Principles of gene manipulation: An introduction to genetic engineering (Studies in microbiology)

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great text book to study cloning and genetic engineering

Principles of gene manipulation: An introduction to genetic engineering (Studies in microbiology)
R. W Old
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Genetics | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books
Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
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Recombinant DNA

ASIN: 0520041437

Customer Reviews:

great text book to study cloning and genetic engineering.......2001-03-24

i am doing Ph.D. in molecular biology and this book is very useful in the cloning and genetic engineering portion. i read this book from the library. it is the bible of genetic engineering and great text book for the subject.it gives a comprehensive study with minute details and recent advances. overall worth purchasing.

Principles of Gene Manipulation : An Introduction to Genetic Engineering (Studies in Microbiology, Vol. 2)

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Principles of Gene Manipulation : An Introduction to Genetic Engineering (Studies in Microbiology, Vol. 2)
R. W.; Primrose, S. B. Old
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HN1Z1S

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principles of gene manipulation, an introduction to genetic engineering
s b primrose r w old
Manufacturer: blackwell publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LX2BXK

PRINCIPLES OF GENE MANIPULATION- AN INTRODUCTION TO GENETIC ENGINEERING- 5TH EDITION

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PRINCIPLES OF GENE MANIPULATION- AN INTRODUCTION TO GENETIC ENGINEERING- 5TH EDITION

Manufacturer: Blackwell Scientific Publica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H3XJFI

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Principles of Gene Manipulation. An Introduction to Genetic Engineering.
R. W., & S. B. PRIMROSE. OLD
Manufacturer: Blackwell Scientific
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QV8HTO

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Principles of Gene Manipulation. An Introduction to Genetic Engineering.
R. W., & S. B. PRIMROSE. OLD
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QV9S92

Customer Reviews:

The beauty in all things terrible.......2000-04-06

Charlie Smith is a master wordsmith. With mere words on a page, he is able to do what so many other respected, talented, and successful writers are unable to do: teleport you not just into another place filled with other people, but into an idea. Fifty percent of any Smith book is theme. Just as we spend so much of our day feeling things abstractly, taking in smells that conjure up long lost memories, and existing in what feels sometimes like a void; Charlie Smith unleashes this part of his characters. Will Blake is a Hollywood actor birthing himself out of his existential crisis and can see and finally accept, distantly, the beautiful in the terrible. The end result is sweet, dark, scary, and insightful. I found myself rereading passages just because I wanted to. I began to dream about the people and the cities and the colors of all the flowers that populate Chimney Rock. Its the kind of book that reveals the true power of a gifted writer.

On the other hand, Charlie Smith is not for everyone. Inexperienced readers need not apply. If a good yarn is all your after, have a friend tell you the story. Charlie's prose is difficult. His sentences are long and crooked. They sometimes form into chains that lead to dramatically different places than they began. A man may walk into a restaraunt and say hello to a woman, but her response could occur three pages later with this type of writing. Its lyrical but indirect. Or, direct spiritually, but not narratively. Nonetheless, its the difficult roads that lead to the grandest rewards.

poetic but excessive.......1999-05-29

I have not read any of Charlie Smith's other work, so I can't compare this to previous efforts. His writing is poetic, and truly impressive in short bursts. But over the long haul, the poetry interferes with the prose. Words and phrases seem to be chosen more for their sounds and rhythms than for their contributions to plot, and dialogue can be stilted. Imagery is vivid but occasionally self-indulgent. The storyline is interesting at first but eventually grows gaudy and distasteful. The power of Smith's language is his greatest strength, but it is a strength better suited to poetry than novels.

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Charlie the Chimney Sweep and Sooty
Bruce Peardon
Manufacturer: Leader Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Chimney Rock
Charlie Smith
Manufacturer: HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OL6ZE0

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Chimney Rock
Charlie Smith
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PHJ05Y

Chimney Rock.(Brief Article): An article from: The Review of Contemporary Fiction

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Chimney Rock.(Brief Article): An article from: The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Robert Phillips
Manufacturer: Review of Contemporary Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on March 22, 1994. The length of the article is 522 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Chimney Rock.(Brief Article)
Author: Robert Phillips
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1994
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: v14 Issue: n1 Page: p227(2)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Chimney Charlie (Sparks)
Roy Apps
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

This volume covers the physical characteristics and spectral data of 1500 pentacyclic triterpenes reported until the end of 1990. The compounds are arranged according to their chemical structures in various subclasses, and within each subclass they are arranged in order of increasing molecular weight. The UV, IR, ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR and MS spectral data are given in descending orders of magnitude. All &egr; values in the UV spectra have been converted to log &egr;. The chemical shifts in the ¹H-NMR spectral data are presented in ppm and the chemical shifts in older data published in &tgr; values have been converted to &dgr; values to ensure uniformity of format. Data are also presented, where available, on simple derivatives of the alkaloids. CAS Registry Numbers are also given.

