Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Frozen-Water Trade: A True Story by Gavin Weightman ISBN: 0-7868-6740-X Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 08 January, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A true story: YOU could turn ice into money
Comment: As a business professor, I found this book part entertaining history, part cautionary tale about the risks and rewards of hubris.
One might at first read it as the story of a mad genius, Fredrick Tudor, a 19th-century Boston scion fallen on hard times with the nutty notion to ship ice to the Caribbean. Tudor truly didn't seem to have a good head for business, but the fundamental economics of the trade were so strong that he eventually flourished. Take something that you can get for practically free (ice). Hire farm workers laid off for the winter (they'll work for practically nothing). Pack it with something that people want to get rid of (sawdust). Transport it in ships that would otherwise be carrying only ballast (they'll carry it cheap).
Tudor appears to have been more-or-less an irascible nut, whose initial forays into shipping ice were disastrous (he forgot, for example, that no one in the Carribean had a place to store it, so that the first purchasers could do nothing more with their blocks of ice than carry them home gingerly in their aprons and watch them melt). As a sideline, he tried to corner the US coffee market and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and alienated everyone who could help him gain a technological edge over his competitors.
In sum, Tudor is a fascinating character, but the trade itself is even more interesting then he was. Weightman's narrative is well-researched, charming, and swift. It would make an excellent choice for anyone interested in history but also a great change-of-pace for anyone interested in business in general.
Rating: 4
Summary: Story of a Forgotten Industry
Comment: Mr. Gavin tells a very good tale of how Fredric Tudor took the seemingly absurd idea of selling ice and turned the idea into what was one of America's largest industries of the 19th Century.
What I found most captivating - more so than the biographical aspect of the book - was how Gavin put ice in perspective in America. It was a huge industry producing millions of dollars a year and employing thousands (many on a seasonal basis), yet because it was not taxed there is very little hard data. Moreover, ice appears to have been a primarily American love in the last century. Only after WWII did the rest of the world pick up our affinity for cold drinks and food. These perspectives make the book more than a biography or "how they done it" book and makes it worth reading.
Although I thought the book weakened towards the end (as if he was looking to fill a few more pages) it was a joy to read. Gavin made the history of a unique industry into a good story.
Rating: 4
Summary: An entertaining tale
Comment: Gavin Weightman writes very well. His books are very difficult to put down and this one is no exception. The story follows the life of Frederic Tudor and his untiring efforts to harvest, transport and sell ice at distant locations. Tudor's life and the ice trade are so intertwined that when he dies (90% into the book), one is left with the feeling that something is missing in the last 10% of the book. In order to not fall into this trap, one must remember that this is not a Tudor biography but the story of the ice trade. With this in mind, one can enjoy this book from cover to cover. A good read.
 |
Title: A Thread Across the Ocean : The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable by John Steele Gordon ISBN: 0060524464 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese ISBN: 0738204005 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
 |
Title: Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy by Andro Linklater ISBN: 0802713963 Publisher: Walker & Co Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
 |
Title: The Measure of All Things : The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World by Ken Alder ISBN: 074321675X Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 24 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
 |
Title: Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky ISBN: 0142001619 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
