A recommended book on Go By Jet!

On the Alaska Airlines page of GoByJet.com Jorgy is listed in the sidebar as a recommended book! Word is getting around.

Canadian bookstore now carrying Jorgy

Jorgy is now available at Mac's Fireweed Books, the first Canadian bookstore to carry his memoir. Mac's is in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and is an excellent store. As they say, it "is a proud, independent bookstore and a Whitehorse institution." If you're up that way, check them out.

Upcoming events in Anchorage and Fairbanks

Several events are planned for the next month at which either Jorgy Jorgensen or both Jorgy and Jean Lester will be featured:

• Book signing at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum starting at noon and going on until 3 or 4 pm, June 20, Friday, 4721 Aircraft Drive, Anchorage.

• Book signing at Title Wave Books at their downtown store, 415 W 5th Avenue, from 3:30 to 5:30 pm, June 21, Saturday, Anchorage.

• Book signing at the Fairbanks Barnes & Noble, at 421 Mehar Avenue, Sunday, June 29 (time to be announced), 2 to 4 pm.

• 2008 Salmon Bake at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum, on July 4th, Friday from 4 to 9 pm, Anchorage.

Jorgy's book is now available in Nome, at the Arctic Trading Post!

Latest review from LibraryThing

This reviewer gave the book a four-star review:

This book is an oral autobiography, so I suspended my usual demands on structure and approached the stories in this book as if I were a small child listening grownups talk about days gone by. And I was well rewarded.

The subject of this book is Holger “Jorgy” Jorgensen, whose heritage includes Russian, Inupiat, and Norwegian ancestors. His life began with a subsistence-level struggle for survival and grew to be part of the story of aviation in Alaska. In 1943…Jorgy started flying lessons and he never looked back. He flew as a charter pilot, an airline pilot, a freight pilot, and for the sheer love of flying itself. He criss-crossed Alaska, landing on icebergs, too-short runways, and runways ending beside mountains. He progressed to flying jets and piloted planes carrying passengers and freight around the world.

I can see how Jean Lester, who brought this book to life, must have sometimes wanted to beat her head against the wall. She describes Jorgy as a master of understatement, and editor Carla Helfferich describes him as “a laconic fellow with a good memory and no interest in tooting his own horn.” The stories are told in a dry, unemphatic way just as I might talk about a day at the office. However, Jorgy's day at the office included hauling the inanimate (dynamite and dump trucks) and animate (fish--dead, reindeer--live). And he did it in a place where you might have to drain the oil from an airplane's engine to keep it from freezing.

The problem with reviewing this book is that I want to tell you all the things Jorgy did, and there are just too many of them. And then there are the very understated descriptions of what it was like to grow up as a native and have to catch or harvest every bite of food that went into your mouth. Plus there is the story (also understated) of how Jorgy faced down the attitudes toward natives and did his part to end segregation in Alaska.

The natural audience for this book is pilots, but non-pilots will find a lot here, too. I'm not a pilot and I found much about this book to be fascinating. I only wish I could have really been listening while Jorgy told his stories.

More speaking or signing events are coming up, some of which will, we hope, be in Anchorage. Please check back for more news. Any readers who may have stories to share, please post them in the comments!

Talk at Noel Wien Library

The talk at Noel Wien Library went well; Jorgy, Jean, and I dressed up, Melinda came all spiffied up (with a little airplane pin on her black velvet lapel), and around 62 people attended the talk, with a few more coming in afterward for the book signing. Richard and Sally Wien came, and Richard introduced Jorgy with the tale of giving him a check ride when Richard was 17 years old. After the talk, people asked questions about things like the FAA, Jorgy's flight to the T-3 ice island research station, going to countries in Asia and Africa, whether he preferred large to small planes, his first flight, seeing his first airplane, and so on. It was a good turnout, and interesting.

Upcoming events and a new review

Another review from LibraryThing:

Jorgy Jorgensen is definitely a remarkable individual who overcame long odds to rise to a well respected position in his chosen profession. The book conveys his laconic voice well although, to some extent, it is a victim of his accomplishments in that, even when Jorgy's not bragging, the book seems to be.

The book holds obvious appeal for fans of aviation and those interested in the behind the scenes stories of the Alaska bush. While I am neither of those, the book held my interest quite well too.

There are two upcoming events at which you can meet Holger Jorgensen and get a copy of his book. The first is a book signing at Gulliver's, Saturday, May 17, from 2 to 4 (and probably a bit later). The second is a talk on aviation and his life at Noel Wien Library, Wednesday, May 21, at 7 pm. Jorgy will give an overview and perhaps an anecdote or two, and he and Jean Lester will be available for questions and book signing afterward.

Oral history collections

Jean Lester has collected many, many hours of tapes over the two years or so worth of interviews with Jorgy, and intends to donate these the UAF Polar Regions Oral History collections.