The book is thoroughly indexed, containing a compound index, molecular weight index, molecular formula index, compound type index and plant source index, which should greatly facilitate the task of the reader in searching for individual compounds. A section describing the numbering system concludes the volume. The book will be invaluable for organic chemists, natural product chemists, medicinal chemists and pharmacologists.

Book Description

This book develops the theory of global attractors for a class of parabolic PDEs that includes reaction-diffusion equations and the Navier-Stokes equations, two examples that are treated in detail. A lengthy chapter on Sobolev spaces provides the framework that allows a rigorous treatment of existence and uniqueness of solutions for both linear time-independent problems (Poisson's equation) and the nonlinear evolution equations which generate the infinite-dimensional dynamical systemss of the title. Attention then switches to the global attractor, a finite-dimensional subset of the infinite-dimensional phase space which determines the asymptotic dynamics. In particular, the concluding chapters investigate in what sense the dynamics restricted to the attractor are themselves "finite-dimensional." The book is intended as a didactic text for first year graduates, and assumes only a basic knowledge of Banach and Hilbert spaces, and a working understanding of the Lebesgue integral.

Customer Reviews:

Masters Project.......2007-01-11

I am using this book in filling in the gaps in my knowledge of PDEs for my masters project and it is great. I have to agree with this author that this is a great book for a beginning student in the field. The way the auther builds up the material of functional analysis for the study of PDEs really cleared up a lot for me.

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Damnation Alley
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: A Berkley Medallion Book/ Berkley Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000J1989O

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Not Free SF Reader

Hell Tanner...inspiration for Snake Plissken?

Decent 70's post-apocalyptic novel

Fun Featherweight

good story, classic

Damnation Alley
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: I Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Zelazny, Roger | ( Z ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Amazon.com

You've gotta love to hate the 1977 movie Damnation Alley, a cheese-filled classic from sci-fi's cinematic canon. But there's at least one good thing you can say about this otherwise awful flick: it's prevented the movie's far superior source material from being forgotten. Roger Zelazny's post-apocalypse novel predates the George Peppard-Jan-Michael Vincent vehicle by about a decade and represents the fine storytelling talents of one of science fiction and fantasy's most daring writers (likely best remembered for his imaginative Amber series).

Speaking of vehicles: the coolest part of the movie--and likely, thankfully, the only part most people remember--turns out to be even cooler in the book: the flame-spewing, .50-caliber-bullet-belching, grenade-throwing, gigantic all-terrain vehicle that's responsible for getting a crucial antiserum shipment from Los Angeles to Boston to stop a deadly plague. The driver, a despicable lowlife named Hell Tanner, has been given a not-so-difficult choice. He can either get the drugs to the East Coast intact, save humanity, and receive a full pardon for his crimes, or he can refuse and spend the rest of his life in a "zebra suit." So what's the catch? Thanks to World War III, Middle America is now an electrical-storm-torn, heavily irradiated playground for dino-sized Gila monsters, "freak spiders," humongous bats "that eat off the mutie fruit trees down Mexico way," and 120-foot-long snakes as big around as garbage cans. And the native humans still scrambling around the wasteland aren't much less dangerous.

Damnation Alley might not be Zelazny's best, but for reading on, say, a road trip, you can't do much better. Throw in some '60s-style, freak-out closing riffs, and a trip down the Alley becomes pretty hard to pass up. --Paul Hughes

Book Description

Hell Tanner isn't the sort of guy you'd mistake for a hero: he's a fast-driving car thief, a smuggler, and a stone-cold killer. Facing life in prison for his various crimes, he's given a choice: Rot away his remaining years in a tiny jail cell, or drive cross-country and deliver a case of antiserum to the plague-ridden people of Boston, Massachusetts. The chance of a full pardon does wonders for getting his attention. And don't mistake this mission of mercy for any kind of normal road trip-not when there are radioactive storms, hordes of carnivorous beasts, and giant, mutated scorpions to be found along every deadly mile between Los Angeles and the East Coast. But then, this is no normal part of America, you see. This is Damnation Alley....

