Disaster: books tagged “disaster” @ BookFinder.com

ISBN 9780805080322 (0-8050-8032-5, 0805080325)

102 Minutes: The Untold Story of The Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers

by Kevin Flynn

ISBN 0805080325 (0-8050-8032-5)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: '102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers'

Book summary:

In 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers, New York Times writers Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn vividly recreate the 102-minute span between the moment Flight 11 hit the first Twin Tower on the morning of September 11, 2001, and the moment the second tower collapsed, all from the perspective of those inside the buildings--the 12,000 who escaped, and the 2,749 who did not. It's becoming easier, years later, to forget the profound, visceral responses the Trade Center attacks evoked in the days and weeks following September 11. Using hundreds of interviews, countless transcripts of radio and phone communications, and exhaustive research, Dwyer and Flynn bring that flood of responses back--from heartbreak to bewilderment to fury. The randomness of death and survival is heartbreaking. One man, in the second tower, survived because he bolted from his desk the moment he heard the first plane hit; another, who stayed at his desk on the 97th floor, called his wife in his final moments to tell her to cancel a surprise trip he had planned. In many cases, the deaths of those who survived the initial attacks but were killed by the collapse of the towers were tragically avoidable. Building code exemptions, communication breakdowns between firefighters and police, and policies put in place by building management to keep everyone inside the towers in emergencies led, the authors argue, to the deaths of hundreds who might otherwise have survived. September 11 is by now both familiar and nearly mythological. Dwyer and Flynn's accomplishment is recounting that day's events in a style that is stirring, thorough, and refreshingly understated. --Erica C. Barnett [via]

More editions of 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of The Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers:

ISBN 9780471446927 (0-471-44692-0, 0471446920)

via

47 Down: The 1922 Argonaut Gold Mine Disaster

by O. Henry MacE

ISBN 0471446920 (0-471-44692-0)
Hardcover, John Wiley & Sons Inc

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: '47 Down: The 1922 Argonaut Gold Mine Disaster'

Book summary:

Advance Praise for 47 Down

"A gripping mystery story: Will the men trapped deep underground in a mine by fire be reached by rescuers in time? And why do these mining disasters occur, and reoccur, in our nations history?"
Gerald M. Stern, author of The Buffalo Creek Disaster

"This is as much a story about journalism as it is about a mine disaster. Women reporters assigned to chronicle the human side were called sob sisters for their ability to evoke emotion with words. O. Henry Mace pays tribute to the tenacious and creative Ruth Finney, whose storytelling skills framed the story for decades after her passing and established her as one of the early giants among women in journalism."
Eleanor Clift, contributing editor, Newsweek

"Most disaster books are predictable and dry, but O. Henry Maces 47 Down, the story of the 1922 Argonaut mining tragedy, is, quite simply, one of the best disaster books to come along in years. Maces taut, lyrical, intelligent prose combined with his thorough research and his film directors eye for detail and focus make 47 Down as compelling as The Perfect Storm and as memorable as Young Men and Fire. Mace takes the reader inside the Argonaut mine shaft and doesnt let go. This is a necessary book."
Denise Gess, coauthor of Firestorm at Peshtigo [via]

More editions of 47 Down: The 1922 Argonaut Gold Mine Disaster:

47 Down: The 1922 Argonaut Gold Mine Disaster: ISBN 0471446920 (0-471-44692-0)
Hardcover, John Wiley & Sons Inc

ISBN 9780393326710 (0-393-32671-3, 0393326713)

via

The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States

ISBN 0393326713 (0-393-32671-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States'

Book summary:

The result of months of intensive investigations and inquiries by a specially appointed bipartisan panel, The 9/11 Commission Report is one of the most important historical documents of the modern era. And while that fact alone makes it worth owning, it is also a chilling and valuable piece of nonfiction: a comprehensive and alarming look at one of the biggest intelligence failures in history and the events that led up to it. The commission traces the roots of al-Qaeda's strategies along with the emergence of the 19 hijackers and how they entered the United States and boarded airplanes. It details the missed opportunities of law enforcement officials to avert disaster. Using transcripts of cockpit voice recordings, the report describes events on board the planes along with the chaotic reaction on the ground from nearly every level of government. Going forward, the commission calls for a comprehensive overhaul of what it sees as a deeply flawed and disjointed intelligence-gathering operation. The creation of a post for a single National Security Director is recommended, along with the creation of a National Counterterrorism Center. The report finds fault with the approaches of both the Clinton and Bush administrations but, because they were a bipartisan panel and the problems described are so systemic and far-reaching, they stop short of assigning blame to any particular person or group. Credit must be given to how readable the report is. At more than 500 pages, the writing is clear and forceful and the information is made more accessible since it is fre from election politics and rancor. While the commission notes that future attacks are probably inevitable, a coordinated preventive effort along with a clear plan to respond with efficiency can offer Americans some hope in a post-9/11 world. --John Moe [via]

More editions of The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States:

ISBN 9781579809676 (1-57980-967-7, 1579809677)

via

9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Official edition) Including the Executive Summary

by National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9-11 Commission)

ISBN 1579809677 (1-57980-967-7)
Softcover, Claitors Pub Div

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: '9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Official edition) Including the Executive Summary'

Book summary:

