Digging for the Truth

Viewers of Josh Bernstein's TV series "Digging for the Truth" saw the survival expert take risks in every episode to explore the facts behind various legends. In his book, Bernstein tells how he coped with insects, house arrest, food poisoning and other illness, and exhaustion, not to mention eating a guinea pig for Thanksgiving dinner. Oddly, Bernstein doesn't read his own writing here, but William Dufris mixes wry humor with a sense of wonder and gee-whiz excitement to make a great substitute. Listeners can hear the enthusiasm of discovery and the frustration of delays and setbacks in his voice. Anyone who's wondered what it's like to create popular documentaries will find this book interesting. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

December 4, 2006
TV show host and first-time author Bernstein is a real-life Indiana Jones: rugged, stubbled, khakied and capped with a familiar-looking hat ("It's not a fedora"), he might look silly if he didn't have the chops to back it up. Fortunately, he does: CEO of an outdoor survival school, Bernstein also has anthropology and psychology degrees from Cornell, as well as a lifelong love for the wilderness. It all combines to crowd-pleasing effect in this passionate volume, a companion to his popular History Channel series of the same name. After a brief autobiography, chapters describe how episodes were filmed in locations like Ethiopia, Italy and Austria, Egypt, Peru and Easter Island. Along the way the explorer rappels down Alpine cliffs, dives into mysterious Mayan cenotes and, yes, even searches for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, joined by colorful local experts like prickly Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass. Illustrated with full-color location and crew photos, chapters also include interesting side bar lessons on wilderness survival-how to start a fire and put together an explorer's med kit among them. Bernstein glosses over neither dangers nor consequences, and it's clear throughout that he loves his job and knows how lucky he is to have it (despite the nightmare travel schedule and severe parasitic infections), making this an exciting, addicting read for fans of the show, present and future.