Was browsing through the titles at my local library and came across this one which is when I realized that I had read it way back in 2001-02. Got this when I was a member of a book club.

Junger is a terrific journalist. He writes on a level that you can understand even if you don't know much about the subject at hand. He also is able to present a very balanced look at his subjects. This was most apparent in his joint article on Cyprus. By the time I finished, I was disgusted with both the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots. Neither was willing to budge toward a peaceful solution and the result is complete stasis. It reminded me a lot of our current Congress! All the articles were very informative, but at the same time very accessible. ( )

I was dinking around in my records and discovered I had listened to this book in 2006. For the life of me I don't remember a damn thing about it and can't find any notes (an anomaly) except I marked I had enjoyed it. I'm not sure whether that says more about the book or me. ( )

Not quite as engaging as the Perfect Storm, but well worth the $2.95 I paid for it (gotta love Adelaide STreet sales). An interesting look at the more dangerous occupations around. ( )

There are a couple things I didn't realize when I first picked up this book. One was that I thought this was a story about fires, as the title suggests, or perhaps other natural disasters and although the first two essays are about fires and the people who risk their lives putting them out, this is only a small portion of the book. Another thing I didn't realize was that this is a collection of essays ranging over the years of 1992 to 2001 rather than being one cohesive tale.

I think part of the interest to this book is the author's progression from very green writer who actually went into journalism before having an actual job or credentials to do so, to a semi-seasoned correspondent. I thought that the first essay would be the end for me. Written much like a science textbook, this story of a fire and firefighters was written in a very dry and educational type manner that made my eyes roll back in my head (part of the problem I was never more than a C student in biology was my absolute boredom with the texts.) His second fire essay, written two years later had a more human take that I found to be much more appealing. From here the essays progress in quality and also take on a variety of issues ranging from whaling (from the non-PC whaler's point of view) to the questionable ethics of the diamond trade in Sierra Leone. The majority of the essays cover human conflicts and wars between countries I had previously only heard of in passing.

These stories are not my typical reading fare. I tend to avoid the subjects of politics and religion like the plague and never, ever watch the evening news. Despite my usual aversion, these essays did hold my interest to a point, although they did not do much for my faith in humanity in general. I find it horrifying and troubling that people can do such things to one another.

Taking this book for what it is supposed to be, I think it is well done. However, I don't expect I will go out searching for other essay collections such as this as the format and content didn't really appeal to me. ( )