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

A post-apocalyptic action story. A criminal is given the standard two choices, really bad things now, or very very possible really bad things later, and, of course, takes the later.

The later in this case is a trip across the country to deliver vital medical supplies. He has a few more problems than the standard cracked by snow and ice cheapish US highways though. In this world, they don't call it Damnation Alley for nothing.

Hell Tanner...inspiration for Snake Plissken?.......2006-01-22

When I read this I was struck by the similarities between the deal offered to Hell Tanner to run the serum thru Damnation Alley to a plague stricken Boston in order to recieve a full pardon for every criminal act he's committed in the Nation of California...hmmm. That sounds alot like the deal offered to Snake Plissken, who seems to share alot of other similarities with Hell Tanner, who admittedly came first in 1969. I have no way of knowing whether or not John Carpenter or Nick Castle read the Zelazny book by the time they wrote Escape from New York but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Being a big fan of Plissken's exploits I can't help but like this pulpy sci fi novel. With a few very slight changes someone could easily adapt this into the 3rd Snake Plissken movie!!!! (Why am I not a Hollywood hot shot with clout, power, influence? Oh yeah, my ambition is handicapped by laziness.)

There is nothing on earth that could make the awful 1977 film adaptation worthwile. It has about zero to do with the book, which is filled with great twisted post-apocalyptic imagery: giant bats and scorpions and other fantastic beasties and tornado winds whipping great hunks of concrete and other unhealthy materials thru the malestrom that is "the Alley." And the Land-Master that Tanner drives is super-cool in a James Bond/Speed Racer way; it has flame throwers and grenade launchers and all sorts of buzz saw hub cap weapons.Very cool.

Decent 70's post-apocalyptic novel.......2005-09-23

Being a fan of the movie, the novel was eagerly read- Good storyline,but a little anticlimatic and muddled twoards the end. Still, I recommended it as a good read.

Fun Featherweight.......2004-03-30

Well, this one was a fun, quick read, but kind of dissapointing, really. I mean, I expected a bit more. Instead I got drive a little fight a giant mutant bug, drive some more and fight more mutant critters, drive some more and... you get the picture, but it was still fun.

good story, classic.......2004-03-01

I read this book after watching the movie as a kid, and reading all the bad reviews. I have to say I quite liked it, the character is much different than george peppard in the movie and I like the spiffy new cover.

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DAMNATION ALLEY
ROGER ZELAZNY
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0425018466

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Damnation Alley
Zelazny Roger
Manufacturer: Berkley Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000MFPQ16

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DAMNATION ALLEY
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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DAMNATION ALLEY

Manufacturer: Berkley Medallion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HR177G

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Damnation Alley
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: G. P. Putnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O7ZJJG

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Damnation Alley
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K0DU84

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Damnation Alley

Manufacturer: Sphere
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000G9Q7VG

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Damnation alley
Roger Zelazny
Manufacturer: Putnam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000BKTC30

Product Description

1st edition. Original copy.

Average customer rating:

More than just a magic read...

Great piece of investigative journalism that gives you a real flavor of early 20th century America

Transport You Back to Another America - Amazing Research

The True Story Told Finally and Faithfully

the magician and the cardsharp

The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist
Karl Johnson
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear

ASIN: 0805074066
Release Date: 2005-07-14

Book Description

t has the nostalgic quality of an old-fashioned fable, but Karl Johnson's The Magician and the Cardsharp is a true story that lovingly re-creates the sparkle of a vanished world. Here, set against the backdrop of America struggling through the Depression, is the world of magic, a realm of stars, sleight of hand, and sin where dreams could be realized-or stolen away. Following the Crash of '29, Dai Vernon, known by magicians as 'the man who fooled Houdini,' is tramping down Midwestern backroads, barely making ends meet. While swapping secrets with a Mexican gambler, he hears of a guy he doesn't quite believe is real-a legendary mystery man who deals perfectly from the center of the deck and who locals call the greatest cardsharp of all time. Determined to find the reclusive genius, Vernon sets out on a journey through America's shady, slick, and sinful side-from mob-run Kansas City through railroad towns that looked sleepy only in the daytime. Does he find the sharp?

