Rating: 
Summary: Really enjoyed this book!
Review: I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down. It isn't written to be an action-packed novel, but a memoir of one person's joys and tribulations as a smoke jumper. The book is filled with great stories and wonderful descriptions of beautiful wilderness moments and terrible wildfires. Great job Murry -- please write more & include some pictures next time!
Rating: 
Summary: Great material, could use an editor
Review: The oldest active smokejumper in history tells all, or at least what he went through during one hard season of parachuting into the Alaska wilderness to fight fires. Taylor gives a blow-by-blow account of the smokejumper's life, from early training to equipment checks to freefall to digging soil lines at the foot of raging fires to the boredom and loneliness. Along the way he manages to tell of his sexual exploits with two pretty girls and pack in several anecdotes of jumping, some funny, some tragic, almost all involving wounds. My problem with the book is that Taylor's not such a great writer. I got a fair sense of what it might be like to face a forest fire, sawing logs and digging line; and though the jumper's jargon threw me, his accounts of parachuting are good (there is a glossary). Still, Taylor lacks a good sense of dramatic structure (except in his depiction of the final, almost fatal conflagration), he doesn't try to explain what motivates these men to face hell daily, and the book's way overlong at 440 pages.
Rating:
Summary: this is great
Review: Jumping Fire is truly a great book. i have read it 3 times going on 4 now. you will not be able to put it down. Murry A. Taylor somes up Somkejumping and Wildland firefighting in Jumping Fire. Jumping Fire will put u on the edge of your seat. This is a book in witch you can understand what is going on and see what he is talking about. Now pick it up and get ready for the ride of your life.
Rating:
Summary: Jumping Fire
Review: Excellect book! As an ex-wildland firefighter, it is one of the best accounts of what it is really like on the line. It's funny, informative and at times brings a tear or two. Recommended reading for past, present and future wildland firefighters.
Rating:
Summary: Been there and loved it
Review: Okay... I read this book before I became a wildland firefighter. but after I became infatuated with the job. This was a very accurate account of the lifestyle of a firecrew and Smokejumpers tenfold since they are flown in VERY remote areas. It was funny too, you see hte bond that you get with your co-workers with in the ranks but I can't even begin to describe what is really like.The men who couldn;t figure to how to live with out thier kinsmen are just one example. You also get an idea of how hard a life it is out there leaving everyone you love for 6 months at a time. but the lifestyle is an addiction if your the type of person to do it. I almost lost my best friend 10/31/01 year when he was hit by a snag in KY. He was the one who got me into this job. The connection you have with each other is never lost no matter how long or if you are on different forest. The Alsakan jumpers are a different breed all together. Ihad the privlige to work with the duaghter of one this summer. More amazing still is the age to which Mr. Taylor did smokejumping. he doesn;t go into the depths of the Physical test that go into just being considered.
Rating:
Summary: Crazy fire-guy is hot!
Review: This book made me want to run and see Alaska as fast as possible!And helped me understand why my young adult children love being wildland fire fighters. Murry's book was a great read with all the elements I like in a story. Great job, Murry, for your first time at bat! Makes us all want to hit a grand slam.
Rating:
Summary: Hot shots on the spot
Review: A well told tale on the life of a smokejumper. Whether smokejumping over grasslands or forests, in Alaska or the lower 48, the author recalls his own harrowing experiences, and those of his peers. He blends these past stories with his current story well, pacing the reader from one adventure to another. He interjects details of the down time, and the events that transpire during these moments are emotive and heart-touching. His descriptions of parachuting above stands of trees, hovering above their reach and being rocked back and forth by stiff winds are particularly memorable. I have read many books on adventurous living and dangerous work, and this stands with the best of them.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but repetitious
Review: I usually find books that are not like Hollywood action movies fresh and new, but this one is just plain dull in some spots. There is a certain mystique about smoke jumping, but Taylor's book was countless trips to fire/battle fire/drink free-dried coffee/moan about love life. Now I'm not saying this what they do, but this scenario must have happened at least 6 times in the book. At roughly 440 pages, I thought the book was about 120 pages too long. Overall entertaining, but I would highly recommend this one.
Rating:
Summary: A New Found Respect For Smokejumpers!
Review: Jumping Fire By Murry A. Taylor lets you looking to the the life of a smokejumper and how the job changes the lives of these brave men and women. Soon after you start reading this book you realize that not just anyone can do the job they do. As you read this book Murry takes you thru a fire season with him. He does a great job at making you feel like you are there and a part of the action. He tells of fighting fires against all odds and winning and he also tells stories of sadness and loss. I am a full-time firefighter myself only in a city. I don't have to deal with the feeling of being hundreds of miles from no where with little food or water. Also I don't spends days on a fire at a time after a few hours I get to go back to a nice clean station and a nice clean bed. As you will see in the book it takes strength not only physical but emotionally. You will see how the job effects every part of thier lives. I never knew much about the job they do until I read this book. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did. I have a new found respect for Smokejumpers and all the brave men and women fighting fires today. I still think you have to be aliitle crazy to be a smokejumper. Stay Safe!
Rating:
Summary: Armchair adventure of the best kind
Review: Taylor writes about the ups and downs of his life as a BLM smokejumper in Alaska during the 1991 fire season. "smokejumpers are always leaving," he writes, as he talks about never knowing where you'll spend the night or what you'll have to eat as you follow fires around the American west and Alaska. Taylor writes of the extreme excitement, anticipation, fear, depression, boredom, and emotional gyrations he and others experience working this dangerous, yet rewarding job. One minute the smokejumpers are screaming about how the job sucks and the next their raving about how it's the best job in the world. Taylor also lets you peek into his personal affairs as he recounts lost loves and the heartbreak that comes with the job. He finds himself driving across Alaska in pursuit of female companionship like a "moose-eyed" teenager in love, only to be dragged away to the lower 48 on another fire for more time than he'd like, despite the excitement of jumping out of airplanes into the mouth of the dragon. As unpredictable and dangerous as it can be, Taylor writes of the attraction of the job and of the "Peter Pan Theory" coined by the wife of one of the smokejumpers. Smoke jumpers are like Peter Pan-always flying off in search of adventure, despite the crocodile that constantly pursues them. Testosterone antics and constant teasing is part of the brotherhood of smokejumpers, yet beneath it all is a true respect for one another and friendships that hold together over the ages. Jumping Fire, nine years or so in the making, is truly a page-turner I couldn't put down. However, there's one short section that doesn't work all that well where Taylor 'time shifts' his paragraphs between daydreaming about making love with his girlfriend and listening to the guys sitting around beneath the wing of a "jump ship" discussing the attributes of women. Aside from that, and never finding out if he actually ever eats the potatoes and onions he carries in his pant-leg pocket, the book is not only captivating, it's well written by a 50-something year old guy, and the oldest smoke jumper, who pokes fun at he coworkers like a Jr. High kid in a locker room-unexpected quality. The serious and emotional side of the author is revealed as if he's your friend sitting around a campfire stringing together tails of adventure and excitement, some of which had me laughing out loud. A web address in the acknowledgements leads readers to the web site of the slipcover photographer, another smokejumper who has assembled hundreds of wildfire images on his site. What's more, there is a glossary to help readers decipher the specialized vocabulary of smoke jumping.
|
