Rusty McClure’s book about, Ed Leedskalnin, and his creation, Coral Castle is an easy, but worthwhile read. McClure’s research relies heavily upon first hand accounts of the life Leedskalnin and the construction of his “Rock Gate Park”, aka “Ed’s Place”. It covers pretty much everything that can be documented about Ed's life from his adolescence in Latvia, his immigration to the "New World" and his efforts during the 1920s thru early 1940s at Coral Castle, and on until Ed's death in 1951.
McClure’s account thankfully sticks to the known facts about Leedskalnin. The resulting story is amazing enough without resorting to crutches about aliens from other planets, mysticism or unknown and unexplainable technologies.
Leedskalnin was trained in the crafts of stone masonry and lumberjacking. He knew how to work stone, how to move heavy objects made of stone and lumber and how to rig timber into cranes and winches. These things can be done by one man who knows what he is doing, but this should take nothing away from Leedskalnin’s accomplishments, which were impressive. What I found so impressive from my own efforts with heavy labor is how easily one can injure oneself so very, very quickly and very badly doing this kind of work. And Ed performed these feats….at NIGHT!
McClure doesn’t neglect telling the parts of the story that have inspired fanciful conjecture. Leedskalnin was a resourceful, inquisitive and obviously hard working man who harbored idiosyncratic theories about electricity and magnetism and even published some of his ideas in pamphlet form. It is these character traits that have served to fuel some of the more zany ideas that have been put forth about his life’s work.
At the end of the day, Leedskalnin’s story is a simple one that isn’t lengthy in the telling. The book moves along quickly and makes for an enjoyable and easy read.
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