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Summary: Captures the Spirit and Adventure of Smokejumping
Review: Never before has anyone captured the real-life spirit and adventure of smokejumping like Murry Taylor has in "JUMPING FIRE." The reader rushes recklessly along as he follows Murry through an entire jump season, sharing the exhaustion of physical training, the strange dread and elation during fire jumps in rugged mountainous terrain and towering trees, the heat and smoke of raging forest fires, the ruthless humor, and the camaraderie forged by shared dangers. Carried along in the swirling chaos of a long nomadic fire season, you will find yourself parachuting into remote mountain ranges of Alaska, hearing the roar of wind and turbine engines while in the jump door, cutting fireline all night long on a mountainside in the Idaho wilderness, grieving for lost friends, and joking around a campfire in the smoky twilight of an Alaskan summer night. As a twenty year smokejumper, I encourage you to grab your jump gear and come along for a season of "Living the Dream." Buck Nelson
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Summary: It was the best of times; it was the worst of times
Review: Jumping Fire is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. Looking at the front cover, the basic story of the book is simple to figure out; the book is a memoir that follows Smoke Jumper Murry Taylor though a season of firefighting. Most of the action takes place in Alaska, but part of the book is spent in the Pacific Northwest as well. The story flows together with the grace and beauty of a world-class composer. The writing is extraordinarily well articulated and the stories are told in vivid detail. The author's writing painted remarkable pictures in my mind that rivaled any motion picture I have ever seen. The author's writing created the same emotions in me that he was feeling at the time. It really felt as if I was seeing the world through the author's eyes. I cannot put into words how well this story is told. I can not give the author enough credit. The book was a roller coaster of emotions; the book made me laugh, it made me cry in parts, and it always had me on the edge of my seat. This is not a book that covers wilderness firefighting in general. It is one season, with one particular person who was a Smoke Jumper. The book contains numerous amusing stories, such as how the author got the name "Old Leathersack" and the story of the fuel pod dropping out of the plane and re-igniting a fire that was under control. There were stories of sheer terror such as when the Smoke Jumpers almost got consumed in a fire, and "lost" several people, not knowing if they were dead or alive and the black bear that invaded the camp (which I thought was funny personally, but I'm sure it was terrifying at the time). There was also Sally, the love element of the book. I think Sally helped break up the book, changing the story slightly, while giving an element to the book that everyone can relate to. Some reviewers have said that this book is full of testosterone. I agree, but this is not a bad thing. Some "literary classics" are filled with testosterone and manliness (for example, read Chushingura, written in 1748). I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for an adventure. While the topic seems exotic, there are topics in the book that everyone can relate to (anyone who has been in love, felt the isolating loneliness of a long business trip away from loved ones, anyone who feels the need to put their life on the line for reasons others feel are meaningless, or someone who knows the feeling of looking over a gorgeous Alaskan meadow miles from nowhere). Initially, the length of the book seems intimidating, but it is a fast and enjoyable read.
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Summary: Essential wildland fire reading
Review: This is the best wildland firefighting book I have read. It really captures the best, worst, and day-to-day of working on forest fires--much more so than any other account I have seen. I also enjoyed the window into firefighting in Alaska--what outstanding experiences! Murray has a knack for relaying his stories in an unpretentious and accessible manner that I hope translates as well to those outside of fire as inside it. I always recommend it as essential reading material to those new to wildland fire, or to those considering it. Murray--I know you have other stories to share, waiting to read more. Thanks for the great start.
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Summary: Macho, macho, man
Review: For the most part a pretty darn entertaining book. Too bad the author can't step outside his own testosterone halo long enough to just tell the story. Cleverly woven in sexual banter to keep the interest of all readers though. The wildfire business is so much more complex than Murry leads us to believe. Smokejumpers are an important part of that business, but just that, a part. They are a minority at best and it would be nice if Mr. Taylor spent a little time shedding more light on the rest of the fire world. With much fire experience under my belt, I will tell you that most initial attack fires are routine affairs, and that the terrifying fires from this book are the exception and not the rule. But of course that would make for boring reading and the book would not sell as well. This book made for interesting reading with adventure and sex and enough testosterone to sell well but I, for one, am dissapointed to have yet another book that paints a very incomplete picture of a very interesting subject. Smokejumpers and other firefighters are not all beer drinking, testosterone overloaded, sexual predators, and it would be nice for a change to see somebody write a book that informs more than just entertains about a little understood breed of folks.
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Summary: fascinating account of a smokejumper's life
Review: This was an interesting read, one that for a non-fiction book moved along at a fast clip. the descriptions of the smokejumper's life are visceral and b/c they are writted so close to the action by one who is in the action, they really take you right into the fire line. There is a good deal of description about the smokejumpers' culture as well, the bravado and loneliness, which i thought took a glorified (deservedly so) profession and demystified some of its elements. a major problem with the book, enough to lose probably one and a half stars (if there were halves) is the love story the author attempts to weave in and out of the piece. It seemed as i was reading it, an add-on, a nod to the movie adaptation or an attempt to capture more women(?) in his audience. and if not that, then represented the authors' own preoccupation with finding the woman who will understand him. this was a bit too much and didn't seem true to the rest of the project.
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Summary: A Memoir to Remember
Review: I just Finished-for the 3rd time reading "Jumping Fire". Each time I have gleaned more insight into smokejumping and one man's memories of it. The author is obviously a passionate man w/a love & reverence for the work that he did and the people that he knew. Through his eyes we are allowed into a world only a few have actually experienced. The scenes he paints with words help us to visualize what it might have been for us had we been there to see the panoramic view of an Alaskan vista-or to taste the acrid smoky air while on a fire. Mr. Taylor shares with us an accurate account of the work, friendship and heartache that are commonplace in the life of a smokejumper. While living today in a world where heroes and bravery are not as commonplace as yesteryear, "Jumping Fire" renews our respect for those so willing to put their life on the line for us and for nature.
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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!
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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.
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