BOOK REPORT--


Beyond the Blue Horizon by Brian Fagan

The author is an anthropology professor at the University of California and has decades of experience at sea so he brings a unique perspective to this peek at the historical development of what we now know as commercial seamanship. Readers begin this aquatic adventure with ancient Polynesians when they first dared to sail beyond the horizon. I was troubled by the author's insistence on using BCE/CE, as calendar references rather than the more conventional BC/AD. Fagan says in his Author's Note " 'The present' " by international agreement is 1950 CE. It may be more professorial but it sure clouds the reader's perspective if those BCE/CE abbreviations are unfamiliar.


The Sea Witch by Stephen Coonts

This is 250 pages of warp-speed read; three short stories (Novellas it says) with the lead being the title story about a reckless pilot in World War II being assigned to co-pilot a Catalina seaplane which will take you for an unimaginable airplane ride. Story two roars through 17 days--the life expectancy of a British aviator during World War I, and, Al-Jihad is the third offering where a retired commando is enticed by the wacky daughter of his old commander to avenge her parent's deaths. I'll be looking for more offerings from Coonts.


The Impossible State by Victor Cha

North Korea is described as the world's most controversial and isolated country and the author, former director for Asian Affairs at our National Security Council from 2004 to 2007, is credited with providing the best look yet at that country's history and the oppressive Kim regime that rules it. It was an illuminating peek at its seemingly endless war with its southern neighbor and its frightening nuclear ambitions but I was hoping for a much better look at the day to day life of its citizens. Guess I'll have to keep looking.


By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille

This book has "...a special place in my heart..." said DeMille, because it was his first hardcover novel in 1978. It starts off in typical DeMille fashion with a terrific story-line about Israeli peace-makers on their way to a UN conference in NY on a soon to be hijacked Concorde airplane which is forced down to a controlled, crash landing--near Babylon. Then, the pace slows for several hundred pages until its dramatic conclusion in pages numbered in the 500s. A good read nonetheless.