Solomon Starbucks Striper: A Fish Story About Following Your Dreams [Hardcover]

Roy Rowan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2003

An entertaining and beautifully descriptive fable about the importance of following your dreams. Inspired by Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, author Roy Rowan uses this fictional fish who quits his preppy East Coast school (where he was ostracized because of his coffee-colored stripes) and swims alone, seeking a higher purpose in life than simply filling his gut -- and at the same time trying not to be eaten by bigger fish, a calamnity all of us try to avoid in work, play, and social situations.

Solomon Starbucks Striper is a soul-searching, feel-good book that should warm the heart of every reader, fisherman and nonfisherman alike.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roy Rowan -- veteran journalist and avid fisherman, covered the world for more than fifty years for Time, Life, and Fortune. His previous six nonfiction books dealt with a wide variety of topics from war, politics, and intuition, to First Dogs, a best-selling history of presidential pooches that was made into a movie and aired on the Discovery Channel. This is his first work of fiction.

Rowan shares time between his homes in Greenwich, Connecticut and Block Island, Rhode Island where he usually can be found surfcasting from the beach.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Book Nook Press (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965898377
• ISBN-13: 978-0965898379
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,839,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than A Fish Story, March 6, 2004

By 

Dick Anthony (Roxbury, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solomon Starbucks Striper: A Fish Story About Following Your Dreams (Hardcover)

Roy Rowan's delightful fable about a charming, philosophical denizen of the deep, "Solomon Starbucks Striper," will entrance old salts, fishermen and landlubbers alike. As an unabashed Rowan fan, I especially enjoyed this first sortie by him into the realm of fiction. Drawing on his vast experience observing and writing about the world and its people in his books and for Time, Life and Fortune, he has constructed a marvelous fable that is much more than a fish story.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Striper with Dazzling Intelligence, April 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Solomon Starbucks Striper: A Fish Story About Following Your Dreams (Hardcover)

I just read "Solomon Starbucks Striper." What a pleasure!
Author Rowan has Orwellian talents. I've fished for
everything from sunnies to sailfish but never before
conceived of a fish with wisdom. In fact, this striper
shows dazzling intelligence as he probes the secret
depths of the Atlantic. From beginning to end this
charming book is a winner!

EAH
Chappaqua, NY

5.0 out of 5 stars You can't swim your way to a better world, April 22, 2004

By 

William P. Bray (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solomon Starbucks Striper: A Fish Story About Following Your Dreams (Hardcover)

If the laws of nature tell us to find food, to avoid being food, and to multiply, then Solomon Starbuck Striper adds that to be truly human one must follow their heart, learn to trust and forgive, rid yourself of inhibiting assumptions, and visualize how you want to be.

Author Roy Rowan has written a delightful tale about the life experiences of a young striper fish, named Solomon, who grows up being discriminated against because of his coffee colored strips. On his journey to find "the place where the sky meets the sea," Solomon discovers a world of fresh ideas and unlimited opportunities. He confronts his competitors, and discovers that life is about more than mere survival. "You can't swim your way into a better world, I'm afraid," says a giant octopus in the book. "Only an altered state of mind will lead you there."

Rowan, who has traveled the world for Time and Life Magazines, learned thru personal interviews many of the philosophies of some of the most powerful figures of the 20th Century. Rowan relates this fish story to some of life's great lessons. His earlier book, Surfcaster's Quest, lures the reader into the experiences of a fisherman casting temptations to nearby fish. Both of these books are wonderful tales of how the struggle between man and fish is ultimately about survival. Even so, life is filled pains, worries, great ideas and personal ambitions. The ending will surprise you.