The result of months of intensive investigations and inquiries by a specially appointed bipartisan panel, The 9/11 Commission Report is one of the most important historical documents of the modern era. And while that fact alone makes it worth owning, it is also a chilling and valuable piece of nonfiction: a comprehensive and alarming look at one of the biggest intelligence failures in history and the events that led up to it. The commission traces the roots of al-Qaeda's strategies along with the emergence of the 19 hijackers and how they entered the United States and boarded airplanes. It details the missed opportunities of law enforcement officials to avert disaster. Using transcripts of cockpit voice recordings, the report describes events on board the planes along with the chaotic reaction on the ground from nearly every level of government. Going forward, the commission calls for a comprehensive overhaul of what it sees as a deeply flawed and disjointed intelligence-gathering operation. The creation of a post for a single National Security Director is recommended, along with the creation of a National Counterterrorism Center. The report finds fault with the approaches of both the Clinton and Bush administrations but, because they were a bipartisan panel and the problems described are so systemic and far-reaching, they stop short of assigning blame to any particular person or group. Credit must be given to how readable the report is. At more than 500 pages, the writing is clear and forceful and the information is made more accessible since it is fre from election politics and rancor. While the commission notes that future attacks are probably inevitable, a coordinated preventive effort along with a clear plan to respond with efficiency can offer Americans some hope in a post-9/11 world. --John Moe [via]

More editions of 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Official edition) Including the Executive Summary:

9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Official edition) Including the Executive Summary: ISBN 1579809677 (1-57980-967-7)
Softcover, Claitors Pub Div

Abandon Ship!: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster

by Richard F. Newcomb

ISBN 0060959215 (0-06-095921-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Abandon Ship!: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster'

More editions of Abandon Ship!: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster:

Airport

by Arthur Hailey

ISBN 1568495625 (1-56849-562-5)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Airport'

Book summary:

In a raging blizzard, a stricken aeroplane is struggling against all odds to reach its destination. For seven suspense-filled hours a blocked runway, a suicide, a mass demonstration, a stowaway, a pregnancy and a psychotic with a home-made bomb, bring the plot to a shattering conclusion. [via]

More editions of Airport:

ISBN 9781885283085 (1-885283-08-3, 1885283083)

via

Alive

by Piers Paul Read

ISBN 1885283083 (1-885283-08-3)
Hardcover, Adventure Library

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Alive'

Book summary:

On October 12, 1972, an Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying a teamof rugby players crashed in the remote snowy peaks of the Andes. Ten weeks later, only sixteen of the forty-five passengers were found alive. This is the story of those ten weeks spent in the shelter of the plane's fuselage without food and with scarcely any hope of a rescue. The survivors protected and helped one another, and came to the difficult conclusion that to live meant doing the unimaginable. Confronting nature at its most furious, two brave young men risked their lives to hike through the mountains looking for help -- and ultimately found it.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. [via]

More editions of Alive:

ISBN 9780060520762 (0-06-052076-0, 0060520760)

via

The Children's Blizzard

by David Laskin

ISBN 0060520760 (0-06-052076-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Children's Blizzard'

Book summary:

Thousands of impoverished Northern European immigrants were promised that the prairie offered "land, freedom, and hope." The disastrous blizzard of 1888 revealed that their free homestead was not a paradise but a hard, unforgiving place governed by natural forces they neither understood nor controlled, and Americas heartland would never be the same.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. [via]

More editions of The Children's Blizzard:

The Climb

by Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston Dewalt

ISBN 0613125797 (0-613-12579-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Climb'

More editions of The Climb:

The Climb: ISBN 0613125797 (0-613-12579-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

Curse of the Narrows

by Laura MacDonald

ISBN 0802715109 (0-8027-1510-9)
Softcover, Walker & Co

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Curse of the Narrows'

Book summary:

The dramatic story of one of the greatest disasters in history

In 1917, the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was crowded with ships leaving for war-torn Europe. On December 6th, two of themthe Mont Blanc and the Imocollided in the Narrows, a hard-to-navigate stretch of the harbor. Ablaze, and with explosions on her deck filling the sky, the Mont Blanc grounded against the citys docks.

As thousands rushed to their windows and into the streets to watch, she exploded with such force that the 3,121 tons of her iron hull vaporized in a cloud that shot up more than 2,000 feet; the explosion was so unusual that Robert Oppenheimer would study its effects to predict the devastation of an atomic bomb. The blast caused a giant wave that swept over parts of the city, followed by a slick, black rain that fell for ten minutes. Much of the city was flattened, and not one in 12,000 buildings within a 16-mile radius left undamaged. More than 1,600 Haligonians were killed and 6,000 injured; and within twenty-four hours, a blizzard had isolated Halifax from the world.

Set vividly against the background of World War I, Curse of the Narrows is the first major account of the worlds largest pre-atomic explosion, the epic relief mission from Boston, and the riveting trial of the Mont Blancs captain and pilot. Laura M. Mac Donald is as adept at describing the dynamics of a chain reaction explosion as she is at chronicling unforgettable human dramas of miraculous survival, unfathomable loss, and the medical breakthroughs in pediatrics and eye surgery that followed the disaster

.
Using primary sources--many of which havent been read in decades and--with a wonderful feel for narrative history, Mac Donald chronicles one of the most compelling and dramatic events of the 20th century.

[via]

More editions of Curse of the Narrows:

ISBN 9780807050217 (0-8070-5021-0, 0807050210)

via

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919

by Stephen Puleo

ISBN 0807050210 (0-8070-5021-0)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919'

Book summary:

Around noon on January 15, 1919, a group of firefighters was playing cards in Boston's North End when they heard a tremendous crash. It was like roaring surf, one of them said later. Like a runaway two-horse team smashing through a fence, said another. A third firefighter jumped up from his chair to look out a window-"Oh my God!" he shouted to the other men, "Run!"

