Book Description
Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a sick sense of humor? What is John Updikes deal anyway? And who won the Adult Video News Female Performer of the Year Award the same year Gwyneth Paltrow won her Oscar? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in his new book of hilarious nonfiction. For this collection, David Foster Wallace immerses himself in the three-ring circus that is the presidential race in order to document one of the most vicious campaigns in recent history. Later he strolls from booth to booth at a lobster festival in Maine and risks life and limb to get to the bottom of the lobster question. Then he wheedles his way into an L.A. radio studio, armed with tubs of chicken, to get the behind-the-scenes view of a conservative talk show featuring a host with an unnatural penchant for clothing that looks good only on the radio.
Customer Reviews:
Porn Stars, Lobsters and Politicians.......2007-10-05
The collection of essays features David Foster Wallace's insights into worlds as disparate as the porn industry and the Maine Lobster Festival. His erudition is filtered through a popular and provocative voice whose sardonic humor reflects a general acceptance of modern life.
Wallace's shorter essays are where he's at his best, sometimes playing the role of the critic, as in "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart," and sometimes packaging tremendous poignancy in with surface humor ("The View From Mrs. Thompson's" is one of the best essays on 9/11). While his longer essays capture intriguing topics (life on the campaign trail with John McCain, the inner psychological workings of a radio disc jockey, etc.), they start to become a bit tiresome in their organization (or lack thereof). Wallace includes footnotes or sidebars as written subtexts, and while they are witty and often important, they do constantly yank the reader away from the essay itself in a manner that might infuriate some readers.
The author's real gift is to capture vignettes of the mundane and turn them into opportunities for social critique. Even though he does this with varying success, he is able to combine intellectual conversation with absurdity in a way few authors can. Peter Grier, of the Christian Science Monitor, described him best when he called him a "snowboarder with a PhD."
A prime example of an unreadable book.......2007-10-01
I'm trying to like essayists - there's just something cute about the formalization of thoughts, never growing up of needing to be approved by the English teacher that is the literary world.
But seriously, David Foster Wallace? After I had finished this, mainly finished not finishing any of the single essays, I got the impression that this is an an attempt to create the absolute unreadable work, an anti-art prank. Not unreadable in the sense of undecipherable, more like in the sense of local newspaper meets interminably boring literary analysis.
I also thought it was a bit magaziney, in two senses of the word. First of all, it gives the impression of someone who sets out from zero-knowledge to gather bits and pieces of the topic they've selected without much personal commitment (only what you'd call intellectual vigor), as opposed to the great writer sort of thing, desperately trying to make sense of the conflict in their inner world and putting it on paper as coherently as you possibly can. I guess that's the point of it too, being an intellectual journalist, but I think it's completely unnecessary to distance yourself from the subject like that. It distances the readers as well. Second of all it was way too obsessed with details and superficial things.
It's not new or original either IMO. I'm reminded of the 80s/90s way of thinking a lot here, or what's my conception of it anyway. And people like P.J. O'Rourke. The humorists or whatever. Pretty basic stuff.
And I'm not saying that maybe it's just me. If you seriously like this kind of stuff, you're distracted from reality in some major way.
Another stellar essay collection from one of America's finest writers.......2007-09-26
Consider the Lobster is very much in the vein of DFW's 90s essay collection 'A supposedly fun thing I'll never do again'. The style is perhaps a little tighter, a little more mature, a little wiser. The effect just as pyrotechnic. Once again DFW turns his vast and wide 'ranging intelligence to tackle the gauntlet Philip Roth laid down a few years ago, namely, the 'American Beserk', and how to tackle it. Many older writers have given up, the sheer hubris and purposeless of so much modern US activity way beyond their comprehension and radar. DFW, having grown up with the twin saturating forces of TV and marketing, probably goes further than any other contemporary writer (well, maybe along with Delillo), in attempting to grapple with this mightiest of themes.
So, we have in this collection 'Big Red Son', an essay on the porn industry which adopts a similar tack to an essay I recently read by English writer Martin Amis which uses irony to undermine the whole industry - i.e., don't adopt the feminist approach of saying how disgusting and degrading it is, just point out how ridiculous it is i.e. 'Ms Jasmin St Claire's cult celebrity status stems from her having broken the "World Gang Bang Record" by taking on 300 men in a row in Amazing Pictures' 1996 World's Biggest Gang Bang 2.' DFW may criticize what he considers to be the prevailing form of commentary in savvy American life, but boy does he use that device. This book positively drips with irony.
