent, is never truly moving or inspiring, and his attempts at humor generally fall flat. There is also a repetitive quality to Boggan’s experience of the sequence of prospecting expeditions and the “colorful” characters he meets along the way. Most of the digs, save for a scant few, in the end seem indistinguishable from each other, and perhaps that tells part of the story – the tedium and monotony of it all.