Customer Reviews:

More than just a magic read..........2007-08-01

This book goes far beyond most biographical treatments that you see in the field of magic. Yes, it talks about Vernon and his search for Bill Kennedy, and yes, it delves into the magic that they shared (although it was not magic to Kennedy; it was a way of making a living). "Magician and the Cardsharp" reads more like time travel. Johnson superbly takes you back into the past, and gives you a true "you are there" feeling. It reads like a novel, and that is an excellent thing...because you find yourself caring about the characters and seeing how they relate to their surroundings. Superb book; highest recommendation, even if you don't care about magic at all.

Great piece of investigative journalism that gives you a real flavor of early 20th century America .......2006-12-05

This is the story of how one of the century's greatest magicians tracked down a gambler who could do what most slight-of-hand artists only dreamed about: deal cards from the center of the deck. This move, the "holy grail" of card manipulation is really just little more than the MacGuffin in this intriguing page-turner of a story.

Even if you are not the slightest bit interested in magic, card tricks or gambling, this is a fascinating read.

You will be transported to the first third of the 20th century into a story full of memorable and colorful characters. Johnson's attention to detail and the thoroughness of his investigation is nothing short of miraculous.

One of the most purely entertaining books I've read in quite some time.

Transport You Back to Another America - Amazing Research.......2006-02-13

For budding and practicing magicians who love history about their art - hard to go wrong in reading and absorbing this book throughly.

For general readers (like myself) - you can appreciate this book two ways, it's an amazing transport back to another America. Back to a time of riverboat gamblers, railroad card sharps, prohibitions, etc, etc ... and the author's journey in tracing and tracking the whereabouts of a near mythical card trick. You learn about an amazing sub-culture that most of us were vaguely aware of and you learn about the daily lives of magicians and card sharps back in the day.

The other thing you learn to really appreciate and marvel at is that in case you thought non-fiction writers were all lazy (or liars these days :-), Karl Johnson proves them wrong. He literally leaves no stone unturned. If someone remarks that he met so and so on a rainy day. Karl went back and unearthed the meteorological from at least two newspaper to verify if that memory rings true ... and by doing so, he paints a very detailed picture of these small towns (and some not so small) and life in America in the years prior to WWII.

So, even if you're just mildly interested in card tricks or magic, the author has woven a very intricate journey of an interesting subculture and portraits of daily small town America in the 1920's and 1930's that's interesting in itself. Afterwards, you almost feel the need to dust yourself off from the Kansas winds ...

The only people who might be disappointed in this book are people who are looking for card trick tips how to. This is not that kind of book - this book literally shows you that the journey is the reward.

The True Story Told Finally and Faithfully.......2005-12-16

We just finished reading The Magician and the Cardsharp by Karl Johnson and are blown away.

If you do not already have this book, get it. Mr. Johnson tells the story of Dai Vernon's hunt for the middle-deal with such excitement, detail, and interest; you would swear he was a magician.

He's not one of us but he is the next best thing; a career journalist who knows how to write a good detective story.

The story of Dai Vernon's pursuit of what many considered a myth - the center deal - is well-known to most magicians (or at least the ones as old as us).

Some magicians assumed Mr. Vernon fabricated the entire story. There is no such thing as undetectable middle-deal, they grumble. And even if there was, no card mechanic would or could ever use it in a real game.

Tony Giorgio's writings against the myth of the center deal has been addressed several times on the Inside Magic web site. We see no need to go into it again other than to suggest this book supports a loud "told you so."

It is difficult to write a book about magic. We've all read the horrible efforts of non-magicians who either describe effects impossible to perform, or expose effects we depend on for our sustenance.

Jim Steinmeyer's approach to writing about the history of our great art deserves praise. We don't believe he unnecessarily exposes magic secrets in his writings.

We thought his balance was perfect in his two latest books: the recently released The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer" and the incredible Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear.

Some may agree with us, some will not.

As much as we loved Mr. Steinmeyer's work -- and we really do -- Mr. Johnson's book on Dai Vernon's hunt for the mythical move surpasses all we've read.

Mr. Johnson's works real magic in his descriptions of the hunt for Allen Kennedy - the card mechanic - and the move magicians either dismissed as impossible to perfect, or irrelevant for a true gambler.

We read Jamy Ian Swiss' review of the book in one of our favorite magic magazines before we picked it up.

Mr. Swiss certainly knows his way around a deck of cards and knows what is possible. Mr. Swiss makes a convincing case that a gambler would learn to perfect the center deal despite the fact that it had limited (or according to Mr. Giorgio no) value in a real card game.

