India Press Store - Nights of Ice: True Stories of Disaster and Survival on Alaska's High Seas

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Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 979.8051
EAN: 9780312199937
ISBN: 0312199937
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 1999-02-15
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin

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Working on the Edge: Surviving In the World's Most Dangerous Profession: King Crab Fishing on Alaska's HighSeas Coming Back Alive Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs Deadliest Catch: Desperate Hours Alaska: Tales of Adventure from the Last Frontier

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Amazing survival stories
Comment: Excellent book. Spike Walker is a good story teller. His other book "Coming Back Alive is excellent as well.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Deadliest Catch
Comment: A MUST READ for anyone interested in surviaval, Adventure, Commercial Fishing or just a great read! If you like the show Deadliest Catch you will love this book!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Must Read for fans of "The Most Dangerous Catch"
Comment: Better than anything that could be shown on TV - you feel each and every up and down of the ship as Spike Walker spins the yarn of the life of each and every Berring Sea fisherman... must purchase "Working the Edge" also by him FIRST before reading this book. Like to see it available in a normal paperback format also for easier reading.

Customer Rating:

Summary: For "Deadliest Catch" junkies!
Comment: As a huge fan of "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel I'm very interested in learning the true stories of these fishermen. Watching the show reminds me how easy my life is and kinda boring too! Spike Walker's "Nights of Ice" is a non-fiction compilation of stories about rescues of fishing ships in the waters around Alaska.

He does a good job painting a picture of the dangers involved for both the stranded fishermen as well as the rescue workers. Reading this book gave me a better insight into the world these men live in - and the daily dangers they face. It reads rather quickly - and is a very easy to read book.

My one complaint about "Nights of Ice" is that the author tends to lean toward melodrama when describing much of the action. It just seems exaggerated to slightly beyond belief. My other caution would be, the stories start to sound alike. Boat in trouble, men in trouble, rescue made.

I would have liked more of the day to day living experienced onboard, as well as the actual near-death (or in some cases death) faced by the fishermen.

Customer Rating:

Summary: entertaining subject--marginal writing
Comment: I read this on a trip to Alaska, so I got into it's "spirit" on location. The stories are quite entertaining, but when writers make junior-varsity comments and mistakes, it makes me wonder about the veracity of the actual stories:
1) Does everyone see their entire lives flash before their eyes when they are near death?
2) Some guy's one-year old child asks him if he is Santa Claus upon his return from an ordeal at sea. Clearly Spike has never spent time with a one-year old; not only can very few of them speak more than a word or two, but this one is so eloquent and knowledgeable that he thinks the old man is Kris himself!
3) The helicopter pilot makes it to a "small village airport" just before running out of fuel (which means it must have been between 5-10 minutes from the rescue locale since they only had 30 minutes of fuel left before the rescue attempt(hmmmm), but somehow a C-130 can get in and out of there to send them home while the chopper gets an inspection (hmmm hmmmm).
I'll leave it at that...

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Editorial Reviews:

Spike Walker has spent more than a decade fishing in the subzero hell of Alaska's coastal waters. This collection--coming on the heels of his classic memoir Working on the Edge--is a testament to the courage of those who brave nature's wrath each fishing season, and to the uncontrolled power of nature herself.. The crewmen in Nights of Ice face a constant onslaught of roaring waves, stories-high swells, and life-stealing ice. Tested by the elements, these seamen battle for their vessels and their lives, on every page evincing a level of courage and a will to live seldom found elsewhere in modern society.