Pecked to Death by Ducks

So I picked this book thinking its about living on a farm. Its not. Its really a compilation of articles that the author wrote for various magazines and journals. I totally enjoyed. The first story, Kuwait is Burning: A Postcard From the Apocalypse, is a story that really got to me - the sardonic voice of Cahill, as he searches for a bit of adventure in burning Kuwait immediately after the Gulf War - was a perfect mix of brutal imagery with humor. Other stories were more on the side of adventure.

Cahill went to a lot of exotic places in his time - from reporting on contradictory reports of a program to increase the population of highly endangered Giant Clams in the Pacific (Spoiler: The reports from the non-native science experts were show more wrong), to taking two newbie climbers up a mountain in western USA, each story is really well written and insightful.

A few stories were not as good, but that always happens in an anthology and should be expected. Also, the book was written in 1993, but didn't feel dated.

Highly recommended, especially the story "Bear in Mind", where the author falls asleep watching Grizzlies... show less

In fairness, I only read a few stories in this book. It's a collection of short stories from all over the world, the author present in all of them. The stories are fine but I can't seem to get into it. Perhaps I'm simply in novel mode right now. The stories are adventures, for the most part.

The broad categories in the book, per the contents page, are: The Unnatural World, Tooth and claw, The Natural World, Other People's Lives, Risk. I'm ready to move on to a novel and am passing this book along to a relative. I believe some of you would enjoy this more than I am at present, and that I might enjoy it more at another time.

sadly, the ducks got him