A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses had just collapsed on Boston's waterfront, disgorging its contents as a 15-foot-high wave of molasses that at its outset traveled at 35 miles an hour. It demolished wooden homes, even the brick fire station. The number of dead wasn't known for days. It would be years before a landmark court battle determined who was responsible for the disaster. [via]

More editions of Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919:

ISBN 9780791070314 (0-7910-7031-X, 079107031X)

via

Don Delillo

by Harold Bloom

ISBN 079107031X (0-7910-7031-X)
Hardcover, Facts on File

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Don Delillo'

Book summary:

Harold Bloom suggests Don DeLillo's work holds a proleptic sense of the triumph of terror. This text offers critical views on numerous DeLillo novels, including The Names, Mao II, Libra, White Noise, and Underworld. This edition of Bloom's Major Novelists will help any student delve into the work of this contemporary writer.

This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; preeminent literary critic of our time. Titles include detailed plot summaries of the novel, extracts from scholarly critical essays on the novels, a complete bibliography of the writer's novels, and more. [via]

More editions of Don Delillo:

Don Delillo: ISBN 079107031X (0-7910-7031-X)
Hardcover, Facts on File

ISBN 9780791070444 (0-7910-7044-1, 0791070441)

Don Delillo's White Noise

by Harold Bloom, Jesse Zuba

ISBN 0791070441 (0-7910-7044-1)
Hardcover, Facts on File

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Don Delillo's White Noise'

More editions of Don Delillo's White Noise:

Don Delillo's White Noise: ISBN 0791070441 (0-7910-7044-1)
Hardcover, Facts on File

Drowned World

by J.G. Ballard

ISBN 0881843245 (0-88184-324-5)
Softcover, Carroll & Graf Pub

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Drowned World'

More editions of Drowned World:

Ecology of Fear

by Mike Davis

ISBN 0375706070 (0-375-70607-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Ecology of Fear'

More editions of Ecology of Fear:

Ecology of Fear: ISBN 0375706070 (0-375-70607-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc

ISBN 9780805051063 (0-8050-5106-6, 0805051066)

via

Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster

by Mike Davis

ISBN 0805051066 (0-8050-5106-6)
Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster'

Book summary:

The 1990s have not been kind to Los Angeles. As Mike Davis writes, "The destructive February 1992, January 1993, and January 1995 floods ($500 million in damage) were mere brackets around the April 1992 insurrection ($1 billion), the October-November 1993 firestorms ($1 billion) and the January 1994 earthquake ($42 billion)." But, he argues, the increasing fear about nature's reign of terror in Southern California reflected in Hollywood's preoccupation with apocalypse--L.A. has been destroyed on screen by everything from lava (Volcano) to nukes (Miracle Mile) to alien death rays (Independence Day)--is in reality a strong case of denial. Again, Davis himself says it best: "For generations, market-driven urbanization has transgressed environmental common sense. Historic wildfire corridors have been turned into view-lot suburbs, wetland liquefaction zones into marinas, and floodplains into industrial districts and housing tracts. Monolithic public works have been substituted for regional planning and a responsible land ethic. As a result, Southern California has reaped flood, fire, and earthquake tragedies that were as avoidable, as unnatural, as the beating of Rodney King and the ensuing explosion in the streets."

As in City of Quartz, his earlier book about Los Angeles, Davis reveals the deeper ideological narratives behind historical events. Whether he's explaining the motivations behind the persistent refusal of civic leaders to admit that a tornado alley runs down the middle of the region, from Long Beach to Pasadena, or discussing, as one chapter refers to it, "the case for letting Malibu burn," he outlines his arguments with a fascinating amount of detail and a subtle sense of irony. There are wonderful chapters here, such as "Maneaters of the Sierra Madre," a zoology of the wild beasts Angelenos fear, including mountain lions that descend from the hills to eat joggers and small children, swarms of Africanized killer bees making their way across the deserts, and El Chupacabra, the "goat-sucking vampire" that joined L.A.'s roster of faddish icons in 1996.

Although this book is specifically about Los Angeles, its lessons about the relationship between urban developments and natural ecosystems and about the dangerous influence of class politics on environmental safety policy are applicable to any city. Anyone with a serious interest in natural history or urban policy should make a point of reading this book. --Ron Hogan [via]

More editions of Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster:

Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster: ISBN 0805051066 (0-8050-5106-6)
Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry

ISBN 9780880016544 (0-88001-654-X, 088001654X)

via

Fail Safe

by Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheeler

ISBN 088001654X (0-88001-654-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Fail Safe'

Book summary:

Something has gone wrong. A group of American bombers armed with nuclear weapons is streaking past the fail-safe point, beyond recall, and no one knows why. Their destination -- Moscow.

In a bomb shelter beneath the White House, the calm young president turns to his Russian translator and says, "I think we are ready to talk to Premier Kruschchev." Not far away, in the War Room at the Pentagon, the secretary of defense and his aides watch with growing anxiety as the luminous blips crawl across a huge screen map. High over the Bering Strait in a large Vindicator bomber, a colonel stares in disbelief at the attack code number on his fail-safe box and wonders if it could possibly be a mistake.

First published in 1962, when America was still reeling from the Cuban missle crisis, Fail-Safe reflects the apocalyptic attitude that pervaded society during the height of the Cold War, when disaster could have struck at any moment. As more countries develop nuclear capabilities and the potential for new enemies lurks on the horizon, Fail-Safe and its powerful issues continue to respond.

[via]

More editions of Fail Safe:

The Forgotten Storm: The Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925

by Wallace Akin

ISBN 1592283128 (1-59228-312-8)
Softcover, Globe Pequot Pr

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Forgotten Storm: The Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925'

Book summary:

Wallace Akin was two years old when the Tri-State Tornado picked up his house-with him and his mother inside-and dropped it atop two other collapsed buildings. Across town, his father lay unconscious near his auto shop, close to death, and Akin's brother managed to crawl from beneath the collapsed shop. All survived. Many others were not as fortunate: Earlier that afternoon, a supercell thunderstorm had spawned a tornado so deadly that it set records against which we still measure all other twisters. The storm ripped through southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and southwest Indiana, killing 695 people and wounding 2,000, in a record-breaking 219-mile, three-and-a-half-hour path of destruction. Akin's hometown was the worst hit, losing 243 people to the tornado.