Certainly the End of Something or Other is a short piece, a book review on John Updike's recent novel 'Toward the End of Time' which both acknowledges what a great stylist Updike is, and just how much of a GMN (great male narcissist) he is. DFW and Updike are very different beasts in the American literary firmament.
What else?: a short, fairly uncompelling piece on humour in Kafka; an essay on Authority and American usage - a 20,000 word dictionary review which is way funnier and more interesting than you would expect (with a cracking riff on DFW's own attempts to teach standard white English to his black students).
The View from Mrs Thompson's is DFW's September 11 piece, an original take on those morbid events from his original observation point in the Midwest (as an antidote to all those East Coast literary views). It is one of those pieces that spends its whole time setting up the pieces, like the game Mousetrap, before delivering a thudding whoompf in the final sentence.
How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart is a piece that takes in tennis and celebrity sports biographies - two passions of DFW. He comes to the conclusion that the banality and cliche ridden personality of elite sports stars is not only accessory but fundamentally necessary to their talent.
Up, Simba is a long political piece covering the vicious 2000 Bush v McCain Republican primaries. This is competent, and revealing to those not familiar with US political campaigns, but I felt it was too jaded and never quite took off. Far better is the political content of 'Host', the final essay, with its original sub folders for footnotes, which pins down the right wing paradigms of John Ziegler and his WHAS radio station.
If this isn't enough, a couple of thought provokers on whether lobsters feel pain when steamed alive in the eponymous title essay, and a foray into 19th Century Russian classics with a review of Joseph Frank's Dostoevsky biographies.
All in all a witty, brain fuelled tour round modern America, and some of its more interesting and original sideshows. More essays soon please DFW.
Consider Consider the Lobster for your shopping cart.......2007-07-31
David Foster Wallace is arguably one of America's greatest living writers. While he's probably best known for his fiction, particularly Infinite Jest he really shows his range, humor and intellect with his non-fiction. In Consider the Lobster, he examines everything from Kafka being underappreciated as a humorist to covering the Adult Video News porn awards in Las Vegas. While some of the essays feel a bit dated (most of them were written pre 9-11) the writing hasn't lost any of its bite or edge. It's hard to write about CTL as a whole because since its simply a collection of largely magazine articles that appeared in everything from Harper's to Gourmet magazine, and the eclectic nature and wide variety of topics makes for an interesting reading experience. The one thing that does tie it all together is Wallace's prodigious writing talents and the lens with which he views the world, which is both urbane and cerebral yet grounded and playful. When you put the book down, you walk away with the distinct feeling that DFW could dissect any topic or subject and bring it to life. The following is a brief summary of each essay:
BIG RED SON - the aforementioned essay on the porn awards. Shows the porn industry in all its self-important, crass, tasteless glory, and also shows how at the end of the day it really is just a business like any other. LOL funny at times.
CERTAINLY THE END OF SOMETHING OR OTHER ONE WOULD SORT OF HAVE TO THINK - a review of John Updike's Toward the End of Time. The least interesting essay in the collection. Unless your a fan of Updike, you can safely skip this.
SOME REMARKS ON KAFKA'S FUNNINESS FROM WHICH PROBABLY NOT ENOUGH HAS BEEN REMOVED - DFW laments Kafka being underappreciated as a humorist and on a deeper level how the idea of what humor is has changed dramatically.
AUTHORITY AND AMERICAN USAGE - A brilliant essay on just what makes a dictionary authoritative and who decides what is "correct" in a language, particularly American English. A bit dry and academic at times, but my favorite essay in the bunch.
THE VIEW FROM MRS. THOMPSON'S - Half essay on patriotism and half memoir on what DFW was doing while the events of 9-11 were unfolding. Certainly the most straightfoward of all the essays and the most gut-wrenching.
HOW TRACY AUSTIN BROKE MY HEART - Excellent essay on the insipid nature of sports biographies, and how this insipidness reveals how many brilliant athletes are genius in a way that the rest of us have a hard time relating to and understanding.
