Customer Reviews

Our Last Chance: Sixty-Six Deadly Days Adrift

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My father was friends with the author Bill Butler and this is most definitely a true story. It is horrible for readers who do not know the author to speculate about the authenticity of the story. And to further show there ignorance by criticizing Mr. Butlers decisions about killing "endangered' sea life to survive. In a situation such as this I truly believe anyone would do the same thing. I know I would and I am an animal lover in every sense of the word. This is a fantastic story about the human spirit and the will to survive. Like some of the other readers who posted comments about the book I too read it in a matter of hours. I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

...sea survivals books i have ever read!! On my first read-through (i re-read about once a year), i think i finished the entire book in 3-4 hours. The detail & narrative style make you feel like you are actually taking part in Bill & Simonne's daily survival & heart stopping situations. The boats, sharks & dolphin dangers are riveting; even the part about the drug boat. the finale is wonderful, the spirituality very uplifting. William Davis's comments are laughable: yes, Simmonne is annoying...but as a person who has spent time at sea on a sailboat, i know this is all non-fiction. Mr. Davis would soon follow suit with regard to the sea turtles, sharks & sea birds if in a similar scenario.

I heard Bill Butler speak at a school about his adventure and decided to order his book. I read the book in about 3 hours without putting it down. It was great!

What an exciting adventure. Cannot imagine being in the middle of the Pacific surrounded by sharks, not knowing if I was going to survive. Great read for sailors and boaters alike.

This book tells the true story of Bill Butler's adventure while adrift at sea for 66 days in a life raft after his 39 foot sailboat was bashed and sunk by whales. He tells how he and his wife survived by catching fish with their hands and by making fresh water from salt water using a lifesaving hand pump. There are several close encounters with sharks, turtles and other marine life which made it hard to put the book down. The book is easy to read and full of adventure. I recommend it to anyone interested in sailing, especially if they are considering a sail in the Pacific!

This experience is certainly a life-changing one for anyone; it's truly amazing how the human spirit can adapt to just about anything. But just as importantly, this great account is a must-read for anyone planning to sail the open seas (as we are).

We found it full of very useful survival details. We were blown away by how little we knew about the way this kind of tragedy really unfolds. In fact, as we started reading (we read aloud together) we almost thought it would be fun to be stuck together on a life raft. Then the reality of such an event sunk in as the story unfolded.

And a good story it is! The book's pace is amazingly quick despite how essentially similar each of the days are to each other. We had a hard time putting the book down. The narrative is simple, direct and much as Hemingway would tell the story. The human spirit's transformation is palpable as the days go by.

No doubt, this is one of those circumstances that we're lucky enough to have someone tell us about so we don't actually have to live it ourselves in order to learn from it. And, the book contains useful sections at the end that will help plan for such an eventuality should a sailor be so doomed. And yes, there are a few typos here and there, but whereas usually that reduces a book's credibility, in this case it actually adds to its authenticity.

I actually bought this at a boat show shortly after purchasing my first boat. it "almost" made me buy the heavy duty liferaft. Like one of the other reviewers here, I could not put this book down. I practically read the whole thing in one sitting. I have also seen the author interviewed, so yes, it is a true story.

This book became too drawn out detailing every day. Some of the episodes of "shark attacks" were unbelievable. Bill could have saved the detailed explainations of his naked wife and lust for her during this stressfull time. I would have thrown him overboard by day 2. Ugh I was glad to finally finish it.

Please do not read this book. The writing is atrocious and full of grammatical errors. The author claims to kill all kinds of protected marine animals some like endangered sea turtles just out of spite. The wife character is so annoying that I almost could not finish the book just because I found her so annoying. Worst of all this is book is so unbelievable that it is certainly a work of fiction and the author claims that this is a real life survival story. For the love of all that is good in this world, do not waste your time reading this book.