Castaway in Paradise: The Incredible Adventures of True-Life Robinson Crusoes

Rating:
Summary: hard to put down such compelling and entertaining stories
Review: any failings in literary grace are more than compensated with simmon's ability to ferret out tale after fascinating tale. a great book for vacation reading, to redefine the meaning of a bad day, to put the mind in some unusual places. absolutely gauranteed to liven up the dinner conversation, this one goes straight to my 'favorite-book shelf for guests'in the dacha. if you like it, also take a look at Lansing's 'Endurance.'

Rating:
Summary: hard to put down such compelling and entertaining stories
Review: any failings in literary grace are more than compensated with simmon's ability to ferret out tale after fascinating tale. a great book for vacation reading, to redefine the meaning of a bad day, to put the mind in some unusual places. absolutely gauranteed to liven up the dinner conversation, this one goes straight to my 'favorite-book shelf for guests'in the dacha. if you like it, also take a look at Lansing's 'Endurance.'

Rating:
Summary: Stories of real-life castaways
Review: Cruising World praised this book: "How might you fare if a shipwreck landed you on a tropical island? Here are stories of real-life castaways, from Alexander Selkirk in the 1700's, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, to Tom Neale, who, in the 20th century, preferred solitary island life and became "The Hermit of Suwarrow."

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Detailed Stories....makes ya wanna be there!
Review: I enjoyed the stories in this book. They were well written and quite descriptive. Two of the eight stories took place in the 1900's; the rest were older (that's my only gripe).

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Detailed Stories....makes ya wanna be there!
Review: I enjoyed the stories in this book. They were well written and quite descriptive. Two of the eight stories took place in the 1900's; the rest were older (that's my only gripe).

Rating:
Summary: Captivating! Intriguing! Very Exciting!
Review: One of the best books I have ever read!!! Many of us wonder: if I were stranded on a deserted island, what three items would I want to have with me? Or-- wouldn't life be easier if I lived on a deserted island! James Simmons clears up any fantisies we might have regarding deserted islands, and it is not a pretty picture. I loved this book so much, I wrote to the author--something I have never done before or since!

Rating:
Summary: castaways encapsulated
Review: Simmons gives us brief vignetttes of what real castaways endured - not always a pretty, tropical island picture. This is at the same time the book's strength and weakness. The shortish accounts allow him to cover a lot of ground (geographically and temporally), but they often left me hungry for more detail. Still, all in all, I would recommend it to anyone else out there who enjoyed "Robinson Crusoe," or simply reading about the ocean.

Rating:
Summary: castaways encapsulated
Review: Simmons gives us brief vignetttes of what real castaways endured - not always a pretty, tropical island picture. This is at the same time the book's strength and weakness. The shortish accounts allow him to cover a lot of ground (geographically and temporally), but they often left me hungry for more detail. Still, all in all, I would recommend it to anyone else out there who enjoyed "Robinson Crusoe," or simply reading about the ocean.