BOOK REPORTS—

In the Naga’s Wake by Mick O’Shea

This is a vivid tale of the first-ever traverse of the Mekong River from it’s origins in the Himalaya Mountains of Tibet to the South China Sea—in a kayak. The book bulges with graphic descriptions of the thundering river gorges, the outrages of ecological destruction by the Chinese government and the marvelously varied people who live from the Alpine north to the tropical sea. Outstanding!


Crashing Through by Robert Kurson

A mesmerizing story of a 43 year old man, blinded by an explosion at age 3, who regains his sight by stem-cell technology (not the fetal variety). Imagine “seeing” with your hands all those years then being able to see steam but not be able to feel it. How could that be? Or the freckles on his son’s face; same perplexing experience. Readers are taken for a poignant ride through a life’s experience known by precious few human beings in history. Start reading this book—and hang on!


Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson

A piercing look at the super-human training course for US Navy SEALS which will leave your bones hurting, then, it moves to SEAL team action in Afghanistan where SEAL Team #10 and their back-up force suffer the greatest loss in SEAL history as told by a very humble survivor; ultimately awarded the US Navy Cross for combat heroism.


Armed and Dangerous by William Queen

Queen, a former Green Beret and now ATF agent, spins a yarn about the capture of a notorious narcotics trafficker/survivalist in the California mountains. Queen and his co-author, Douglas Century, manage to turn what could have been an explosive adventure into a fairly ho-hum good guy/bad guy read.