Using first-person accounts from his family and neighbors, newspaper stories, and diaries, Akin offers a blow-by-blow account of the storm from its first sighting to its final minutes. He also attempts to explain how it began-and how it changed his life.

As a young adult, Akin realized that the weather service could have warned its victims; research on tornado prediction had ceased for no apparent reason. This, combined with his upbringing in a town traumatized by weather, led him to choose a career in geography, specializing in climate. In The Forgotten Storm he explains in clear language why tornadoes happen and how we may now be making these storms more severe and more frequent. The result is a book both thrilling and horrific, one that adds to our understanding of the battle between humans and nature. (6 x 9, 224 pages, photos)

Wallace Akin was for many years a professor of geography at Drake University. He received a research Fulbright in 1961 at the University of Copenhagen and has traveled widely studying climate and related human activities. He is the author of several academic books that include material on weather and climate. [via]

More editions of The Forgotten Storm: The Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925:

Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago

by Eric Klinenberg

ISBN 0226443221 (0-226-44322-1)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago'

More editions of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago:

ISBN 9781568951935 (1-56895-193-0, 1568951930)

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the Uss Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors

by Doug Stanton

ISBN 1568951930 (1-56895-193-0)
Softcover, Gale / Cengage Learning

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the Uss Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors'

Book summary:

On July 26, 1945, the heavy cruiser Indianapolis steamed into port at the Pacific island of Tinian, carrying a cargo that would end World War II: the uranium that would be dropped on Hiroshima just three weeks later. Having delivered its load without incident, Indianapolis moved on toward the Philippines to join the great armada moving in on Japan. Though intelligence reports assured Captain Charles McVay that the route from Guam to Leyte was safe, there were Japanese submarines active in the area. On the night of July 29, having detected with sonar the clinking of dishes aboard the Indianapolis from a distance of more than a dozen miles, the submarine I-58 sank the American ship, killing nearly 900 sailors in the explosion and its terrible aftermath.

Captain McVay was quickly court-martialed for having failed to follow evasive maneuvers, "the first captain in the history of the U.S. Navy," Doug Stanton observes, "to be court-martialed subsequent to losing his ship in an act of war." Although the sailors under his command would insist that McVay had been scapegoated, and although I-58's commander testified before the court that "he would have sunk the Indianapolis no matter what course she was on," McVay was never able to clear his name. He committed suicide in 1968.

Stanton captures the drama of these events in his vigorous narrative, which augments and updates Richard Newcomb's Abandon Ship!. Stanton observes that although McVay was exonerated by an act of Congress in 2000, the conviction still stands in Navy records. Stanton's book makes a powerful case for why that conviction should be overturned, and why the captain and crew of the Indianapolis deserve honor. --Gregory McNamee [via]

More editions of In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the Uss Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors:

In Harm's Way : The Sinking of the U. S. S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors

by Doug Stanton

ISBN 0805066322 (0-8050-6632-2)
Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'In Harm's Way : The Sinking of the U. S. S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors'

More editions of In Harm's Way : The Sinking of the U. S. S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors:

In Harm's Way : The Sinking of the U. S. S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors: ISBN 0805066322 (0-8050-6632-2)
Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry

ISBN 9780141001821 (0-14-100182-8, 0141001828)

via

In the Heart of the Sea

by Nat Philbrick

ISBN 0141001828 (0-14-100182-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'In the Heart of the Sea'

Book summary:

The appeal of Dava Sobel's Longitude was, in part, that it illuminated a little-known piece of history through a series of captivating incidents and engaging personalities. Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea is certainly cast from the same mold, examining the 19th-century Pacific whaling industry through the arc of the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a boisterous sperm whale. The story that inspired Herman Melville's classic Moby-Dick has a lot going for it--derring-do, cannibalism, rescue--and Philbrick proves an amiable and well-informed narrator, providing both context and detail. We learn about the importance and mechanics of blubber production--a vital source of oil--and we get the nuts and bolts of harpooning and life aboard whalers. We are spared neither the nitty-gritty of open boats nor the sucking of human bones dry.

By sticking to the tried and tested Longitude formula, Philbrick has missed a slight trick or two. The epicenter of the whaling industry was Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod; most of the whales were in the Pacific, necessitating a huge journey around the southernmost tip of South America. We never learn why no one ever tried to create an alternative whaling capital somewhere nearer. Similarly, Philbrick tells us that the story of the Essex was well known to Americans for decades, but he never explores how such legends fade from our consciousness. Philbrick would no doubt reply that such questions were beyond his remit, and you can't exactly accuse him of skimping on his research. By any standard, 50 pages of footnotes impress, though he wears his learning lightly. He doesn't get bogged down in turgid detail, and his narrative rattles along at a nice pace. When the storyline is as good as this, you can't really ask for more. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk [via]

More editions of In the Heart of the Sea:

In the Heart of the Sea: ISBN 0141001828 (0-14-100182-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

ISBN 9780670891573 (0-670-89157-6, 0670891576)

via

In the Heart of the Sea : The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

by Nathaniel Philbrick

ISBN 0670891576 (0-670-89157-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'In the Heart of the Sea : The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex'

Book summary:

The appeal of Dava Sobel's Longitude was, in part, that it illuminated a little-known piece of history through a series of captivating incidents and engaging personalities. Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea is certainly cast from the same mold, examining the 19th-century Pacific whaling industry through the arc of the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a boisterous sperm whale. The story that inspired Herman Melville's classic Moby-Dick has a lot going for it--derring-do, cannibalism, rescue--and Philbrick proves an amiable and well-informed narrator, providing both context and detail. We learn about the importance and mechanics of blubber production--a vital source of oil--and we get the nuts and bolts of harpooning and life aboard whalers. We are spared neither the nitty-gritty of open boats nor the sucking of human bones dry.