UP, SIMBA - DFW trailed John McCain's campaign trail for a week during the 2000 election as a correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine. Excellent political piece.
CONSIDER THE LOBSTER - Do lobsters feel pain? An interesting moral and philosophical essay that falls flat because it doesn't really answer any of the questions it poses.
JOSEPH FRANK'S DOSTOEVSKY - A largely academic essay on Dostoevsky and the nature of contemporary literature.
HOST - Excellent and experimental essay on talk-radio host John Ziegler and an exploration of why talk-radio is dominated by right-wing pundits.
It is a bit difficult to read due to the experimental nature of how the footnotes are arranged, but well worth reading.
Recommended.
great.......2007-05-19
David Foster Wallace is good at delving into the imponderable. I particularly enjoyed his book about the history of the contemplation of infinity (Everything and More). Here he takes on similarly heady topics, with some lighter themes mixed in.
One standout is the title essay, which explores the issue of animal sentience, the question being whether the inner life of a lobster is anything remotely like the inner life of a human. There is simply no answer to this question, and philosophers who have tackled the question in recent years have bungled it extremely badly. Consequently the most one can do is to contemplate the implications of certain answers, and DFW's essay on the topic is as good as any I've come across.
Perhaps the only thing more impenetrable than the mind of a lobster is the mind of John McCain. Here's a guy who is so principled that he apparently refused to be released from a P.O.W. camp because it violated the letter of military policy. Yet he can be seen regularly cowtowing to the likes of Jerry Falwell and G.W. Bush just to gain a few points with the lunatic fringe of the religious right. DFW followed McCain during the 2000 campaign, and his essay comes as close as is logically possible to explaining how these various attitudes can inhabit the same brain.
DFW's writing style is not for everyone. If you're a fan of Hemingway you might find that it makes your head hurt.
Book Description
Ponder, if you will ...
Has anyone ever seen a live Cornish game hen?
Why do quarterbacks say "Hut"?
Why do "sea" gulls congregate in parking
lots of shopping centers?
What does the "Q" in Q-Tips stand for?
Pop culture guru David Feldman demystifies these questions and much more in Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? Part of the Imponderables® series—the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's everyday mysteries—and charmingly illustrated by Kassie Schwan, this book provides you with information that encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don't have. And think about it, where else are you going to find out what happens to the caffeine left over from making decaffeinated coffee?
Download Description
"
Ponder, if you will ...
Has anyone ever seen a live Cornish game hen?
Why do quarterbacks say ""Hut""?
Why do ""sea"" gulls congregate in parking
lots of shopping centers?
What does the ""Q"" in Q-Tips stand for?
Pop culture guru
David Feldman demystifies these questions and much more in
Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? Part of the Imponderables® series -- the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's everyday mysteries -- and charmingly illustrated by Kassie Schwan, this book provides you with information that encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don't have. And think about it, where else are you going to find out what happens to the caffeine left over from making decaffeinated coffee?
"
Customer Reviews:
A great book that you might not want to buy.......2005-09-18
This- along with all the other Imponderables Titles by David Feldman- is chock full of fascinating trivia and answers to many of Lifes little questions. If you have never read any of these Imponderable books before, I highly recommend it. However- if you are a fan of these books- you likely would be wasting your money. Why? becuase this is "When did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth" retitled, much as "Imponderables" itself- the 1st book in the series is now "Why Don't Cats Like to Swim?".
So- do NOT buy this book if you already have "When did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth".
I am not sure why Feldman is republishing his books with new titles, but it can be very confusing.
Book Description
Stop any Yankee on the street and ask the name of his or her favorite restaurant, and you'll be directed to a Connecticut clam shack . . . or a Maine lobster pound . . . or a Massachusetts chowder house. In these rustic eateries, you find the freshest seafood prepared according to classic, decades-old, family recipes. Mountains of whole-belly fried clams. Steaming bowls of rich, creamy chowder. Sweet lobster boiled in seawater. Fresh, succulent cod fillets fried golden brown.
