Robert Kurson

The Space Race of the long 1960s (late ‘50s through the early ‘70s) reached its climax with the Apollo 11 Moom landing in July 1969. This is rightly seen as the greatest achievement in scene and technology of all time. However, over the last few years, as the memory and recognition of that great event has faded, another space mission has taken its place alongside Apollo 11.

In December 1968 the Apollo 8 mission sent three men to orbit the Moon. This was an adventure of firsts: the first show more use of the Saturn V rocket; the fastest that men had ever travelled; the furthest that men had ever gone in space; the first time that men had left the grip of Earth’s gravity; and so on.

Apart from the technical achievements, this was the mission that kick started the whole environmental movement. By taking the famous Earthrise photograph showing the blue/white/brown Earth as a small ball hanging in space, some much needed perspective was placed on the human place in the universe.

I thought I knew a fair amount about the Apollo 8 mission, but there was new information, new perspectives and new meaning revealed on almost every page of this book. Written in a pacy, accessible style Kurson has opened up this historical event in a way not seen before. His access to the key participants has ensured a you-are-there essence to the whole enterprise.

Not just for space nerds, this book shows how a society can affect and be affected by an expedition and how brave men react under extreme pressure. show less

Imagine you are deep sea diving to a shipwreck over 200 feet below the surface, swimming inside, disturbing the surrounding silt such that visibility becomes nil, and having to find your way back out. And, oh, by the way, the ship is angled or sideways or upside down, with wires dangling down and debris sticking out. Your body is building up narcosis so your brain and extremities are functioning much slower than normal. This is the stuff of nightmares to me, but it is what these divers faced show more in trying to identify the sunken U-boat they had discovered. This book contains plenty of adventure, exploration, historical research, and mystery. I found the first half of this book fascinating. I think it is difficult to make historical research particularly interesting, and the second half slowed down considerably. Other than this minor issue, I was riveted. Recommended to those interested in non-fiction, WWII, slowly-building mysteries, exploration, maritime history and deep sea diving. Contains a great deal of crude language which may be offensive to some. show less

A group of deep sea wreck divers take a chance and go out to coordinates given to Captain Bill Nagle to see if they can discover an unknown shipwreck off the coast of New Jersey. What they find is a U-boat, at a depth of 230 feet, where only the best deep sea divers can get to, and even that at very high risk. Kurson recounts the story of the U-boat's discovery and the quest of the divers - particularly John Chatterton and Richie Kohler - to uncover the identity of the U-boat that, according show more to known history, shouldn't be anywhere near where it is.

Kurson's debut is compelling narrative nonfiction. He balances the story of the U-boat's discovery and the dives with background information about the divers, details about deep sea diving and its dangers, and the research quests that Chatterton and Kohler go on. The U-boat discovery happened in 1991, so their research meant writing letters and going to the naval and national archives to look at original accounts of World War 2. Chatterton and Kohler also came from different schools of diving - Kohler enjoyed getting artifacts from wrecks, and to Chatterton that wasn't the main point - and started out as enemies, but over the course of the book you see that shift to mutual respect that eventually deepened into true friendship. I personally would have liked to know more about some of the other divers, such as the one female diver who came with them and barely makes an appearance other than when another diver jokingly asks her to get coffee. But I also can't fault Kurson for focusing on what interested him, and crafting a detailed, thoroughly enjoyable story from it. show less

A well-told real-life adventure. Two partners, the deep-sea divers, John Chatterton and John Mattera, are contacted by Tracy Bowden, a nautical archaeologist, to look for pirate Joseph Bannister's ship, the Golden Fleece. They're asked to dive where the vessel had been sunk by the Royal Navy (1685) in the Samana Bay waters of the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic. This is a story rich with details of underwater archaeology and the golden-age of piracy, 1650 to 1720, and it moves show more like a page-turning piece of fiction. Both partners, Chatterton and Mattera, have separate fascinating back stories, and presenting those in the middle of the book absolutely keeps this well-paced tale buoyant. It just never sinks. Amid all the salvor team's obstacles and setbacks, the hunt, not so much for treasure, and more for the team's personal challenge and thrill of finding Bannister's sunken ship, compels any and all arm-chair adventurers to keep reading on till the very end. Which holds a interesting touch of irony. There are also great illustrations, maps, pictures of places and people--unfortunately none of the intriguing pirate Joseph Bannister-- and all of these extras are neatly packaged within. With perseverance as its takeaway, PIRATE HUNTERS is a truly inspirational read. show less