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by: Sebastian Junger
List Price: $13.95Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 974.45
EAN: 9780061148460
ISBN: 0061148466
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: April 01, 2007
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: April 03, 2007
Sales Rank: 41743
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
October 1991. It was 'the perfect storm'—a tempest that may happen only once in a century—a nor'easter created by so rare a combination of factors that it could not possibly have been worse. Creating waves ten stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour, the storm whipped the sea to inconceivable levels few people on earth have ever witnessed. Few, except the six-man crew of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing boat tragically headed toward the storm's hellish center.
Amazon.com:
Meteorologists called the storm that hit North America's eastern seaboard in October 1991 a 'perfect storm' because of the rare combination of factors that created it. For everyone else, it was perfect hell. In The Perfect Storm, author Sebastian Junger conjures for the reader the meteorological conditions that created the 'storm of the century' and the impact the storm had on many of the people caught in it. Chief among these are the six crew members of the swordfish boat the Andrea Gail, all of whom were lost 500 miles from home beneath roiling seas and high waves. Working from published material, radio dialogues, eyewitness accounts, and the experiences of people who have survived similar events, Junger attempts to re-create the last moments of the Andrea Gail as well as the perilous high-seas rescues of other victims of the storm.
Like a Greek drama, The Perfect Storm builds slowly and inexorably to its tragic climax. The book weaves the history of the fishing industry and the science of predicting storms into the quotidian lives of those aboard the Andrea Gail and of others who would soon find themselves in the fury of the storm. Junger does a remarkable job of explaining a convergence of meteorological and human events in terms that make them both comprehensible and unforgettable.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Unsentimental Inexorable Factual
The book ably reconstructs the terrifying facts, feelings and tragedy of the fishing boat Andrea Gail and her six-man crew, which disappeared during a killing storm of mythic proportions. Tragically, the bodies were never found, so nobody survived to tell the story. The book weaves a compelling patchwork around the sinking itself--the ship's colourful crew, their manic drives, lives and backgrounds. There are fascinating details of meterology, navigation and commercial fishing. We peer into the physics ... Read More
Rating:  - The Perfect Storm
This book is very vivid in its descriptions of the storm and the activities leading up to it. The author has done an excellent job of making the reader feel that he/she is involved in the action. Very exciting and emotional read.
Rating: - The Storm Of The Century and the people caught up in it. An education
I watched the movie of this book before I read the book itself, and I have to say that the movie has taken some liberties with the story and the book is still better than the movie despite its great storm special effects. Nobody can say exactly what happened to the swordboat Andrea Gail but this book does a credible job of describing what probably happened based on knowledge of swordfish fishermen, the fishing industry, the ocean, storm behaviour and the rescue services involved.
Having read ... Read More
Rating: - Hurricane Gloria
This book is amazing. Sebastian Junger went to a great deal of effort to write this book. It is historically accurate and all people and places are real. The only piece I have trouble with is after Andrea Gail is no longer heard from. Anything regarding what happened on the boat after that is guessing even if it is fairly accurate. The actual name of the storm was Hurricane Gloria and to those of us who lived through it it makes more sense to think of it that way.
Rating: - But you already saw the movie...
Well that is what I thought too, but decided to read this on a trip and found it hard to put down. First, much of the movie and book (the part about what happened on the boat) is pure speculation, but it is the other parts of the book (not in the movie) that made the book so good.
Mr. Junger did a great job educating the lay person on the rigors of being a swordsmen, the rigors of working in the northern Atlantic and (the part I found most interesting in the book) the challenges faced by the ... Read More
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