Customer Reviews

Shark Attacks: Terrifying True Accounts Of Shark Attacks Worldwide

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

 

 

A great book for shark fans like myself. There is not really any info on sharks but on there victems. A truly frighting read for you here the victems words of "let me die" or "help, shark." Just to let you know the book is not a novel but newspaper summeries. Still its a great read on the terror of shark attack victems.

A good fast reading book. Lots of details of the attacks. Any one who likes skarks should read this book.

I expected a more comments-supported summary of shark attacks all over the world. It is not included the famous attack on Albert Kogler, San Francisco, 1959. Only a collection of newspaper notes.

The section on Acapulco was particularly interesting. If you check on the Internet, you won't really find any information which indicates that shark attacks do occur there. However, from reading this book, you might want to think twice about swimming too far out from the beach. The author suggests that there is a conspiracy of silence from the Acapulco politicians all the way down to the people working on the beaches. Shark attacks are bad for business, so they try their best to keep a lid on them. Yikes!!!

I love this book. It is really a bunch of newspaper articles on shark attacks with a little background information on each one. If you are someone who studies sharks, you won't like it. If you are like me, a person who reads the newspaper and is intrigued by the horror of the thought of getting attacked, you will not be able to put it down. I think it's just fascinating.

This book reads quickly. It's a collection of newspaper articles. Although I was hoping the book would talk more about the size and behavior of the attacking sharks, the wording is quick, much like the attacks.

Shark Attacks, Alex MacCormick

Over half the attacks on humans by sharks occur in water less than five feet deep (`Introduction'). How safe is going to the seashore or a river? This book presents examples of shark attacks. The fear of an attack and death by a monster goes back to prehistory. [Bears and big cats preyed on humans on land, and left bones in their caves.] Attacks by sharks can occur on oceans or even bays. It was only in 1958 that a research program began. The International Shark Attack File is based at the University of Florida in Gainesville, it is accessible only to qualified scientists. Searching news reports has the problem of shark attacks unreported for fear of damaging tourism by bad publicity. This book has six chapters for its 241 pages. The author seems to have searched newspaper records during the 20th century to compile this book. There is a chronological list of attacks with its page number (the date is in dd.mm.yy format).

Chapter 1 is "Holiday Snaps in the Shallows". It lists attacks in Great Britain, Hong Kong, Somalia , Texas, Florida, Virginia, Australia, Italy, and South Africa. Chapter 2 is "Down into the Deep". It tells about attacks by great white sharks in Tuscany, Italy; Tasmania; and New Zealand. Florida and California are famous for attacks. Note how often fishermen are bitten in the water. Chapter 3 is "Ships and Boats and Planes". What if a shark takes a bite of your boat? Canoes, kayaks, and rubber dinghies are vulnerable to attacks. If bait was thrown into the sea to attract sharks there is a danger for any small boat. A shark can jump into a boat or on a deck. This tells about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in July 1945. Only 316 out of 1,196 survived.

Chapter 4 is "Swimming Out of One's Depth". Swimming at dawn or dusk can be harmful. Shark attacks at tourist resorts are usually censored. Cooler waters have fewer shark attacks. Bait fish close to shore mean sharks are in the surf. A "safe bathing area" is no guarantee either. Stories about a person drowning from a cramp is really a shark attack when the body is never found (p.179). Chapter 5 is "Surfing the Waves". Swimming out into the ocean for surfing can be dangerous. Surfers also spend more time in deep water. Warning signs don't mention "sharks" (p.191). A black wet suit looks like a seal to a shark (p.203). Even a safe beach can be attacked (p.217). Chapter 6 is "Stranger than Fiction". A shark attack four miles from the ocean on dry land (p.227). A diver in a giant aquarium giving lettuce to fish was attacked by a tiger shark. It never happened before (p.231). Fumes from a dead shark injured a mother and her three children in a London home (p.233).

The title of this book really says it all! One terrifying shark-attack story after another! Excellent reading! After finishing this book, you will not go back into the water!

I was disappointed, because the shark attack on a girl named Beverly Jo was omitted. The attack occured in the latter part of May, 1956 off of the coast of San Fransciso. The girl was bitten in one of her legs. I was hopeing to find the detail story.

I read this book with great interest since I was going to Hawaii to snorkel. All main geographical areas where shark attacks occur are covered from South Africa to Hawaii. A description of all the species of shark which are involved in attacks are covered as well at the statistics of their frequency. The history of human attitudes toward sharks is discussed. In the early nineteen hundreds people eradicated sharks with dynamite. Now we study them. The evolving theories about how dangerous sharks are is very interesting reading. It was thought that sharks were not interested in people. Now we know they are and fighting back when attacked is recommended. There are other books which give better illustrations of the various species. It was interesting to read that the bull shark cruises many rivers throughout the world where it attacks people. Ultimately this book reads at the level of a newspaper.