Harsh as the Yukon is, it is a walk in the park compared to anything in space, where there is no realistic possibility of a rush of individual prospectors.
Several areas of the ocean floor are covered with valuable polymetallic nodules [1] which are way more accessible than anything in space, yet this has not led to the equivalent of a gold rush.
London didn't sugar coat the life up there in his novels. The people depicted were all hard people living hard lives, or they were fools, or both.
I can't remember which book it was but the comedic/tragic depiction of an unexperienced sister and two brothers overloading a sled, unwilling to give up useless comforts, so much so that the dogs couldn't move the sled, stuck in my mind.
Jack London’s experience is a useful analogy most people chased quick wins, underestimated operational friction like logistics, environment, capital constraints, and failed due to poor preparation. Jack didn’t extract value from mining but he converted field experience into durable intellectual capital like stories, brand, and differentiation. I think of how startups and other business endeavors rarely win by blindly copying obvious opportunities they win by capturing firsthand market pain, execution scars, and unique insights into defensible products. My personal takeaway is asset isn't always going to be the "rush" it's what you learn while surviving it.
> “He was fiercely intelligent, and had a lot of confidence, but instead of trying to impress people, he looked and listened and felt.
> “Even his popular classics are enriched with multilevel meanings beneath the action-packed surface,” Labor says. “Jack was gifted with what Jung called ‘primordial vision,’ which unconsciously connects the author to universal myths and archetypes.
This right here is why Jack London is one of my favourite authors. The two-volume set published in the "Library of America" series is a must have for any aficionado. Not only does it have his novels and short stories but it also has his social writings which any American will do well to read today.
Reading his works, it is apparent that he was highly intelligent and really read and thought about everything in a very practical "here is how it is applicable to real life" manner. It is an object lesson on how mere schooling should not define you but what you make of yourself with what you study, learn and practice.
>> shoot the entire production without leaving California, and it’s hard to criticize them for not using authentic Yukon locations.
Yup. Everything on screen will be fake. No majesty. No detail. No grit. Nothing authentic. No presence. It will look like a marvel movie, a clean and sanitized version of "wilderness". I bet they will even add fake consensation so we know when a the scene is supposed to be "cold". Because the turbulance of a character's breath hitting a biting arctic wind and freezing to thier mask is so easy to model accurately in post.
"He also found the process difficult. "During much of the two-year shooting schedule in Canada's Yukon and in Nome, Alaska, I was the only actor present. It was the loneliest film I've ever worked on," Smith said."
It’s funny, from his books I always imagined he spent years up there in the Yukon. But it turns out he trekked in (by far the hardest experience of the Yukon Gold Rush rush was just getting there with the mandated 1 year of food and all your mining equipment), staked an unprofitable claim, talked to a lot of people in bars in Dawson City, spent an uncomfortable winter in a small cabin with some other gold-rushers eating just bread and beans and bacon, got scurvy from eating just bread and beans and bacon, and then got the hell out and went back to San Francisco.
I say this not to minimize the depth or the hardship of his experience (it sounds like a nightmare) but more in amazement at all the compressed experiences he had and the folder for stories he amassed during that one year. Certain years in life flash by (or they seem that way to me) and others are formative and seem to last forever. Clearly this was the latter for him.
"White Fang" and "Call of the Wild" are Jack London's best known novels, not his best novels IMHO. I prefer "Martin Eden" and "the Iron Heel", and am a bit mystified as to how his entire literary career has been boiled down to two dog books.
"Martin Eden" is about a mixed class relationship, with a wealthier woman becoming involved with a working class man. This is no "Lady Chatterley's Lover", but based partly on his parents' experience, not just his own.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 29.1 ms ] threadSeveral areas of the ocean floor are covered with valuable polymetallic nodules [1] which are way more accessible than anything in space, yet this has not led to the equivalent of a gold rush.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganese_nodule
I can't remember which book it was but the comedic/tragic depiction of an unexperienced sister and two brothers overloading a sled, unwilling to give up useless comforts, so much so that the dogs couldn't move the sled, stuck in my mind.
> “Even his popular classics are enriched with multilevel meanings beneath the action-packed surface,” Labor says. “Jack was gifted with what Jung called ‘primordial vision,’ which unconsciously connects the author to universal myths and archetypes.
This right here is why Jack London is one of my favourite authors. The two-volume set published in the "Library of America" series is a must have for any aficionado. Not only does it have his novels and short stories but it also has his social writings which any American will do well to read today.
Novels and Stories : https://www.loa.org/books/99-novels-and-stories/
Novels and Social Writings : https://www.loa.org/books/100-novels-and-social-writings/
Reading his works, it is apparent that he was highly intelligent and really read and thought about everything in a very practical "here is how it is applicable to real life" manner. It is an object lesson on how mere schooling should not define you but what you make of yourself with what you study, learn and practice.
Yup. Everything on screen will be fake. No majesty. No detail. No grit. Nothing authentic. No presence. It will look like a marvel movie, a clean and sanitized version of "wilderness". I bet they will even add fake consensation so we know when a the scene is supposed to be "cold". Because the turbulance of a character's breath hitting a biting arctic wind and freezing to thier mask is so easy to model accurately in post.
Want to see a real yukon movie?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Cry_Wolf_(film)
"He also found the process difficult. "During much of the two-year shooting schedule in Canada's Yukon and in Nome, Alaska, I was the only actor present. It was the loneliest film I've ever worked on," Smith said."
THAT is what the real north is like.
I say this not to minimize the depth or the hardship of his experience (it sounds like a nightmare) but more in amazement at all the compressed experiences he had and the folder for stories he amassed during that one year. Certain years in life flash by (or they seem that way to me) and others are formative and seem to last forever. Clearly this was the latter for him.
Beautiful pictures and an interesting text.
"Martin Eden" is about a mixed class relationship, with a wealthier woman becoming involved with a working class man. This is no "Lady Chatterley's Lover", but based partly on his parents' experience, not just his own.