One of the fun things about the Internet and hypertext links is that often you can follow a trail from one place and discover something interesting in a completely different place. I often get “lost” on the Net just this way: finding something even more interesting when I get where I thought I wanted to be.
I did a meatspace version of getting link-lost when I went to the library the other night. I didn’t find the book I was looking for on the shelf. Rather than browse the whole shelf or go home empty-handed, I checked the table for books to be reshelved. That’s where I found a copy of Return To Midway, by Robert Ballard, the underwater explorer who found the Titanic.
It’s a fascinating story of high-tech exploration and World War II naval history. And owing to National Geographic co-sponsoring the expedition, the book is filled with brilliant photographs.
During my sailing days, my ship came close enough to Midway Island to see it light up the Pacific horizon. Knowing it lurked just below the horizon gave it an aura of mystery to me. It was one of the places I would have loved to have visited on my Pacific deployments.
The fate of the Imperial Japanese Empire was decided here in twenty hellish minutes. The recounting of this battle – one of the greatest sea battles ever fought – is a captivating walk back in time.
“Why would anybody fly on an airline called ‘Mid Way’?”
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What’s even better than that was the Midway ad campaign where their passengers would take off and soon be in “heaven.” I wonder if they ever thought that one through.
I certainly don’t want to get on a plane and arrive in heaven. No sireee.