In THE NEW ENGLAND CLAM SHACK COOKBOOK, author and native New Englander Brooke Dojny presents traditional New England fare as it is served up in 25 classic seafood eateries. With a little cajoling, Dojny managed to get the owners to reveal their recipes for such Yankee favorites as chowder (clear, red, and white), lobster rolls, fried clams, sweet New England crab, broiled mackerel, and garlicky mussels. Then there are the side dishes: perfect cole slaw and onion rings, pickled beets, and red bliss potato salad. Of course, no book on Yankee cuisine would be complete without a chapter on those famous New England desserts - apple crisp, Indian pudding, wild blueberry pie, whoopie pies, and a whole lot more.
Along the way, Dojny weaves together the history of these restaurants with local lore. She profiles fishermen and cooks. She weighs in on the Great New England Seafood Debates: red chowder vs. white chowder vs. clear chowder; batter-fried clams vs. crumb-fried clams. Scattered throughout the book are sidebars that offer practical advice on how to re-create great New England seafood in your own kitchen: the proper way to clean and shuck clams, the basics of frying fish fillets. THE NEW ENGLAND CLAM SHACK COOKBOOK will make you want to drop what you're doing, grab your car keys, and head for the New England coast.
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Customer Reviews:
This book is exactly what I was looking for.......2004-05-28
Great, fun book for those of us who know and love New England clam shacks. It's fun to read and to look at, brings it all back to you about what fun those places are, and what a vanishing breed, and if you care to make some of the recipes, why they're there as well. Excellent book, in every aspect, and would be a fun gift book or memorabilia from travels to New England. Just love it. Very light-hearted content and lovely visual presentation, but informative as well. Nothing boring here.
Wherever You Are....You Too Can Enjoy New England!!!.......2003-06-29
One year before I moved to Maine, I was visiting a friend in Yarmouth and we went for seafood at Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster. I was hooked! The meal consisted of 2 lobsters, fries and fresh native corn. The place was also packed, itself a tribute to the popularity of the food served there. The fried clams are dipped in batter which the people 'from away' aka tourists, seem to prefer. You can also purchase fresh shellfish for the home clambake or lobster boil.
I am a SCUBA diver and the cove near Two Lights Lobster Shack is a great place at high tide. And no dive could be complete without a lobster roll from the Lobster Shack. In fact, the opening and closing dates for this establishment are announced in the local paper...sure signs of the arrival of spring or fall.
Clam shacks are 'real' seafood restaurants. They aren't fancy but the food is outstanding. Brooke Dojny has captured the essence of this New England cuisine and provides a wonderful insight to this uniquely Yankee culinary tradition. Lest you think that this book is only about seafood, there are chapters about chicken, sides and desserts. After all, what's a seafood dinner without a good cole slaw?
Ms. Dojny also covers in detail the differences and preferences of various regions within New England. For instance, Maine folks prefer chowder made with soft-shell clams and milk(with a little cream for a thicker base) while in Massachusetts, hard-shell clams called quahogs are used along with milk and flour for thickening. Southern New England features clear or red chowders with hard-shell clams and tomatoes. Mainers consider it heresy to serve 'that red stuff' and you won't find it unless you make it yourself.
Chowders aside, the book is easy to read and a wealth of information about New England. Did I say that the recipes are great too? There is even a recipe for Whoopie Pies!! No cook in this region is without a recipe for them and if you haven't tried one, buy the book or stop by Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster for a scrumptious treat!
In short, buy the book! That way you won't have to wait until spring to enjoy this delicious fare.
perfect New England vacation companion.......2003-06-27
If you are going to new England this summer, be sure to take along this book. It's a combination of tour guide, restaurant guide and beach read. Following the clam shack trail provides a perfect itinerary for the trip. I can't say that I ate in all of the places suggested, but enough of them to recognize that Ms. Dojny knows what she's talking about. This stuff is the perfect summer food. (and cheap!)
You'll also find the edit informative and fun. I recommend it highly. Hope that she does New Jersey next.