By the way, is it just us, or is Jamy Ian Swiss one of the best writers in our business? The guy is good. In fact, we think he's a gooder writer than us any day.

Some have asked, why would any mechanic take the time necessary to perfect a move that promised no advantage in a card game?

After all, assuming there is a stack you would like to use or preserve, you most certainly would not put the stack approximately in the center of the deck.

Remember, in a card game there would be a cut required after shuffling. The cut would certainly change the order of the bottom or top stack but and certainly not in a predictable sequence.

("Trust everyone but always cut the cards")

The book makes it clear the center deal can be done. Mr. Johnson points out, however, Mr. Vernon dedicated approximately two-years of daily practice to effectively present it.

Let's assume for the sake of argument Mr. Swiss and Mr. Vernon's skills with a deck of cards exceeds the average internet magic blog editor. If it would take them two years of daily practice to perfect the move for use in a magic trick, why would a gambler spend the time to learn the move or ever use it in a game when his moves are being burned by fellow gamers?

This is essentially Mr. Giorgio's point.

The Magician and the Cardsharp convincingly answers this question. We don't want to ruin the incredible drama of Mr. Vernon and Mr. Kennedy's meeting -- but we are sorely tempted because it is such great literature. You'll need to pick-up the book for yourself and read about the encounter. We think it is almost more exhilarating than the story of how Mr. Vernon finally located the card shark.

One of our favorite scenes leading up to the meeting with Mr. Kennedy, has Mr. Vernon and Charlie Miller meeting the underworld boss of the greater Kansas City area.

We never thought of Mr. Miller as being anything other than one of the very elite, cool members of the Dai Vernon mafia. His skills were legendary. But he had to start somewhere and the description of his first undercover test is hysterical and human.

We don't want to disclose too much. But at the same time, we're aching to tell. It's a great moment.

Please buy the book. Read it, buy copies for your magic and non-magic friends. This is a great story and as such transcends the traditional limitations of genre.

(...)

the magician and the cardsharp.......2005-10-09

A book not for everyone, but well written about subjects I rarely am interested in...magic and gambling. True life, the dark side of small towns and of common folks drawn in.

The Magician and the Cardsharp : The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist (Card Sharp)

Average customer rating:

The Magician and the Cardsharp : The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist (Card Sharp)

Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Company / Metropolitan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I2GPHM

Customer Reviews:

Major Dave Crowe.......2001-02-08

Much needed corrective to the overhyped and overblown theories about Blitzkrieg. As brilliant as the German operational plan was, Colonel Doughty does a remarkable job in showing that only hard fighting by well-trained infantry and engineers at the sharp end allowed the plan to bear fruit. A great cautionary script for anyone tempted to put all their eggs in either the maneuver or firepower baskets exclusively.

The nut in the nutshell; crux of the matter.......1998-10-25

Colonel Doughty has gone where no one has before; the company-size struggle for the Marfee Heights. While E. Store's 1PZ gives a good timeline and points of reference, Doughty describes each block- house. The French officers are named, either in their infamy or heroic efforts.

On a broader scale, Doughty compares doctrines. "Combat-activness" is examined as a motivator in small-level combat; the place that wars are really won.

Book Description

A gripping account of the disastrous Russian submarine explosion that killed the entire crew, devastated the Russian people, and defined Vladimir Putin's post–Cold War regime.

What were Russian officials thinking when they waited 48 hours to acknowledge their most prized submarine was in trouble? Why did they track the desperate tappings of an unknown number of trapped sailors without sending an international SOS? Why did they repeatedly decline international rescue offers while their own rescue equipment repeatedly failed to make any progress?

To a world community still mystified by deadly Russian deceits surrounding the Kursk submarine disaster, Ramsey Flynn's book uncovers the truth once and for all. Cry from the Deep has quickly become the definitive account of this pivotal moment in modern Russian history, as an angry Russian people – aided and abetted by a fledging independent media – openly clashed with Vladimir Putin and his new government's Soviet–era tactics of secrecy and deception.

Flynn's searing narrative also documents how western officials, in a practiced silence reminiscent of the Cold War era failed to notify their post–Soviet counterparts of the disaster, despite learning of the explosion hours before the Russians did.

Customer Reviews:

A "Real" submarine story.......2007-01-11

As a retired submariner, I found this tale fascinating in detail and technical content. It clearly shows how a disaster can result from cascading events which culminate in the deaths of many brave men. I cannot evaluate how somebody with submarine experience might receive the same impressions I did but it was a "could not put down" experience for me.