By sticking to the tried and tested Longitude formula, Philbrick has missed a slight trick or two. The epicenter of the whaling industry was Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod; most of the whales were in the Pacific, necessitating a huge journey around the southernmost tip of South America. We never learn why no one ever tried to create an alternative whaling capital somewhere nearer. Similarly, Philbrick tells us that the story of the Essex was well known to Americans for decades, but he never explores how such legends fade from our consciousness. Philbrick would no doubt reply that such questions were beyond his remit, and you can't exactly accuse him of skimping on his research. By any standard, 50 pages of footnotes impress, though he wears his learning lightly. He doesn't get bogged down in turgid detail, and his narrative rattles along at a nice pace. When the storyline is as good as this, you can't really ask for more. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk [via]

More editions of In the Heart of the Sea : The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex:

In the Heart of the Sea : The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex: ISBN 0670891576 (0-670-89157-6)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

Into Thin Air

by Jon Krakauer

ISBN 1402809654 (1-4028-0965-4)
Hardcover, Barnes & Noble

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Into Thin Air'

Book summary:

Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of a catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions. [via]

More editions of Into Thin Air:

ISBN 9780375708275 (0-375-70827-8, 0375708278)

via

Isaac's Storm

by Erik Larson, Isaac Monroe Cline

ISBN 0375708278 (0-375-70827-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Isaac's Storm'

Book summary:

On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas. A tidal surge of some four feet in as many seconds inundated the city, while the wind destroyed thousands of buildings. By the time the water and winds subsided, entire streets had disappeared and as many as 10,000 were dead--making this the worst natural disaster in America's history.

In Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson blends science and history to tell the story of Galveston, its people, and the hurricane that devastated them. Drawing on hundreds of personal reminiscences of the storm, Larson follows individuals through the fateful day and the storm's aftermath. There's Louisa Rollfing, who begged her husband, August, not to go into town the morning of the storm; the Ursuline Sisters at St. Mary's orphanage who tied their charges to lengths of clothesline to keep them together; Judson Palmer, who huddled in his bathroom with his family and neighbors, hoping to ride out the storm. At the center of it all is Isaac Cline, employee of the nascent Weather Bureau, and his younger brother--and rival weatherman--Joseph. Larson does an excellent job of piecing together Isaac's life and reveals that Isaac was not the quick-thinking hero he claimed to be after the storm ended. The storm itself, however, is the book's true protagonist--and Larson describes its nuances in horrific detail.

At times the prose is a bit too purple, but Larson is engaging and keeps the book's tempo rising in pace with the wind and waves. Overall, Isaac's Storm recaptures at a time when, standing in the first year of the century, Americans felt like they ruled the world--and that even the weather was no real threat to their supremacy. Nature proved them wrong. --Sunny Delaney [via]

More editions of Isaac's Storm:

Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900

by Erik Larson

ISBN 0756765862 (0-7567-6586-2)
Hardcover, Diane Pub Co

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900'

More editions of Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900:

Isaac's Storm: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900: ISBN 0756765862 (0-7567-6586-2)
Hardcover, Diane Pub Co

Johnstown Flood

by David Willis McCullough

ISBN 0671207148 (0-671-20714-8)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Johnstown Flood'

Book summary:

The history of civil engineering may sound boring, but in David McCullough's hands it is, well, riveting. His award-winning histories of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal were preceded by this account of the disastrous dam failure that drowned Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889. Written while the last survivors of the flood were still alive, McCullough's narrative weaves the stories of the town, the wealthy men who owned the dam, and the forces of nature into a seamless whole. His account is unforgettable: "The wave kept on coming straight toward him, heading for the very heart of the city. Stores, houses, trees, everything was going down in front of it, and the closer it came, the bigger it seemed to grow.... The height of the wall of water was at least thirty-six feet at the center.... The drowning and devastation of the city took just about ten minutes." A powerful, definitive book, and a tribute to the thousands who died in America's worst inland flood. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]

More editions of Johnstown Flood:

ISBN 9780060838591 (0-06-083859-0, 0060838590)

via

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883

by Simon Winchester

ISBN 0060838590 (0-06-083859-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded August 27, 1883'

Book summary:

In Krakatoa, the author of The Map That Changed the World and The Professor and the Madman focuses his considerable research powers on one of the most cataclysmic events of modern history: the volcanic eruption, in 1883, of the Southeast Asian island of Krakatoa, which resulted in the deaths of 36,000 people and sent shock-waves around the world. But what at the time was a mysterious, almost supernatural phenomenon has become, under the precepts of the contemporary science of plate tectonics, explicable if no less tragic. Winchester veers between eyewitness accounts by survivors and the limited scientific measurements of the time in an attempt to describe the indescribable. The event "is still said to be the most violent explosion ever recorded and experienced by modern man," he writes. "Six cubic miles of rock had been blasted out of existence, had been turned into pumice and ash and uncountable billions of particles of dust." Yet words and numbers can barely hint at the scale of the calamity, which resulted in tsunamis that washed whole villages into the ocean and forever changed the very topography of the area. The author also explores the social and cultural topography, noting, "Orthodox Islam, its revival in part triggered by tragic events such as the great cataclysm, was totally transformed in Java during the nineteenth century, with fundamentalism, militancy, and profound hostility to non-Muslims its watchwords." At times Winchester seems to overstate his case, and the link he finds between Krakatoa and the rise of anti-Western sentiment in the Islamic world isnt especially convincing. But, by weaving together the disaster with science, communications, politics, religion, and economics, he has come up with a comprehensive and often fascinating glimpse into the way the world, and our perception of it, can change in an instant. --Shawn Conner [via]