Like a trip to the shore.......2003-06-26
Brooke Dojny is in her element with this book. A love and expert on all things "New England", Brooke is especially knowledgeable and passionate about the clam shacks that dot and define the New England coastline. Even if you live 3,000 miles from New England, this book will bring you right to the "shore" with each and every recipe.
tastes like home.......2003-06-24
As a transplanted New Englander I am thrilled with this cookbook. I have access to all the products, but just couldn't make them taste the way I remembered. My mom sent me this cookbook and now I am making Spanish lobster taste like Maine and Spanish clams taste like steamers. And to people here clam chowder is a revelation! I am using these recipes at dinner parties and my friends here think I have created something new! Little do they know this is just exactly what it tastes like on the East Coast!
Amazon.com
John Irving wishes. That he could be as mordantly funny as Elizabeth Gilbert, that is. With the publication of her first novel, Stern Men, Gilbert has been widely compared to New England's unofficial novelist laureate. And the comparison is a natural; this writer gives us a tough, lovable heroine against an iconoclastic, rural backdrop. Ruth Thomas grows up on Fort Niles Island, off the coast of Maine, among lobstermen, lobster boats, and, well, lobsters. There's just not much out there besides ocean. Abandoned by her mother, she lives sometimes with her dad and sometimes with her beautiful neighbor, Mrs. Pommeroy, and the seven idiot Pommeroy boys. Eventually she is plucked from obscurity by the wealthy Ellises--vacationers on Fort Niles for some hundred years--and sent, against her will, to a fancy boarding school in Delaware. (Sorting out her relationship with this highly manipulative family is one of the novel's crooked joys.) Now she has returned, and is casting about for something to do.
What Ruth does (hang around with her eccentric island friends, fall in love, organize the lobstermen) makes for an engaging book that's all the more charming for its rather lumpy, slow-paced plotting. Gilbert delivers a kind of delicious ethnography of lobster-fishing culture, if such a thing is possible, as well as a love story and a bildungsroman. But best of all, she possesses an ear for the ridiculous ways people communicate. One of Mrs. Pommeroy's young sons, "in addition to having the local habit of not pronouncing r at the end of a word--could not say any word that started with r.... What's more, for a long time everyone on Fort Niles Island imitated him. Over the whole spread of the island, you could hear the great strong fishermen complaining that they had to mend their wopes or fix their wigging or buy a new short-wave wadio."
The beauty of Gilbert's book is that she gives us an isolated rural culture, and refuses to settle for finding humor in its backwardness. Instead she gives us a community of uneducated but razor-sharp wits, and produces an impressive comic debut. --Claire Dederer
Book Description
In this big, wise, funny first novel from a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist, a resilient young woman brings an end to an age-old fishing feud. Elizabeth Gilbert's debut collection, PILGRIMS, was hailed as "a superior collection of stories about women who are as tough as they look, though perhaps not quite as tough as they think they are" (Glamour). Stern Men brings us Gilbert's toughest, smartest, most lovable heroine yet. On two remote islands off the coast of Maine, the local lobstermen have fought savagely for generations over the fishing rights to the ocean waters between them. Young Ruth Thomas is born into this feud, a daughter of Fort Niles destined to be at war with the men of Courne Haven. Eighteen years old, smart as a whip, irredeemably unromantic, Ruth returns home from boarding school determined to throw her education overboard and join the "stern men" who work the lobster boats. She is certain of one thing: she will not surrender control of her life to the wealthy Ellis family, which has always had a sinister hold over the island. On her side are Fort Niles's eccentric residents: the lovable Mrs. Pommeroy and her various deadbeat sons; sweet old Senator Simon, on a mission to dig up shipwreck treasure; and Simon's twin brother, Angus Addams, the most ruthless lobsterman alive. The feud between the islands escalates daily -- until Ruth gets a glimpse of Owney Wishnell, a silent young Courne Haven Adonis with a prenatural gift for catching lobsters. Their passion is fast, furious, and forbidden. Their only hope is an unlikely truce. For readers who love the work of John Irving, STERN MEN is a comedy that is as smart and finely crafted as it is entertaining. STERN MEN captures a particular American spirit with on-the-mark dialogue and a fine funny touch that pierces our notions of commerce and class. This is a large-canvas novel with a heroine destined for greatness in spite of herself.
Customer Reviews:
A Special Story.......2007-08-08
Ruthie got me. This story delivers as well as her seven stones-- and I am not going to spoil the tale for another reader. Just read it.
