The Mammoth Book of Storms, Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters: Over 70 First-Hand Accounts of Peril on the High Seas, from St. Paul's Shipwreck to the Prestige Disaster [Paperback]

Richard Lawrence (Author), Richard Russell Lawrence (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Mammoth Book of | Publication Date: October 4, 2004

No other natural environment can match the danger of a hostile sea. This remarkable new collection brings together over 60 eyewitness accounts of tragedy, error and survival on the high seas. It includes such modern-day incidents as the high-ocean dismasting of Kingfisher 2, Richard van Pham's 100 days adrift in 2002, the Kursk submarine disaster and the Exxon Valdez, as well as both legendary and lesser-known historical events like the HMS Proserpine catastrophe, the wreck of the Medusa, and the spectacular hurricanes that have buffeted the Caribbean island of Montserrat. The Mammoth Book of Storms, Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters offers white-knuckle accounts of disaster and endurance, evoking the addictive drama of The Perfect Storm.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (October 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786714689
• ISBN-13: 978-0786714681
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Natural Disasters
  • #83 in Books > Professional & Technical > Transportation > Ships > History

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad -- But Not Original, August 3, 2007

By 

Alan D. Gray (Memphis) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Storms, Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters: Over 70 First-Hand Accounts of Peril on the High Seas, from St. Paul's Shipwreck to the Prestige Disaster (Paperback)

Being fond of true stories about the sea, shipwrecks, and that kind of thing, I recently purchased this book after looking at some others on Amazon. I ordered it because I saw that an earlier reviewer scored it with five stars. But, after reading it, I think that it only merits about a three star rating -- in other words, it's okay. Not bad, but five stars? No way! In my opinion, there are much better, more intriguing "reads" on this subject.

It didn't take me very long to get through this book, despite its apparent length. While some of the material was new to me, relatively large portions of it (for me personally, about a quarter of the entire book or more) are comprised of extended extracts from other things I have previously read, such as "Titanic Survivor, The Memoirs of Violet Jessop, Stewardess", or "Owen Chase's Narrative", about how an angry whale charged and sank the whaleship Essex (a true story which was a major inspiration for Melville's Moby Dick). If I hadn't have already seen and read so much of the material in this collection -- if it was mostly new to me and "original" -- I might have ranked it a little higher.

Now, I don't want to jump to any hasty, ill-informed conclusions, but, as it is, I feel like this book might be yet another example (though certainly not one of the worst or most blatant) of an insideous little money-making trend that I've noticed in book publishing in recent years: a publisher contracts some "pro" to be an "editor"; the publisher's staff helps them hastily collect a bunch of topical material that has already been published elsewhere (it's even better if relevant material can be found which is relatively inexpensive to acquire and use, especially if copyrights have expired and one does not have to "shell out" for royalties and the like); the "editor" patches the miscellaneous material together, perhaps adding a quick few notes here and there; somebody cooks up a title; somebody else throws together some splashy cover art; and, then the end product is released and marketed as if it is something "new". It seems like a "rip-off" to me. Buyer beware -- check over things carefully before you make a purchase, and try to go for "originals", not "knock-offs"!

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Storms, Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters, May 16, 2007

By 

Suzanne M. Fleming - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Storms, Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters: Over 70 First-Hand Accounts of Peril on the High Seas, from St. Paul's Shipwreck to the Prestige Disaster (Paperback)

Beautiful book, perfect condition, and extremely informative! This book is outstanding for the seafarer, the ocean lover, and anyone interested in true accounts of what really happened at sea. Thanks for the great adventures!

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth buying, August 25, 2009

By 

Tuurboo (SoCAL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Storms, Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters: Over 70 First-Hand Accounts of Peril on the High Seas, from St. Paul's Shipwreck to the Prestige Disaster (Paperback)

Not that good of a book. Too vague and uninformative. Not what I was looking for.