Hair of the Dog: Tales from Aboard a Russian Trawler [Hardcover]

Barbara A. Oakley (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Washington State University (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087422134X
• ISBN-13: 978-0874221343
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,747,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I work at Oakland University as a professor of engineering. I have been married for twenty five years to Philip Oakley (aka "the most wonderful man in the universe"). We met when we were both working together at the South Pole Station in Antarctica. We have two daughters and two adopted sons who were originally from Kosovo.

I started studying engineering much later than many engineering students, because my original intention had been to become a linguist. I enlisted in the U.S. Army right after high school and spent a year studying Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey California. The Army eventually sent me to the University of Washington, where I received my first degree'a B.A. in Slavic Languages and Literature. Eventually, I served four years in Germany as a Signal Officer, and rose to become a Captain.

After my Army commitment ended, I decided to leave the Army and study engineering so that I could better understand the communications equipment I had been working with. Five years later I received a second degree: a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. In the meantime, I worked several fishing seasons as a Russian translator on Soviet trawlers up in the Bering Sea. I wrote a book about that experience in 'Hair of the Dog: Tales from a Russian Trawler.' I also spent a season as the radio operator at the South Pole Station, where Philip and I met. (We were married as soon as we got 'off the ice,' in New Zealand.) With the B.S.E.E. degree in hand I settled down and spent three years working as a instrumentation and controls engineer at a laser research and development firm near Seattle.

We moved to the Detroit area in 1989. I worked for Ford briefly, and then began doing consulting and attending Oakland University part time while our children were small. I received a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1995, and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering in 1998. I was hired after my graduation to continue on as a professor at Oakland University.

Since then, I've become interested in learning about people and places using an out-side-the box perspective--as you can tell from my books. I feel compelled to write--thank goodness I have a family that's forgiving of my compulsion!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Former Interpreter Aboard Russian Trawlers, December 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Hair of the Dog: Tales from Aboard a Russian Trawler (Paperback)

This is a special book and a very enjoyable read. Oakley perservered in getting it published and we are all the beneficiaries. Give yourself a treat and get a glimpse of US-Soviet relations that few Americans have witnessed. This book is not just a factual account of life at sea; it is a view into the Russian soul and psyche. You will not regret it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Peak Inside US & Soviet Relations at the Human Level, July 6, 2008

By 

Edward Forsythe "edosan" (Ft Meade, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hair of the Dog: Tales from Aboard a Russian Trawler (Hardcover)

Hair of the Dog is an immensely interesting tale of the life of an American translator aboard Soviet fishing trawlers during a Joint-Venture in the late 1980s. The story gives insight into the lives of the Soviets and how they lived with constant observation by the political commissars and KGB agents while working alongside the Americans. The friendships formed by the author and the experiences she had as both a translator and representative of America were solid and left me wishing I could have joined her out at sea. The story flows well and was an extremely easy read for anyone interested in Russia, the Soviet Union and the people of both great countries.

5.0 out of 5 stars ...stranger than fiction!, December 16, 2011

By 

Angela Boyter (Ellicott City, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hair of the Dog: Tales from Aboard a Russian Trawler (Paperback)

Like most Americans, I had no idea that in the 70s and 80s, in the middle of the Cold War, a joint venture teamed American and Russian fishermen to catch and process fish in the north Pacific ocean. Each Russian fishing boat had an American translator assigned to it. Barbara Oakley was one of those translators, and this is the fascinating story of her adventures on Russian fishing boats.
Oakley is a good writer and a born storyteller. Hair of the Dog opens with the newly arrived translator being invited to the captain's cabin at midnight for "tea". She promptly learns that vodka, in large quantities, is more the beverage of choice on Russians ships (although she has a few words about the strong Russian tea as well) and acclimates herself to working with people who seem to consume more alcohol each day than most Americans drink in a month. The description of the fishing industry is interesting, but the colorful characters, like the "political commissar" assigned to each Russian ship and the fishing captain who was so fat he had difficulty getting off his ship, are what kept me rapt. I might have suspected the author of liberal literary license if she hadn't assured readers that she kept a daily journal that allowed her to produce an accurate report.
I first encountered Barb Oakley as the author of Evil Genes. It was intriguing to find an engineering professor writing a book about "evil" people past and present, and when I found out that she is a former Army Russian linguist, I was even more curious about her unusual background. Hair of the Dog fills in another chapter of her life, and it was definitely worth searching it out in the used-book market. Now I wish she would write a book about how she met her future husband at the South Pole....