Book Description
The war diary of former German naval officer Otto Giese recounts a seafaring career of extraordinary scope. It begins with the dawn of World War II, while the author is a junior officer on board the ocean liner SS Columbus, and continues through his confinement in a British prisoner-of-war camp after the war. This book showcases more than one hundred high-quality photographs taken by Giese throughout his wartime service to present a unique historical overview. Interspersed among tales of hardship and loss are colorful anecdotes that relay the camaraderie surrounding plots to escape detention at Angel Island, the unlikely processing of German seamen at Ellis Island, and Giese's experiences policing guerilla warfare in the Malayan jungle. He greets the incongruous movements of war with equanimity and offers an unwavering assessment of the dictates of duty. 104 photographs. Line drawing. 8 maps. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Paperback. 6 x 9 inches.
Customer Reviews:
Sailor's odyssey is a bit of everything.......2003-10-29
Otto Giese had an unusual war. He was a merchant marine officer with a German cruise company when the shooting started in 1939, and the cruise ship he was on was in the Caribbean. His ship attempted to return to Germany, but was intercepted by the Royal Navy and scuttled by its crew. They wound up being interned by the U.S. Navy (entering the U.S. through Ellis Island!) and found their way to San Francisco and then Japan with the idea of being repatriated to Germany through the U.S.S.R. Instead, though, Giese wound up as a watch officer on board a blockade runner which successfully made the run from Japan to occupied France via Cape Horn, rendevousing with a German commerce raider in mid-Pacific along the way.
Once he was back in Germany, he sought out service in the Navy, in spite of opposition from his employer. He wound up serving as an enlisted man on U-405 through four patrols operating out of Norway against Murmansk convoys. Then he was transferred to officer training, and soon assigned to U-181, which travelled from France to the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope. Once there, they eventually landed at Penang in Malaysia, intending to restock with supplies needed in Germany and return there later. When they tried to sail back home, the sub's drive bearings failed and they had to return to Indonesia, where they waited out the end of the war. He then spent some time interned by the Japanese in Malaysia, more time as a POW both there and in Britain, before finally returning to Germany. He eventually settled in Florida and became a U.S. citizen.
This book comprises what is described as a "war diary" kept by Giese. This stretches credulity a bit, and I think it would be better to describe it as a memoir. The author recounts the events briefly, and some of the chapters are so short it only takes a few moments to read them. Sinking of Allied ships is handled in a sentence, perhaps two. There isn't that much information on life on a U-boat during WW2.
Why then the high rating? Turns out Giese was a shutterbug (camera enthusiast) and kept a Leica camera with him at all times. He managed to develop photos of his experiences and keep them safe all these years, and the book is sprinkled with more than a hundred of them. Frankly, the pictures are much better than the book is, and I enjoyed them a great deal. The book was still good, don't get me wrong, but without the photos would have drawn three stars, not four.
Very well written account.......1999-01-04
This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the u-boat war. The author has a very interesting story that starts with his service on an ocean liner at the outbreak of the war. From there he goes to surface raiders and then to u-boats,eventually ending with his internment in the far east when his sub is taken over by japan when germany surrenders. There are books with more text devoted to u-boat battles than this one however the book stands out for the authors unusual oddessy which he does an excellent job in writing about. The author also provides a superb collection of photos taken by himself that provides a great accompaniment to the narrative.
A German sailor's adventurous career........1999-01-02
This book is not strictly about u-boats. It is a masterfully written chronical of a young merchant marine officer's transition from peacetime sailing aboard a luxury liner to the German navy. Only part of the book is about his time aboard a u-boat. Many of his adventures take place in the exotic lands of Malaya, China, and Japan. I have an extensive library of submarine books and sea stories, and I consider this one of the best in my collection. I heartily recommend this to anyone with a sense of adventure.
Book Description
This debut memoir, an intimate story of second chances, love and redemption, spans three continents and four countries, as a daughter rekindles her relationship with her filmmaker mother during the production of Water, Deepa Mehta's most controversial movie.
Introducing a new literary voice, Shooting Water recounts Devyani Saltzman's remarkable story of reconnecting with her mother, international award-winning filmmaker Deepa Mehta. When Devyani was eleven, her parents divorced, and the courts required her to choose which parent to live with. She chose to live with her father in Toronto and then spent the next eight years navigating between two religions (Hinduism and Judaism), two cultures (Indian and Canadian), two traditions and two people—belonging to both and to neither at once.
