No comments about Ripley's World: The Rugby Icon's Ultimate Victory Over Cancer.

No comments about Willie Wood.

1 comments about Fishing in All the Right Places: Six Decades of Discovery.

1. This is a must read for anyone who has ever experienced the frustrations and joys of sport fishing. Bob Silverman's personal experiences translate into entertaining, witty, and deep vignettes. I couldn't put it down.

1 comments about Touch the Top of the World.

1. The author, who is totally blind, gives the reader his life story. Told with humor, he regales the reader with insights into his early life, when he could still see, and describes how his gradual loss of sight impacted on how the world perceived him. Fighting all his life against stereotypic notions that the sighted population has about those who are blind, the author has proven that those who are blind can do just about anything a sighted person can do. They just go about doing it in a slightly different way.

   It is truly amazing that the author climbs mountains, because in order for him to do so, he must climb with others in whom he can place his complete and absolute trust. To some extent, he must rely upon them for precise descriptions of the terrain that lies before him. He also sometimes requires them to direct him accurately. Often, accurate directions and descriptions of the terrain are all that lies between the author and a precipitous drop of several thousand feet. I marvel that anyone would dare to venture up a mountain they cannot see in the traditional sense. The author has nerves of steel and is blessed with a very supportive and loving family.

   Yet, he climbs, not for the visual beauty of the mountains, but for the sense of freedom that it gives. For him, the mountains he climbs are a reassurance that he is just like everyone else. They are also trophies. He is working on climbing the seven summits, the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents. At this reading, he has reached the summit of four of them. I hope that he will reach his goal.

   The author is a very handsome, athletic and driven young man, and I give him a lot of credit for that drive and athleticism. When one reads his book, the reader realizes just how much it took for him to be able to do what he has done. What he has accomplished has flown into the face of conventional wisdom and traditional expectations of one who is blind. His story is unique in that he alone has made it so. He is a shining example of a person who will not let others dictate the parameters of his life. Yet, at the same time, he occasionally comes across as somewhat unfeeling of others and a bit shallow. Those who read the book will, undoubtedly, know what I mean. Nonetheless, he is certainly to be credited for expanding common perceptions of what the blind are capable of achieving.

No comments about The Horses of My Life.

4 comments about Fair Seafarer: A Honeymoon Adventure with the Merchant Marine.

1. I found this book strangely unfocused: part romance, part travelogue, part history, part sociology, and several other things as well. Nancy Allen is a skilled writer and observer, but it didn't seem to me that the various parts of this book always knitted together well.

   For a 'honeymoon,' I came away knowing some of the other crew members of the M/V Sea-Land Endurance better than I knew Nancy's new husband Bob, the Chief Mate. For the rest of the 'adventure,' the author relates what she saw, in her role as 'supernumerary, ' with style and immediacy. But the picture of the life of the modern merchant mariner still felt somewhat incomplete.

   High points of the book were Nancy's descriptions of foreign ports; her enlightening discussions with female crew members and with Keith, the radio operator; her visits to the stern of the ship (in the midst of a storm) and the engine room; and her discussion of issues of foreign flagging, unions, and the impact of regulation. The typographic decision to print excerpts from Nancy's journal in italics was somewhat annoying: page after page of italicized type can get hard on the eyes.

   Personally, I thought the foreword by former Maritime Administrator Albert J. Herberger was pretty much useless -- though it could have been his kiss-up to Bill Clinton that turned me off. But then, who expects much from forewords anyway?

   Despite its weaknesses, this was not a bad read, and I recommend it for anyone interested in true-life sea stories and the American merchant marine. At its best, it's highly personal and told with great style. Despite the hyperbolic dust jacket copy, it's not quite 'a saga of the sea and the modern mariners who sail it.' It's more like a conversation with a friend than a latter-day Melville. And there's nothing wrong with that.




2. I thank Nancy Allen for writing her story about life on an American Flag cargo vessel. Her husband, Bob Allen is stuck in the same position my father was in during the 60's - that is - sailing as a Chief Mate with a Masters license. It must have been difficult for Nancy to see the time and dedication her husband puts in while on-board ship and the frustration he must feel being responsible for almost everything and not being in charge. Bob Allen is in love with the sea and Ms. Allen followed the man she loves and wrote a great story about the places and people that make up the world of a disappearing US Flag Merchant Fleet.



3. I have been involved with the sea for almost thirty years. I read Fair Seafarer and learned quite a thing of two about life on an American flagged efficient cargo vessel.Nancy, the author, told the tale of her voyage and a voyage through the Merchant Marine service with great style. It is a book that you might even read wothout putting it down. Believe me, she is right on target with the problems that plague American crews. Shares with us the joys of the voyage from her unique perspective as the Chief Mates wife, along for quite a ride.



4. An illuminating book on the motivation of an iconoclastic lifestyle in this technological age. The authors enthusiasm is projected to the reader and carries you along her serendipitous journey.

No comments about Never Stop Pushing.

No comments about ROY WONDER: THE STORY OF ROY BENTLEY CHELSEA CHAMPION (100 GREATS S.).

No comments about Bigger Than Boxing: Muhammad Ali.

No comments about So You Want to Play in the Nhl.