Book Log 2013 #15: Birdseye by Mark Kurlansky

Every family seems to have a story about a lost opportunity to make a fortune, from stock advice not taken to real estate investments not made. In my family, there was talk about how my grandparents knew Clarence Birdseye and failed to get involved at the ground floor of his frozen food business. I don't know how much truth there is to the story, but I can remember Birdseye's name coming up regularly around the dinner table when we'd visit. Which explains why I was drawn to this biography of the man a little more than I may have been normally.

The biggest problem with writing this biography appears to have been the lack of source material, as most (if not all) of the people who knew Birdseye are now dead, and there's less documentation - letters, articles, and the like - than one might expect. Though that seems typical for the Birdseye presented here, an inveterate tinkerer whose wandering mind and taste for the outdoors makes him less likely to spend time scribbling at a journal or engaging in voluminous correspondence.

Birdseye is painted here as one of the last of a vanishing breed, a self-taught man who uses observation and experience to solve problems. His "invention" of frozen food came out of observations while living in Canada, where the need to stock up for winter (and the presence of naturally frozen food thanks to long and bitterly cold winters) led him to consider frozen food as an everyday thing.

Kurlansky did a good job of providing a biography out of the available material, and the theme of Birdseye as one of the last great tinkerers is quite apt. I wouldn't say it's presented as a bad thing, but more as an observation on how much more interesting the world was when there were people like Birdseye around. A sentiment with which I'd agree.