A riveting moment-by-moment re-enactment of the sinking of the Soviet sub Kursk .......2006-03-04

For a riveting moment-by-moment re-enactment of the sinking of the Soviet sub Kursk and its dramatic rescue, don't miss Cry From The Deep: The Sinking Of The Kursk, The Submarine Disaster That Riveted The World And Put The New Russia To The Ultimate Test. In 2000 the giant nuclear sub sank and over a hundred men struggled to survive as the Russian Navy failed to acknowledge their plight. The Russian government rebuffed attempts at rescue and this account reveals the deceptions and conspiracies which revolved around the disaster.

Exploring the personal and institutional aspects of a tragedy.......2006-03-04

n mid-August 2000 much of the world riveted its attention on the Barents Sea as reports came in of the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk. How did this happen? Were there survivors? Ramsey Flynn, an award-winning magazine journalist, was so drawn in that he knew he had to write about it.

Some 75 days later, Flynn set foot in Russia for the first time in his life. Four more trips, some three and a half years, and more than 300 interviews later, he completed work for Cry from the Deep, a worthy addition to the English-language books that examine the tragedy.

Recently released in paperback, the book is an absorbing look at the calamity from both a personal and institutional perspective. The personal takes the reader not only aboard the Kursk and other military vessels but also into the lives and families of several of the 118 sailors who perished. The institutional looks at how the Russian leadership responded - or failed to respond - and how remnants of Cold War mentality contributed to delays in offers to help from NATO countries and acceptance of those offers.

Flynn begins the story largely from the personal aspect. We learn not only about the commander of the submarine but particularly three close friends, two of whom were among the 23 sailors who survived long enough to seek refuge in the rearmost compartment of the submarine. Using interviews and access to a variety of documents, Flynn takes us inside the families and the submarine up to and immediately after the explosion that led to the Kursk's demise. With his examination of that explosion, Flynn rebuffs claims that the Kursk sank because it was struck by a western submarine. He contends the evidence is clear that a torpedo fueled by high-test hydrogen peroxide exploded in the torpedo room, killing or stunning everyone in the adjacent control compartment and sparking a fire that caused other warheads to explode with even greater force just more than two minutes later.

Yet while Flynn has the reader accompany the 23 men to their final refuge, he does not delve into how long they survived. Initial reports were that pounding could be heard coming from the submarine for several days. Some attributed it to the survivors banging out distress signals on the hull, others to other devices on the sub. However, once Flynn puts us with the 23 sailors in that last compartment, he moves the focus to the rescue efforts and the institutional aspect of the tragedy.

Flynn lays out a variety of reasons for the lengthy delay in rescue efforts. Part is attributable to financial problems in the Russian military. Part is attributable to simple disbelief. Part is attributable to remnants of Cold War mentality. The last is even reflected in the American response. Flynn explores how the U.S. learned about the event long before even Russian President Vladimir Putin did and why U.S. government officials did not contact Putin or other Russian authorities. He also traces not only the rescue efforts, but the subsequent recovery of the bodies in that last compartment, the ultimate raising of most of the submarine more than a year later, the recovery of additional bodies from it, and the reactions of and impact upon the families and the Russian nation.

Examining the bureaucracy and levels of officialdom that contributed to the delay in rescue and recovery efforts could easily become plodding. Yet Flynn's crisp writing keeps the reader interested. While the main focus of the last half of the book is on the rescue and recovery efforts, Cry from the Deep always keeps in mind that this really boils down to a tragic story about real people.

Cry from the Deep : The Submarine Disaster That Riveted the World and Put the New Russia to the Ultimate Test

Average customer rating:

Gripping Story of Tragic Sea Disaster
A pedestrian, but readable, account of a momentous event.
Satisfying story of sad search for smashed submarine
How Big Organizations Work.

Cry from the Deep : The Submarine Disaster That Riveted the World and Put the New Russia to the Ultimate Test

Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000ENBQSS

Customer Reviews:

Gripping Story of Tragic Sea Disaster.......2005-12-26

As I suspect many people can, I recall learning of the downed Russian submarine, the Kursk, in August 2000, and following the efforts of the Russians to recover any survivors from the wreck, as well as the tragic discovery after a week that none of the crew remained alive. Ramsey Flynn's account of the disaster, coupled with an analysis of the responses to the disaster by both the Russian and American governments, makes for a gripping tale that at once informs and saddens the reader.