In late 1999, at the age of nineteen, Devyani was invited by her mother to join her in the holy city of Benares, India, to work on Water, the final installment in Mehta's acclaimed Elements trilogy (which started with Fire and Earth). After only a week of shooting, Waterbecame the target of a series of politically motivated attacks. The movie was shut down. Devyani went off to Oxford and, then, three years later rejoined her mother when production resumed in Sri Lanka. What began as a journey to heal deep wounds from the past turned into a five-year odyssey to complete the film.
Transformative and inspiring, Shooting Water chronicles Saltzman's life-changing experience in India, the struggle to produce a film, and, through that struggle, the emergence of a deeper love between mother and daughter. 16 b/w photographs.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting memoir from a young woman.......2007-08-26
I received this book, a signed copy, from the author at a book fair last year. With my daughter doing field work in India for her Master's in Public Health, I finally picked it up. It was beautifully written and and evoked many of the same interesting tales of an exotic country.
Devyani Saltzman writes of a difficult childhood and how the divorce of her parents scarred her. She chose to live with her father. Despite a strained relationship with her mother, she is asked by her mother to help make the film, Water. Deepa Mehta, the filmaker, is an interesting woman in her own right and her films are progressive and feminist and beautifully filmed.
This insightful book unfolds as the film is pulled from shooting due to its feminist theme. Ms. Saltzman then explores India, goes to college and experiences a breakdown and finally gets to help make this film four years later, in Sri Lanka. The beautiful, ultimate reunion between mother and daughter help to make this book meaningful.
If you love film, especially art house film, read this "behind the scenes" exploration. Amid the family turmoil, you will get an in depth education about making a movie.
A revealing story .......2006-09-24
In late 1999 when the author was almost twenty her filmmaker mother Deepa Mehta invited her to come to India to work as a third assistant cameraperson on her new controversial film Water. SHOOTING WATER: A MEMOIR OF SECOND CHANCES, FAMILY, AND FILMMAKING chronicles this season where mother and daughter worked to repair a strained relationship affected by divorce and separation. The fallout of such a relationship was to affect not just their relationship but Saltzman's own choice of religion (Hinduism and Judaism), culture (Indian and Canadian) and more. Anticipate a revealing story in SHOOTING WATER which covers not just the art of filmmaking in India, but how families are separated and come back together.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Fascinating .......2006-08-29
Shooting Water by Devyani Saltzman is the touching story of the making of the film Water of which Ms. Salzman's mother, Deepa Mehta, is the writer/director. The film documents the deplorable life of widows in India in the 1930's. The shooting began in Benares, India's most holy city where many of these widows lived. However, within a couple of days dangerous demonstrations shut down the production and four years later the film was finished in Sri Lanka. The book documents the events surrounding the shooting while the mother and daughter team work out the stresses and pain of a lifetime between them, since Devyani chose to live with her father after her parents divorced. The struggle with the film-making parallels the struggle with their hearts, and as they resolved the production problems they also resolved their relationship pains. It is a touching book, timely, as the film is just being released in the U.S
Captivating.......2006-07-20
I read this book straight through in a day and a half. A beautifully written account of the shooting of the film Water, the author's relationship with her family, and her life experiences, the narrative invokes powerful images, sounds, and emotions. The book recognizes the imperfections, the struggles, the injustices--in the world, in relationships--and is ultimately hopeful and uplifting.
Average customer rating:
- What if one moment defined the rest of your life?
- A Must Read!!!
- What is life about?
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The Shooting: A Memoir
Kemp Powers
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
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ASIN: 1568583206 |
Book Description
Kemp Powers was a good kid, an honors student, raised by a single mother in Brooklyn in the mid-1980s. Like many children, he lived in the sheltered world of his family and neighborhood. He was oblivious to the violence around him.
As a black teenager going to junior high in a white neighborhood, Kemp became acutely aware of the racial tension and violence bubbling up in New York (think Bernard Goetz and Howard Beach and crack cocaine). This, along with an adolescent interest in guns, changed Kemp's life forever.
In 1987, Kemp accidentally shot his best friend. His parents didn't press charges, and Kemp was forgiven by everyone, including the state of New York. But Kemp couldn't forgive himself. He thought about Henry every day and made a promise to never make a mistake again — a promise a child naively made that the adult couldn't keep.
Customer Reviews:
What if one moment defined the rest of your life?.......2007-06-15
Eloquently written and vividly detailed, the Shooting is a story of a child who make a stupid mistake (as children do) that cost his best friend his life. Although he does not end up doing any jail or juvenile time, he ends up paying for it psychologically for decades. It is obvious that Powers has played out the incident in his mind on an endless loop, going over the "what ifs?" thousands of times.