More editions of Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883:

Life As We Knew It

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

ISBN 0152058265 (0-15-205826-5)
Hardcover, Harcourt Childrens Books

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Life As We Knew It'

More editions of Life As We Knew It:

Life As We Knew It: ISBN 0152058265 (0-15-205826-5)
Hardcover, Harcourt Childrens Books

Lucifer's Hammer

by Larry Niven

ISBN 0449208133 (0-449-20813-3)
Softcover, Ballantine Books

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Lucifer's Hammer'

Book summary:

Monumental devastation will sweep across the globe if the newly-discovered Hamner-Brown comet collides with the one major obstacle in its path: Earth.

For millionaire Tim Hamner, the comet is a ticket to immortality. For filmmaker Harvey Randall, it's a shot to redeem a flagging career. And for astronauts John Baker and Rick Delanty, it's a second chance for glory in outer space.

But for a world gripped by comet fever, fascination quickly turns to fear. And only those who survive the impact will know the even greater terror, when rich and poor, politicians and killers, turn to each other or against each other--and the remnants of humanity grow savage to battle for what little remains . . .

Including an all-new introduction by the authors! [via]

More editions of Lucifer's Hammer:

A Night to Remember

by Walter Lord

ISBN 0805077642 (0-8050-7764-2)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'A Night to Remember'

Book summary:

comprehensive telling of the Titanic disaster, including interviews with survivors and two page detail illustration of the ship. [via]

More editions of A Night to Remember:

ISBN 9780060977474 (0-06-097747-7, 0060977477)

via

Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea

by Sebastian Junger

ISBN 0060977477 (0-06-097747-7)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea'

Book summary:

Meteorologists called the storm that hit North America's eastern seaboard in October 1991 a "perfect storm" because of the rare combination of factors that created it. For everyone else, it was perfect hell. In The Perfect Storm, author Sebastian Junger conjures for the reader the meteorological conditions that created the "storm of the century" and the impact the storm had on many of the people caught in it. Chief among these are the six crew members of the swordfish boat the Andrea Gail, all of whom were lost 500 miles from home beneath roiling seas and high waves. Working from published material, radio dialogues, eyewitness accounts, and the experiences of people who have survived similar events, Junger attempts to re-create the last moments of the Andrea Gail as well as the perilous high-seas rescues of other victims of the storm.

Like a Greek drama, The Perfect Storm builds slowly and inexorably to its tragic climax. The book weaves the history of the fishing industry and the science of predicting storms into the quotidian lives of those aboard the Andrea Gail and of others who would soon find themselves in the fury of the storm. Junger does a remarkable job of explaining a convergence of meteorological and human events in terms that make them both comprehensible and unforgettable. [via]

More editions of Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea:

ISBN 9780061057946 (0-06-105794-0, 0061057940)

via

The Rift

by Walter Williams

ISBN 0061057940 (0-06-105794-0)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Rift'

Book summary:

Rock & roll takes on new meaning in The Rift, Walter Jon Williams's huge book about a magnitude 8.9 earthquake centered under the southeastern United States. This is a major departure from the intricate science fiction tales Williams usually writes (City on Fire, Aristoi), but he applies the same thoroughness, complexity, and great character development to this disaster yarn. Some readers might balk at the book's size (it's a doorstopper), but consider the subject: the biggest earthquake in recorded history, a monstrous disaster that lays waste to entire cities from Chicago to New Orleans, flings one of the world's largest rivers out of its banks, and within 10 minutes obliterates countless lives. But the earthquake is only the beginning of this horror story--fire, flood, and chaos follow, and ordinary people are pushed to the limits of ability and sanity as they are transformed into survivors:

Marcy thought the tremor was just another aftershock, but then she saw the flash brighten the shining steel of the Gateway Arch, and turned south to watch in awestruck horror as the bright fireball rose over south St. Louis. Bright arching trails of flame shot out of the fireball, like Fourth of July rockets, as debris rose and fell.... It is the Bomb, Marcy thought. It is the End.... The bubble of fire rose into the heavens, and its reflection turned the Mississippi to the color of blood.

Williams follows the fates of nine people in the earthquake's aftermath. Among the most compelling, considering the racial and political tension characteristic of the American southeast, are the stories of sheriff Omar Paxton, a card-carrying KKK member from a small parish in Louisiana; the Reverend Noble Frankland, a fundamentalist preacher with well-stocked bunkers and fanatic followers; and General Jessica Frazetta of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the woman in charge of somehow repairing the damage. Each character's story would make a terrifying disaster novel on its own, and Williams handles them all deftly, weaving their threads through the apocalyptic postquake landscape. The Rift is a magnitude 9 novel--you'll walk gingerly on the quiet earth when you're done reading. --Therese Littleton [via]

More editions of The Rift:

ISBN 9780684840024 (0-684-84002-2, 0684840022)

via

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America

by John M. Barry

ISBN 0684840022 (0-684-84002-2)
Softcover, Touchstone Books

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America'

Book summary:

When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But as John M. Barry expertly details in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, some calamities transform much more than the landscape.

