Rating: 
Summary: Riveting. Well-rounded. Required reading.
Review: Once I got past the scene-setting of the individual seamen who were inevitably the ones who drowned (sorry for that burst of cynicism, but the more touching the personal tale, the more likely they were to be among the lost), the book gets down to the business of telling us about the whole cycle of commercial fishing in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The miracle of this story is that Dillon captures both the personal and the intimate details of the individuals, but he also nails the macro-issues of the industry, its evolution and practices. As an added bonus, he gives us the inner chambers of our government and a cold-eyed view of how laws are actually enacted, a civics lesson that we should read and re-read. Great book, all around. A brilliant feat by Dillon, who makes it all flow so naturally that you don't even know you're reading virtuoso journalism of the highest order.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing information on a little known profession
Review: Patrick Dillion did a superb job in mixing the big business of fishing, politics and the effects the two have on a small town. The book contained lots of information that would bring one up-to-date about a lucrative and dangerous business.
Rating: 
Summary: Sea tragedy changes focus half-way and looses momentum.
Review: The first half of the book is fascinating and details well the tragedies that surround the fishing industry. It is less technical than 'A Perfect Storm' and it has a more humanistic quality to it. The second half focuses on the lobbying to change safety legislation in the industry. The book would have been better served if the second half was condensed.
Rating:
Summary: Neither as dramatic or compelling as "A Perfect Storm"
Review: The horror and danger of mid-winter crab fishing in the Bering Sea are bleed away in a narration that spends the last third of the book describing the politics of saftey reform on fishing fleets.There is much to commend this book early on as it focuses on the story of two lost fishing vessels. However, just as the interesting pieces begin to get developed (the dreary and hellish port of Dutch Harbor, the working conditions on board a crab boat), the reader is never quite brought into the lives of the characters -- perhaps there are just too many who pass by. When I think of Simon Junger's two page description of the actual physical facts of drowning, and compare this with the similar, but brief two paragraph description here of what it is like to freeze to death in the ocean, the difference between the books becomes clear to me. Junger knows that drilling into the detail can illuminate the drama -- this author, by contrast, recites the facts and then just hurries on. This is not a bad read, but I knew the author could have told us so much more.
Rating:
Summary: The NW American Fishery
Review: This book gave a good image of what it is like up in the Bering Sea fishing to make a living. I was almost going up there as a fishery observor on the boats for a few months, but I didn't go at the last second. Thank goodness, what those people put themselves through is unbelievable. I agree the money is great, but what is happening up there just makes me mad! I can't believe all the deaths, hardships, and difficulties it took just to install some basic laws, rules, and regulations for the fishery business. Whats going on still to this day, why must the government keep this Olympic system for the king crab industry, everyone knows it is far too dangerous. I am a graduate student in marine fisheries and I plan on making a difference up there in the future. The decline of the fisheries is my #1 concern, and it well should be with the fisherman as well, for it is their livelihood that relies upon it. My next concern is the absolute insanity that goes on just to catch some fish, crabs, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: In Depth Look at Commercial Fishing and its Worst Disaster
Review: This book is a fascinating look into a tragedy, and is hard to put down once it gets going. Dillon does a good job of covering all the 'angles' about this industry, the people involved, & these 2 particular boats. He doesn't have the same flair that Sebastian Junger does for detailed background stories that really bring the reader into the lives of those he's writing about, but that's setting the bar pretty high as I could hardly put "The Perfect Storm" down. This book is interesting in a different way, because this disaster was so much more of a mystery. Because it happened in calm seas, was relatively close to land, and they were well-equipped boats, they really had to start from zero to figure this whole thing out, & that's what pulls you along in the reading of the book. It also concentrates much more on the industry as a whole, although that last part of the book is a bit less interesting, it does a good job of rounding out the story & giving the reader info you're curious about by the time you've learned how the commercial fishing industry operates.
Rating:
Summary: In Depth Look at Commercial Fishing and its Worst Disaster
Review: This book is a fascinating look into a tragedy, and is hard to put down once it gets going. Dillon does a good job of covering all the 'angles' about this industry, the people involved, & these 2 particular boats. He doesn't have the same flair that Sebastian Junger does for detailed background stories that really bring the reader into the lives of those he's writing about, but that's setting the bar pretty high as I could hardly put "The Perfect Storm" down. This book is interesting in a different way, because this disaster was so much more of a mystery. Because it happened in calm seas, was relatively close to land, and they were well-equipped boats, they really had to start from zero to figure this whole thing out, & that's what pulls you along in the reading of the book. It also concentrates much more on the industry as a whole, although that last part of the book is a bit less interesting, it does a good job of rounding out the story & giving the reader info you're curious about by the time you've learned how the commercial fishing industry operates.
Rating:
Summary: How tragedy shapes public policy
Review: This book is inevitably bound to be missed in all the hoopla attending the release of the film version of Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm." That's a true shame, because Dillon's account of the dangers of commercial fishing in the Bering Sea is not only poignant, but an incisive look into how the loss of human life can bring about public policy changes that will save other lives in the future. If you read the Junger book, you'll like this one, too. Dillon doesn't quite have the flair for characterization or drama that Junger wields, but he does manager to convey the horrors of a sudden capsizing in the frigid sea, a common event which few fishermen survive. The story focuses on the trawlers Americus and Altair, which disappeared in February, 1983, less than 25 miles off the coast of Unalaska Island in a heavily-traveled sea lane. The ships disappeared in relatively calm water. The capsized hull of Americus was spotted a few days later, but sank in 4,200 feet of water before divers could enter the hull and search for survivors or bodies. Altair was never found, save for some small bits of debris. Fourteen men, most of them under the age of 25, died in the sinkings. Dillon covers the disaster's awful impact on the dead men's survivors, then moves on to a careful account of the Coast Guard investigation into the disaster. He fairly gives us hints in the narrative leading up to the sinkings that should tip even the most non-mechanically inclined reader to what probably caused the ships' losses. When it becomes clear later on what that cause was, Dillon's little trick allows us to feel the same sense of dawning horror that the ships' owner, a conscientious and decent man, and architect must have felt when they realized what had happened and that it had been preventable. Finally, Dillon covers the political fall-out of the sinkings, which helped spur Congress to pass the first federal legislation mandating safety precautions on commercial fishing vessels. He tells it straight up -- how the victims' families and the families of other lost fishermen organized to get the law passed, how special interest politics slowed -- and nearly stopped -- its passage and how the persistence of these ordinary citizens and a few legislators finally carried the day. This is a great book for those who love sea disaster stories. Dillon obviously has a great sympathy for the men who fish the Bering Sea and a keen perception of the brutal environment in which they must work and how dangerous their jobs are. He also does a fine job of documenting how the families left behind in Anacortes, Washington, (the home port of the two lost trawlers) lived with the inevitability that tragedy would find its way to their own doorsteps and dealt with the overwhelming sorrow and loss once it did. But this book's real value lies in the account it gives of the political machinations required to pass even the simplest safety legislation. Public policy instructors would be well-advised to read this book and consider it for use in their own courses. It's "sausage making" at its most gut-wrenching worst.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible!!!!
Review: This book shows you what greed and lack of care for the environment can do. The environment will always win. It is a must read book.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Book Sick
Review: This book was okay. Since it was a true story it kind of was boring. I understand though, because people's life's arent a 24 hour action story. It was well written though, for a true story.
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