Also, the imagery of his childhood growing up in New York City is fantastic. I never heard of this book before coming across it on Amazon and buying it because it was listed under used books for just a couple of cents. But it is by far one the best memoirs I've read, and I've read a lot. Even though I may have nothing in common with a black man from Brooklyn, it touched my heart, made me laugh, and made me cry. It took alot of guts to write this book, and I hope Mr. Powers has made peace with that one defining moment all those years ago.
A Must Read!!!.......2007-05-28
I loved this memoir. I related to Kemp Powers' story of depression, guilt, loss and determination. We are all on the quest (at least I hope we all are) to make something of ourselves and to do something meaningful with our lives, yet many of us don't pursue this goal with the burden of having taken a life on our backs. This is a must read!! Here is hoping a paperback is coming soon so I can pass it on to the many young boys I know who would benefit from Powers' story!
What is life about?.......2005-06-05
Kemp Powers tells his story about an unimaginable moment at 14 when he accidentally killed his best friend in a gun accident. The actual shooting is described in just a few pages, the remainder is Kent Power's life before and after, impacted forever by that moment.
The real pull of the book is the undercurrents about life and fate. There are no answers except the story.
Average customer rating:
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A Funny Old Quist: Memoirs of a Gamekeeper (Ordinary Lives, 5.)
Evan Rogers , and
Clive Murphy
Manufacturer: Eland
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ASIN: 0907871615 |
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Shooting the Actor
Simon Callow
Manufacturer: Picador
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Being an Actor
ASIN: 031242244X |
Book Description
When Simon Callow met the Yugoslav film director Dusan Makavejev to discuss his new film Manifesto, they both greatly looked forward to working together. Only months later the two were barely speaking.
A companion volume to Being An Actor, Shooting the Actor is a funny and disastrous account of a film made in the former Yugoslavia, together with new essays on film and film acting including Callow’s work in Amadeus and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Shooting the Actor reveals more about the process of filmmaking and the highly complex nature of the role of both actor and director than any formal guide could ever provide.
Book Description
The Weekend Warriors is NOT a "How to Play Paintball" book. It's just a chronicle of one man's paintball war stories. There have been incredible changes in the sport and the players over the years. Stories range from the early days of single-shot breach loading pistols to today's digitally enhanced full-auto marvels of technology. There's a lot to be learned from listening to the tales of how it was back in the old days, and new paintballers might just be able to learn from someone else's mistakes!
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2004-04-16
This is excellent casual reading for any paintball fan. Although most of the experiences were woodsball, a lot of it applies to speedball as well. Easy to read, despite a few grammatical and typographical errors. Definitely reinforces the idea that many paintball players are "average" and not a bunch of loons. Fun reading.
Go play the game yourself........2002-10-29
I guess my expectations of this book would be that I would learn about paintball history, tactics, and the evolution of paintball equipment all in the context of interesting paintball stories. Although there was a little of that, the book is really just a chronicle of the author's paintball experiences given in a diary like format. Some of the experiences were interesting but NOT that interesting. Unless you can't get out save your money and time and play a game of paintball yourself.
Captures the essence of the game.......2002-08-26
Scott's new Paintball book is not only about his evolution as a player, from the 80's to the present, but also the evolution of the game/sport.
His stories bring to life the intensity of the game, as well as the teamwork and feelings of victory. We also get a chance to see how the sport has changed, in equipment, as well as attitude.
The personal nature of the stories allows a look inside a player's head, giving insight for nonplayers into why Paintball has become so popular.
As a player, it put me back on the field, trying to make the right move, solving problems and overcoming challenges.
Scott's book captures the essence of the game, from "Paint ball Math" to "Post Paintball Fatigue Syndrome", and tells a darn good story, too.
If you've ever wondered why people love the game, or just want to read some good "war stories", pick it up!
From A Man Who Knows.......2002-07-02
Scott Malensek's third offering, while a departure from his fiction, is an excellent look at the game of paintball from an insider's view. And who better to share opinions and anecdotes than one who has been an avid fan of the game since its conception? From his point of view, we see the ins and outs, as well as the ups and downs, of this exciting pasttime.
Scott's memoir touches on all of the bases, from sportsmanship to Post-Paintball Fatigue. The lighthearted anecdotes are a joy to read, ranging from games behind friends' houses to the exploits of hundreds of people on professional fields.
It is rare that one can so vividly see the love of a fan for a game as Malensek displays in his latest work. From the greenest "newbie" to the most hardcore player, or even those simply contemplating entering the arenas of this widely-spreading sport, there is something for everyone in this book. It comes highly recommended, not only for its grasp but for its humor and insightfulness as well. A wonderful read!