While tracing the history of the nation's most destructive natural disaster, Barry explains how ineptitude and greed helped cause the flood, and how the policies created to deal with the disaster changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Existing racial rifts expanded, helping to launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and shifting the political alliances of many blacks in the process. An absorbing account of a little-known, yet monumental event in American history, Rising Tide reveals how human behavior proved more destructive than the swollen river itself. [via]

More editions of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America:

The Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts

by Jay Henry Mowbray

ISBN 0486402983 (0-486-40298-3)
Softcover, Dover Pubns

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts'

More editions of The Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts:

The Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts: ISBN 0486402983 (0-486-40298-3)
Softcover, Dover Pubns

ISBN 9780802141514 (0-8021-4151-X, 080214151X)

via

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

by David Von Drehle

ISBN 080214151X (0-8021-4151-X)
Softcover, Grove Pr

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Triangle: The Fire That Changed America'

Book summary:

A New York Times Bestseller

On March 25, 1911, at quitting time, a fire broke out in the Triangle shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village. Within minutes the building's upper three stories were consumed. Firemen's ladders weren't tall enough to rescue those trapped inside. In the worst workplace disaster in the city's history, 146 died - 123 of them women. This harrowing yet compulsively readable chronicle of that tragedy is also a vibrant portrait of an entire age. [via]

More editions of Triangle: The Fire That Changed America:

ISBN 9780684842691 (0-684-84269-6, 0684842696)

via

Underworld

by Don Delillo

ISBN 0684842696 (0-684-84269-6)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Underworld'

Book summary:

While Eisenstein documented the forces of totalitarianism and Stalinism upon the faces of the Russian peoples, DeLillo offers a stunning, at times overwhelming, document of the twin forces of the cold war and American culture, compelling that "swerve from evenness" in which he finds events and people both wondrous and horrifying. Underworld opens with a breathlessly graceful prologue set during the final game of the Giants-Dodgers pennant race in 1951. Written in what DeLillo calls "super-omniscience" the sentences sweep from young Cotter Martin as he jumps the gate to the press box, soars over the radio waves, runs out to the diamond, slides in on a fast ball, pops into the stands where J. Edgar Hoover is sitting with a drunken Jackie Gleason and a splenetic Frank Sinatra, and learns of the Soviet Union's second detonation of a nuclear bomb. It's an absolutely thrilling literary moment. When Bobby Thomson hits Branca's pitch into the outstretched hand of Cotter--the "shot heard around the world"--and Jackie Gleason pukes on Sinatra's shoes, the events of the next few decades are set in motion, all threaded together by the baseball as it passes from hand to hand.

"It's all falling indelibly into the past," writes DeLillo, a past that he carefully recalls and reconstructs with acute grace. Jump from Giants Stadium to the Nevada desert in 1992, where Nick Shay, who now owns the baseball, reunites with the artist Kara Sax. They had been brief and unlikely lovers 40 years before, and it is largely through the events, spinoffs, and coincidental encounters of their pasts that DeLillo filters the Cold War experience. He believes that "global events may alter how we live in the smallest ways," and as the book steps back in time to 1951, over the following 800-odd pages, we see just how those events alter lives. This reverse narrative allows the author to strip away the detritus of history and pop culture until we get to the story's pure elements: the bomb, the baseball, and the Bronx. In an epilogue as breathless and stunning as the prologue, DeLillo fast-forwards to a near future in which ruthless capitalism, the Internet, and a new, hushed faith have replaced the Cold War's blend of dread and euphoria.

Through fragments and interlaced stories--including those of highway killers, artists, celebrities, conspiracists, gangsters, nuns, and sundry others--DeLillo creates a fragile web of connected experience, a communal Zeitgeist that encompasses the messy whole of five decades of American life, wonderfully distilled. [via]

More editions of Underworld:

Underworld: ISBN 0684842696 (0-684-84269-6)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster

ISBN 9780140077025 (0-14-007702-2, 0140077022)

via

White Noise

by Don Delillo

ISBN 0140077022 (0-14-007702-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'White Noise'

Book summary:

Winner of the National Book Award in 1985, White Noise is the story of Jack and Babette and their children from their six or so various marriages. They live in a college town where Jack is Professor of Hitler Studies (and conceals the fact that he does not speak a word of German), and Babette teaches posture and volunteers by reading from the tabloids to a group of elderly shut-ins. They are happy enough until a deadly toxic accident and Babette's addiction to an experimental drug make Jake question everything. White Noise is considered a postmodern classic and its unfolding of themes of consumerism, family and divorce, and technology as a deadly threat have attracted the attention of literary scholars since its publication. This Viking Critical Library edition, prepared by scholar Mark Osteen, is the only edition of White Noise that contains the entire text along with an extensive critical apparatus, including a critical introduction, selected essays on the author, the work and its themes, reviews, a chronology of DeLillo's life and work, a list of discussion topics, and a selected bibliography.

[via]

More editions of White Noise:

ISBN 9780811825559 (0-8118-2555-8, 0811825558)

via

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

by David Borgenicht, Joshua Piven

ISBN 0811825558 (0-8118-2555-8)
Softcover, Chronicle Books Llc

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook'

Book summary:

How to Wrestle Free from an Alligator: 4. If its jaws are closed on something you want to remove (for example, a limb), tap or punch it on the snout.

Though it's being marketed as a humorous title--after all, it's unlikely you'll be called upon to land a plane, jump from a motorcycle to a moving car, or win a swordfight--the information contained in The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook is all quite sound. Authors Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht consulted numerous experts in their fields (they're cited at the end of the book) to discover how to survive various and sundry awful events. Parachute doesn't open? Your best bet for survival is to hook your arms through the straps of a fellow jumper's chute--and even then you're likely to dislocate both shoulders and break both legs. Car sinking in water? Open the window immediately to equalize pressure, then open the car door and swim to the surface. Buried in an avalanche? Spit on the snow--it will tell you which direction is really up. Then dig as fast as you can.