The sadness is natural regardless of what the book might say, for the story of the Kursk is the story of the deaths of 118 sailors in the icy waters of the Barents Sea. The story is made far sadder, however, by the revelations provided by Flynn. At the same time, the depth and breadth of information the book provides the reader is a great value in understanding not only the particulars of this specific disaster, but just how risky military service remains even in peace time in the 21st century.

Flynn's prose may not be soaring, but it is quite sufficient to the story, and I found myself almost unable to put the book down as I followed the twists and turns of the story. The failures of the Russian navy and the Russian government to react promptly and effectively to the disaster are chilling reminders of how Russian history taints its ability to make a true transition to a free society. And the actions taken by the American government as they learned of the disaster, while understandable, provide a harsh lesson in the calculus of international relations. It's quite likely that, no matter what the U.S. government had done in response to the disaster, the results would have been the same. But if there was a chance for the doomed sailors of the Kursk, the actions of both the Russian and American governments helped to ensure that chance faded quickly.

My one complaint with the book is that, for all its information, the book never appears to answer one vital question: for how long were the sailors of the Kursk still alive in the crippled submarine? Flynn clearly wants to place some of the blame for the lost sailors on the slow reactions of foreign governments to the disaster (although that reaction was in large part predicated on the failure of the Russian government to tell the world what had happened), but without knowing how long the sailors remained alive, it is impossible to know if an immediate response on the part of the west might have made a difference. It's likely that nobody actually knows precisely how long the sailors survived after the explosions that crippled the sub, but spelling that out a bit more clearly would have helped immensely in interpreting the meaning of various delays.

Flynn's decision to tie the Kursk disaster to the larger question of precisely where Russia appears to be heading in the 21st century is a good one, and it adds some good relevancy to the work. (Although I am of the opinion that simply telling the story of the disaster would provide an adequately gripping tale.) The future of Russia remains very much up in the air, as their transition to democracy appears to have stalled in large part thanks to cultural conditions in Russia very different than those western audiences may take for granted. Flynn rightly leaves those questions to be answered in the future, but the signs he has identified through his work are discouraging at best.

A pedestrian, but readable, account of a momentous event........2005-04-25

Ramsey Flynn has performed a heroic task in researching the disaster that befell the Russian submarine Kursk. The Russians, clearly, are still not entirely forthcoming about all the events that led to the explosion of a torpedo inside the sub and the horrifying efforts of the Russian navy to first ignore the disaster, then its inadequate rescue efforts and the final attempts to blame the disaster on other nations.

Flynn explains every important element of the disaster in considerable detail --- and that is unfortunate because Flynn's writing is a bit pedestrian. While Flynn never leaves the reader wanting for information, he sometimes becomes boring.

Ultimately "Cry From The Deep" is readable and highly informative. You may just find yourself having to approach this book a bit at a time, lest Flynn's writing style cause to you to lose focus.

Jerry

Satisfying story of sad search for smashed submarine.......2005-04-04

In August 2000, a Russian sub goes mssing. The Russian authorities delay the news and, when they say anything at all, first want to blame an unspecified American sub for causing the demise of the Kursk. Cooler minds and a more open Russian press prevail, and the truth leaks out. A thorough, impressive work, "Cry" represents an excellent piece of investigative journalism, pushing aside the misguided "collision" theories and illustrating the demise of the Russian military.

Although long-time enemies of the Russians, American, Norwegian or British rescue craft and experts volunteered to try and could have perhaps saved lives after a low-quality, high-risk torpedo exploded inside the Kursk's hull during a training mission. But it was not to be. Old habits die slowly and the stubborn, proud, resentful Russians would rather be dead than helped. The result was even greater embarrassment, in addition to the sad deaths of the crew that survived the initial blast.

No one in the Russian naval, or political hierarchy comes off well in this story. The harsh truth is that Russia tried to maintain a world-class military appearence using dated and rusty methods, including unserviced supply cranes for loading torpedoes and a torpedo that -- although an $11,000 "bargain" when compared with America's million-dollar torpedoes -- was more likely to destroy its launch ship. And that is just what happened.

The real pity must go out to the patriotic, well-intentioned yet poorly trained and equipped sailors of a decaying naval power. And not only the determined sailors, their parents, wives, brothers and sisters, and children all deserve our prayers and our sympathy.