From A Man Who Knows.......2002-07-02
Scott Malensek's third offering, while a departure from his fiction, is an excellent look at the game of paintball from an insider's view. And who better to share opinions and anecdotes than one who has been an avid fan of the game since its conception? From his point of view, we see the ins and outs, as well as the ups and downs, of this exciting pasttime.
Scott's memoir touches on all of the bases, from sportsmanship to Post-Paintball Fatigue. The lighthearted anecdotes are a joy to read, ranging from games behind friends' houses to the exploits of hundreds of people on professional fields.
It is rare that one can so vividly see the love of a fan for a game as Malensek displays in his latest work. From the greenest "newbie" to the most hardcore player, or even those simply contemplating entering the arenas of this widely-spreading sport, there is something for everyone in this book. It comes highly recommended, not only for its grasp but for its humor and insightfulness as well. A wonderful read!
Customer Reviews:
Interesting little book on Buffalo hunting days, not the best one.......2005-11-26
I've read in several other books about the Mooar brothers, major figures in the Buffalo hunting/hide trade days, this is a selection of stories told by one of the brothers.
Mr. Mooar told a writer a few stories in 1933, I think he'd have been about 82 if my math is good, that were serialized in a magazine.
The stories are mostly about his own adventures but some give details about things that happened to others, interesting but not the most educational or detailed to my way of thinking. The man, even in his 80's, was absolutely unapologetic about the buffalo slaughter and seems to have had no use or even respect for the Indians he had contact with. You get to read some details about hunting, the buffalo hide & meat trade and Indian fighting, a little about the guns used and just a bit about the people Mooar met, including (he says)Billy the Kid.
I'm thinking that at 82 Mr. Mooar's memory was failing him, he describes a .50 cal. Sharps rifle variation that I've never heard of (even in Frank Seller's big book on the Sharps company), I think he might've meant a .45, not 50. His telling of the Adobe Walls Indian battle sounds both self promoting (he was there before the fight and did some Indian fighting that would've been linked to the battle itself)and a little bit unlikely (he says the infamous cracking ridgepole was a fraudulent story and that the pole itself was 2 1/2 feet thick- seems kind of unlikely that such a heavy log would be a ridge pole).
I liked reading the information I did get but consider "Life of Billy Dixon" by Olive K. Dixon (Billy Dixon, who actually did fight at Adobe Walls- and was mentioned by Mooar, was only 63 when he dictated his biography) to be a much better book for most students of the Buffalo Hunting days.
Buffalo Days.......2005-08-16
Good personal reminiscence. Very good end notes. Certainly not politicaly correct but a very good view of the prevaling mind set of the nineteenth century buffalo hide trade.
Average customer rating:
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50 Years of Hunting and Fishing, Part IV: Awesome Action in Australia
Ben D. Mahaffey
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
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ASIN: 0595379885 |
Book Description
Join Ben D. Mahaffey and friends as they form a “Geriartric Trio” to travel to the Australian Outback in search of Buffalo, Wild Bulls, Deer, Kangaroos and other exotic animals.
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Dead Caribou Bags Hunter
Keith Evans
Manufacturer: Authorhouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1403386684 |
Average customer rating:
- Entertaining and historically interesting
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Is She Coming Too?: Memoirs of a Lady Hunter
Frances Hamerstrom
Manufacturer: Iowa State Press
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ASIN: 0813804728 |
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining and historically interesting.......1998-09-12
Each chapter is a short story on things a woman hunter had to endure (from her male counterparts) in the 1930s and 40s. The tales are amusing and often very funny. Fran frequently had to prove she was as good as the men, and sometimes outdid them. An extreme example: at a game farm men were trying to spear rats that were eating the birds' feed. With her bare hands Fran caught and killed more rats than all the men. Most stories are much more tame; e.g., duck and sharptail grouse hunting. If your female partner reads this before she hunts, you might assure her things aren't quite so bad in the 90s. Not quite. Fran Hamerstrom went on to become a world famous biologist who studied grouse, prairie chickens, hawks, owls, and eagles.
Books:
- Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe
- Six Plays by Lillian Hellman
- Sojourner Truth: Ain't I A Woman (Scholastic Biography)
- Special Agent: My Life On the Front Lines As Woman in the FBI
- Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born No. 3 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, Volume #3)
- Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas
- Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
- Teach Yourself Italian Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses)
- Temples of Sound: Inside the Great Recording Studios
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X : As Told to Alex Haley
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