Each survival skill is explained in simple steps with helpful illustrations. Most stress the need to be prepared--both mentally and physically. For example, to escape from quicksand, you will need to lay a pole on the surface of the quicksand, flop on your back atop the pole, and pull your legs out one by one. No pole? No luck. "When walking in quicksand country, carry a stout pole--it will help you get out should you need to."

Hopefully you'll never need to know how to build a fire without matches, perform a tracheotomy, or treat a bullet wound. But in the words of survival evasion resistance escape instructor "Mountain" Mel Deweese, "You never know." --Sunny Delaney [via]

More editions of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook:

ISBN 9780811841559 (0-8118-4155-3, 0811841553)

via

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook

by Sarah Jordan, David Borgenicht, Joshua Piven, Brenda Brown

ISBN 0811841553 (0-8118-4155-3)
Softcover, Chronicle Books Llc

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook'

Book summary:

Forget quicksand and shark attacks, child-rearing is the truly terrifying activity. A screaming baby on an airplane, no diapers (!), monsters hiding in the closet, a long family car trip, the first datethese are the high-risk adventures you need to survive. Fortunately, the authors of the phenomenally best-selling Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series now keep parents safe, from cradle to teens. Hands-on, step-by-step instructions show you how to remove objects stuck in a child's nose or gum stuck in hair, and how to survive endless soccer games, slumber parties, and sleep deprivation. From baby-proofing the house to dealing with a dead pet, from the perils of the play-date to explaining about the birds and the bees, this essential guide tells parents what to really expect when your worst-case scenario is all in the family. [via]

More editions of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook:

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: ISBN 0811841553 (0-8118-4155-3)
Softcover, Chronicle Books Llc

ISBN 9780811835992 (0-8118-3599-5, 0811835995)

via

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook : Holidays

by Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht

ISBN 0811835995 (0-8118-3599-5)
Softcover, Chronicle Books LLC

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook : Holidays'

Book summary:

Turkey on fire? No plans for New Year's Eve? Obnoxious relatives headed your way? The authors of the best-selling The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook are here to help you survive the dangers of the holiday season, from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. Learn how to rescue someone stuck in a chimney, survive the office holiday party, and escape a runaway parade balloon. Expertly deal with a meddling parent, silence a group of carolers, and treat a tongue stuck to a frozen pole. Illustrated, step-by-step instructions guide you through these and dozens of other festive scenarios. With a helpful appendix of holiday excuses, last-minute gift ideas, and creative drink recipes for when the liquor runs out, this is truly the perfect gift. Gleaming silver cover. Fits all sized stockings. [via]

More editions of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook : Holidays:

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook : Holidays: ISBN 0811835995 (0-8118-3599-5)
Softcover, Chronicle Books LLC

ISBN 9780811831314 (0-8118-3131-0, 0811831310)

via

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel

by David Borgenicht, Joshua Piven

ISBN 0811831310 (0-8118-3131-0)
Softcover, Chronicle Books Llc

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel'

Book summary:

Piven and Borgenicht's Worst-case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel is, like their previous bestseller The Worst-case Scenario Survival Handbook, a pithy, witty and surprisingly useful guide to getting through life's stickier patches with body, soul and even dignity intact.

The difference here is that the authors have addressed the kind of glitches, pitfalls, disasters and conundra one might encounter when sojourning in distant or hostile lands. Hence there are sections offering advice on: How to Control a Runaway Camel; How to Survive in Frigid Water; How to Pass a Bribe; How to Deal with a Tarantula; and so on. Some of the problems and chapters might seem a little far-fetched and remote (How to Cross a Piranha-infested River); others all-too local and everyday to be confined to a travel book (How to Survive a Mugging). Each and every chapter is clearly written, accompanied by simple but effective illustrations, and derived from the accumulated wisdom of top survival experts in various armies, navies, academies and universities. There's also a very handy appendix dealing with general travel tips, such as which thumb-gestures to avoid when you don't want to insult the natives, and how to say, "Hello, I have been seriously wounded" in Japanese. This is a must-pack for all modern adventurers. --Sean Thomas [via]

More editions of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel:

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel: ISBN 0811831310 (0-8118-3131-0)
Softcover, Chronicle Books Llc

ISBN 9780226500621 (0-226-50062-4, 0226500624)

via

Young Men & Fire

by Norman MacLean

ISBN 0226500624 (0-226-50062-4)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Young Men & Fire'

Book summary:

A work that consumed 14 years of Maclean's life, and earned a 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award, Young Men and Fire tells the story of a Rocky Mountain forest fire that that claimed the lives of 13 young smoke jumpers on August 5, 1949, at Mann Gulch, Montana. The firefighters perished in a "blowup"--an explosive, 2,000-degree firestorm 300 feet deep and 200 feet tall. The excruciating detail of this book makes for a sobering reading experience. Maclean--a former University of Chicago English professor and avid fisherman--also wrote A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, which is set along the Missouri River, one gulch downstream from Mann. [via]

More editions of Young Men & Fire:

Young Men & Fire/a True Story of the Mann Gulch Fire

by Norman MacLean

ISBN 0816157340 (0-8161-5734-0)
Hardcover, G K Hall & Co

Find This Book

› Find signed collectible books: 'Young Men & Fire/a True Story of the Mann Gulch Fire'

More editions of Young Men & Fire/a True Story of the Mann Gulch Fire:

Young Men & Fire/a True Story of the Mann Gulch Fire: ISBN 0816157340 (0-8161-5734-0)
Hardcover, G K Hall & Co

		Search \| About \| Preferences \| Interact \| Help

150 million books. 1 search engine.	Search Author, Title or ISBN