Deep Blue: Stories of Survival

by Nate Hardcastle (editor), Listen & Live Audio (Creator), Patrick O'Brian (Contributor)

For those who dare, things often go wrong under the sea. Such tragedies have been the focus of tremendous literature from the world's finest authors. Deep Blue offers compelling tales of shipwrecks and salvage, nautical survival and cannibalism.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Audiobook

ebook

First published May 10, 2001

Reviews

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uggggggghhh. I really wanted to like this book. However, I think I had a completely different view of what it was going to be about, then what it actually was. It was a compilation of pieces of stories that have to do with Adventures at sea. Some of them a little interesting, but most of them quite dull. I was looking for high adventure, hardcore survival, and I guess mainly true stories of grit and determination. I find it kind of disappointing to have such small clips of books in the way that they were presented. It seemed like once I almost got into a story, the clip was ended, and the next one began. Every section was like an anticipation for when the climax would come, in which it never seemed to do.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat little collection. Made me want to read Treasure Island!!!

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a nonfiction novel, it is an anthology of short snippets of mostly fiction classics that have to do with the sea. It is not what I wanted, I won’t finish it.

[Misty Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needed a short audio book that might appeal to my husband as well. This is what I found...I knew it contained excerpts of classics so I feel like I can't hold that against it? I don't read classics very much and I'd rather listen to an entire book... That being said, I knew what I was getting into..Some stories were easier to get into than others. I borrowed this from my library. We loved the Treasure Island excerpt and want to listen to the whole thing.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audio version has fewer excerpts than the print edition. (I assume this is because of problems securing the audio publication rights to the missing bits. The bits not here tend to be the newer ones.) These classic chapters are good ones, and worth listening to.

[Britt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much that appealed to me. Just excerpts from sea stories, but not the most entertaining stories.

[Patty Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hodgepodge of stories—some fictional, some true of things that happened at sea. Some remarkable, some yawn worthy.

[Loraine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an audio book and I’m not sure if it was the narrator, or the story, or both, but I could not keep listening. Just wasn’t interesting enough.

[David Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good enough to read again. Farley Mowat's part was outstanding as usual.

[Mallory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really what I was expecting, but it allowed me to dabble in a few books I might never pick up otherwise.

[trail_ryder_grrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great classic authors telling tales of shipwrecks to hidden treasures!

[Lugene Lancaster · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this as a book on tape. It was entertaining and for those who love the sea and pirates, this would be for them. I would find this not as exciting to read. The exerpts from other books were too long and at times, tedious. It did give me a taste of "Moby Dick" and "Treasure Island".

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

just ok

[Harriet Lobascio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excerpts from famous sailing ship disasters. Some I had read in high school, but it was good to revisit.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

An anthology that contains interesting bits of (mostly) longer works, Deep Blue left me wishing that I had gone to the sources.

[Terry Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific acting and narration on the first story. Captivating and exciting. The rich writing of the -9th century is such a pleasure.

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

good collection of stories

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just listened to the first story, which is an excerpt from Treasure Island.

[David]

This is a solid book containing selections of older classics as well as what I believe to be the full text of some shorter narratives. I particularly appreciated the revisit to the early chapters of Moby Dick. I didn't read Melville's most known work until my older days but it has been a few years and I have to say I am always surprised by the wit and tenor of Melville's passages. I had no inclination to sitting down to a full reading of the said tomb, having little time for such follies at this juncture in my life, but I found myself very pleased that it was presented here in part. You will also find an excerpt from Treasure Island, the favorite of many a lad and I suspect a reading here may inspire those who have not picked it up to find a copy and finish what is truly a classic. I particularly enjoyed the short story "Philip Ashton's Own Account" the short memoir's of a young man captured by pirates who later escapes and lives for a time on a desert island near Honduras. I have heard this true life tale was the inspiration of subsequent books by Daniel Defoe and having reread Robinson Crusoe more recently really enjoyed reading this tale. It is truly a forgotten piece of history that is worth reading. Some have complained about this book not being as expected, but I feel this is a problem with anthologies in general. I was glad to have read this.