Ramsey Flynn jumped on the story early and had to deal with tremendous obstacles of technology, geography, politics, culture and language to piece together a true multi-cultural experience and a story that speaks for the tenuous nature of Russian-American relations today. He did a fine job. Maps, details, notes, photos and extensive notes document all the sordid details.

Let's hope we learned something from out mistakes, for the sake of our children and the memories of these heroic victims of a corrupt, disingenuous system.

How Big Organizations Work........2004-12-03

Submarine disasters usually happen like the rest of the things about subs, alone, silent and deadly. Of the 52 boats lost during WWII, some are still unaccounted for, just not yet returned from patrol. With the Kursk, we know what happened. Experimental hydrogen peroxide powered torpedoes exploded inside the boat. (Strangely enough it appears that the American submarine Scorpion sank in 1968 because of a fire in their torpedos.)

The main part of this book, however, is not on what happened to the Kursk. It is on what happened afterward. The coverups by the Russian military and Government. The less than stellar performance of the American and British navies in delaying the offer of help.

This part of the book is extensively researched. It's tragic, but unfortunately the way of the world. People don't want to tell their managers bad news.

I've got to add that at least one wit has come up with another answer, it was Microsoft Windows XP. See: peter-marina.com/kursk.html

Book Description

"Water in the West" offers a lively primer on the region's most precious and scarce resource. This volume collects the best reporting on the subject, drawn from the pages of "High Country News," the newspaper that has set the standard for coverage of environmental issues in the West.

Beginning with an exhilarating account of the 1983 Colorado River floods that almost destroyed Glen Canyon Dam through recent articles tracking the water quests of Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, and Tuscon, the book provides compelling perspectives on the issues and controversies that have roiled water politics in the West over the past two decades. The tensions between the need for water in this vast, arid region and society's demands that rivers and their fish and wildlife be restored to health are explored in chapters on the Northwest salmon crisis, Glen Canyon Dam, federal and urban water projects, Native American water rights, water quality, wilderness water rights, watershed restoration, and water management.

The contributors--among them water attorney and author Charles Wilkinson, environmental historian Hal Rothman, and "High Country News" publisher Ed Marston, as well as many of the West's finest environmental journalists--offer lively, human portrayals of conflicts over water issues. Together, their articles bring a refreshing focus and clarity to the West's most complex and contentious environmental issue.

Customer Reviews:

One Tall Drink of Water.......2000-08-22

After living in the West for four years there were two things I could count on above all else. First, the issue of water in the West. It is a given that everyone, and I mean everyone, has a strong opinion on water, or more aptly, the lack thereof, and what to do about it. Second, the consistently high quality of a publication known as the High Country News which is published in Paonia, Colorado. Thus, you can imagine my delight in receiving a copy of this book dealing with Water in the West and containing articles written by contributors to High Country News over the past fifteen years. It's kind of like getting a two-for-one deal. And what a deal it is. For anyone remotely interested in the history and current status of what editor Char Miller rightly calls the West's most precious resource, water, this book is indispensable reading. The list of contributing scholars and journalist is impressive and provides the reader with insightful analysis and historical context that is rare in this age of mass-produced trivia. My favorite chapter is titled "Taming Glen Canyon Dam" and contains an article on how, in 1993, the Colorado river almost reclaimed Glen Canyon Dam and accomplished what Edward Abbey and a host of activists have struggled to do since 1963. The entire contentious issue of Glen Canyon Dam is covered in a balanced manner and worthy of the reader's time. Ah, but there is more, much more. Come go with me to visit the Northwest and read of the Salmon Crisis; the proposal to tear down eighteen dams; and a plan to unleash the Snake River. From there we will travel to Arizona and Utah to learn of the follies and successes of the Central Arizona and Central Utah Projects. These Federal water projects are your tax dollars at work. From the deserts of Arizona and Utah we will go to Denver and Las Vegas and see what the urban areas of the west have in mind for the limited amount of water available. The chapter on Native American Water Issues is refreshing in that, for once, we learn that the Indians have won some court battles that have the effect of giving them back that which was, you guessed it, taken from them in the first place. Take all of this and wrap it up with chapters on Watershed Restoration and Water Allocation and Management, plus a comprehensive introductorly overview, and you have a wonderful primer on Water in the West. This book is one tall drink of water. Oregon State University Press and High Country News are to be commended for making it available to all of those that care about this precious resource.

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