Book is better than the haircut!

[David Whettingsteel]

Knocked off another Joe book, so thought I would describe my reaction to it before I forget it.

Before starting it, I noticed the reviews on the back cover told me that “the major theme is the nature of aggression” and it offers a “unique re-interpretation of masculinity”. This got me worried! Fortunately I found it another classic Joe style book mixing adventure and experiences with musings, reflections and different slants on events. Top stuff. My overall impression, having just read Games of Ghosts, is that this is the book where all the bad stuff happens to other people rather than Joe! And I mean civilizations, as well as individuals. He comes out pretty unscathed from this one.

Some of my favorite pieces were the encounter with the skinhead in the pub, that was a classic and I love the way Joe gets inside the ‘flight or fight’ thing. I have always been a flighter and only a fighter when all other options have expired. But I always have this guilt that I should have stuck up for myself, or taken on the idiot regardless of personal danger.

The gym bit was a bit of a surprise as well. I hadn’t really imagined him as Gym Rat. I hate the places, and only go there when doing injury rehab type stuff and am always stunned at how blatantly sexual some girls kit is. How can you not stare?

In the mountains, the ghosts of Yungay was an incredible tale, both for the inexplicably supernatural voices and incomprehensible tragedy that befell the town. Joe seems to have a high level of sensitivity to what is happening around him compared to most, and he seems to have tuned into something beyond any of my experiences there.

My final observation, is that a guy who states he ‘does not understand children’ takes some damm fine pictures of the little buggers and shows a high degree of compassion for them in his stories…. Not wanting your own is completely understandable, but I think he maybe enjoys them a bit more than the statement suggests.

So, I had a great read, felt inspired and thoughtful, want to read it again, hit the mountains, live life 100%. Good value. Thanks Joe.

Now if I get stuck into Dark Shadows Falling over Easter, I can move on!

Cheers

Dave

[alibali]

No sorry David, once you've read them all, you want to read them all again! Except I cant start again cos my friend is still holding onto This Game of Ghosts cos she cant get past the first few chapters.... Grrrrrrrr.... No, I have really been reading other books as well!

Ali

[ClaireW]

I thought the description of gym going was very funny. It made me laugh out loud when I read it. I don't know what kind of gym he goes to though, cos mine doesn't have scantily clad women. All the women I've ever seen in there are very sensibly dressed.

[Bellil]

Read this one last (almost missed it altogether) and was totally amazed at all the disparate themes he could weave together. The horrors that I had little idea about I added to the list of unending atrocities we seem to be able to inflict on our fellow man. I find it strange that in every culture, we value family, faith and community, yet those values are wiped away by a totally opposite need of certain types to dominate.

I think the stuff that really hit closest to home was the visit to Yungay. I was living in Vancouver, B.C. when Mt. St. Helens erupted. I was spared the devastation, but saw the plume, got the tv live shots, the cams of ppl on the mountain at the time who didn't make it, and survivor stories. The unbelievable destruction and enormity of nature's power and our insignificance really hit home.

Another mindbender Joe....





The only thing standing between me and total happiness is reality - Douglas Porter

[Deeblebeeble]

Bellil,
I wrote about my experience with Mt St Helens a while back in the "Just Jump In", thread but had no response. I haven't read the Storms of Silence yet, but now I'm intrigued to do so. I vaguely remember hearing of the earthquake and subsequent avalanche in Yungay (wasn’t it in the 70s?), but I agree with you in that the enormity of nature’s tragedies can have devastating consequences.

I lived in Pullman at the time, but when Mt St Helens erupted, I was camping in Idaho and the smoke plume traveled all the way over there. We heard on the radio of the eruption but never dreamed we'd be affected by it in the eastern Washington/Idaho area. By the time we could comprehend the seriousness of the situation, we saw a big dark cloud approaching and before we could figure out what to do, it was raining ash all over us. To give you some perspective, it was pitch dark at 2:00 in the afternoon and we were covered in white ash. We couldn't drive home at that point because the movement would stir up the ash and you couldn't see. We were basically stranded in the campground with ash falling all around, listening to the Emergency Broadcast System telling people not to go outside because they didn't know what effect breathing in the ash might have on people at that time. There were about 20 of us and we just sat there by the fire wondering what was going to happen to us – it was pretty frightening. I think it was the unknown that was the worst part of the experience. We all slept in our cars and luckily, when we woke the next day it was light and we were able to pack up and leave, although with the ash all over the ground, we could still only drive about 10 MPH and a most of our cars were ruined in the end. A small price to pay considering that Harry Truman and others died on the mountain that day.

[Bellil]

I know what you mean. Harry's story was so sad. Looking at the aftermath ( a 1/3 of a mountain disappears, all life in a radius of 20 miles or so wiped out)....unlike in Peru, there were no large cities devasted (57 ppl killed).

"The massive ash cloud grew to 80,000 feet (18 kilometers) in 15 minutes and reached the east coast in 3 days. Although most of the ash fell within 300 miles of the mountain finer ash circled the earth in 15 days and may continue to stay in the atmosphere for many years."
I remember watching every night on tv the outer space-like conditions people had to endure for weeks.

Just 25 years later it is amazing how nature is recovering. It's too bad we men aren't as good at fixing our disasters.

This is a good link if anyone is interested... http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html

The only thing standing between me and total happiness is reality - Douglas Porter

[Deeblebeeble]

Ah yes, fixing disasters. That would be a trick wouldn't it?!

Have you seen Dante's Peak? I don't know if it was based on Mt St Helens, but there are similarities. I can vouch for the depiction of the ashfall, it was pretty realistic. The movie was filmed in Wallace, Idaho which is an old mining town. We happened to be in the area one year and took a tour (the town is about 5 blocks long!) Evidently the "mountain" in the movie was added in Hollywood! Still, I thought the movie was interesting, probably based on my own experience more than anything else.

I live not far from Mt Rainier now and some say it is ready to blow in the near future. I sure hope it waits another 50 yrs!

[Bellil]

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Have you seen Dante's Peak?
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No, but will check it out now at the video store...the reviews weren't bad either.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
I live not far from Mt Rainier now and some say it is ready to blow in the near future. I sure hope it waits another 50 yrs!
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I don't blame you. At least we get some warning about our impending disasters (hurricanes) here. It must be creepy to know it will happen, but not when! Although I did see a neat site about "Pilot Project - Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System". Hope they can get it up and running soon. Im sure residents of the Puyallup River valley will sleep easier when they do!

The only thing standing between me and total happiness is reality - Douglas Porter

[Deeblebeeble]

Well, between the volcano and "the big one" earthquake, I wonder sometimes why I'm still here. Although, the Midwest gets tornados and the east coast gets the hurricanes, so who knows. Our last biggish earthquake was Feb 2001 and was registered at 7.0. I work in a 12 story building and was on floor 9 when it happened. Our entire building swayed for what seemed like an eternity but was only several minutes. Luckily there wasn't much damage and even at home, the only evidence was that drawers and cupboards were open and a few pictures were hanging crooked. Still, not looking forward to anything much bigger that's for sure!

[Jools]

That reminds me of when I went to Vacouver. They have an apparently 'earthquake proof' building. It has a solid concrete post up through the centre, and the offices hang around the outside on a huge elastic band! Don't think its been put to the test yet...!

[Deeblebeeble]

Our building was supposedly built to support an 8.5 quake, but we are right next to the puget sound so I always wonder how stable the land is. Maybe our building will stay in tact, but would it fall over?! Probably not, but it is still kind of spooky!