From an experienced lobster friend!.......2007-08-01
I enjoyed Stern Men very much! It was light, humorous, edgy. I loved how the family story evolved, and Ruth was a convincing teenager full of age-appropriate angst, disdain and insecurity. Having family on coastal Maine, I loved the lobster logic! The facts begining each chapter brought a serious mood that was lightened up by the community characters. This is a perfect vacation novel.
Don't waste your time.......2003-09-28
How can anyone give 5 stars to this book? It started well enough, but midway through the book I had lost interest, and worse, I began to really dislike Ruth. Ms Gilbert has the potential to be a good writer, but this is not a good book.
Could have been great, but.............2003-07-23
For those who were looking for another Gerald Warner Brace, you will be disappointed in the content but not in the writing style of Ms Gilbert. This could have been a great book.
For those who can identify with the folk who inhabit the costal towns and villages of New England, you will be pleased with the character descriptions provided in the book. The problem is not the idea of the story, nor the writing style. The problem is the emphasis placed on certain characters and activities that in the end did not matter and may have offended those of us who remember the books by G.W. Brace.
I hope Ms Gilbert will try again.
Solid, Engrossing, Excellent.......2002-06-19
A really fine new novel which I picked up after reading a favorable review in the NYT---and I've enjoyed the read. It's the story of an island off the coast of Maine (a fictionalized Vinalhaven, I think), mostly about the coming-of-age of Ruth Thomas, tenously-descended from the granite-quarry-owning rich family which once ran the island. It reminds me somewhat of the Bennett's Island novels by Elisabeth Ogilvie, but Stern Men has a much more modern setting and feeling. We certainly hear enough about the history of the island, its rivalry with its neighbors, and the ongoing "lobster wars" of its fishermen, but the characters are so intriguing and eccentric, the storytelling so solid, that it certainly never feels like an historical novel--nor does it feel like a romanticizing of a "vanishing way of life" and all that bushwah. These folks are grittily involved in making a buck and getting on with their lives.
I liked it as well as The Beans of Egypt, Maine or The Funeral Makers or Strong for Potatoes, all fine novels dealing with middle-to-lower-class Maine characters. A welcome addition to the genre.
Book Description
In this intimate portrait of an island lobstering community and an eccentric band of renegade biologists, journalist
Trevor Corson escorts the reader onto the slippery decks of fishing boats, through danger-filled scuba dives, and deep into the churning currents of the Gulf of Maine to learn about the secret undersea lives of lobsters.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Customer Reviews:
A GREAT book about noble creatures of the deep.......2007-10-10
This book is fantastic; a great read, very informative and a real page-turner. Total E-Z read too. Recommend it in hardcover; you'll want to keep it on your bookshelf forever.
Who Knew Lobsters Could Be So Entertaining?.......2007-10-08
This was an awesome read and was the book that began me interested in reading books about obscure animals. Since this book, I have read books about the platypus, coelacanth, and other wonderous creatures of the world. I learned alot about the lobster and the men that search for them as livelihood or scientific endeavor. This book willnot disappoint! Read it!
Self-imposed or Government-mandated regulation?.......2007-10-05
Trevor Corson does a great job of putting a face on the lobster fishery, including its past, its future, and of some of the people who participate in it. It also does a super job at opening the door so we can catch a glimpse of relationships between lobstermen, the scientific community, and government agencies that have connections to America's fisheries.
I am an invertebrate zoologist by training, and I teach courses in marine biology and invertebrate zoology. Even a of couple years after reading this book I refer to it in my classes. Corson provides some good summary information on the status of our understanding of the ecology and reproductive biology of the American lobster, as well as the status of the Maine lobster fishery.
If you are like me, you will be impressed by the self-regulating fisheries practices developed and used by lobstemen that have maintained the lobster fishery for many, many years. If the info in the book is accurate, it appears that problems crop up in the fishery most often when government agencies try to develop and impose their own regulations on lobstermen. That was an eye-opener.
Another delightful part of the book explored interactions between lobstermen and the scientific community. Their developing relationship appears to have potential to benefit both parties.
I found the book to be readable and enjoyable through and through.
5 stars for fun (and food)
Wow!.......2007-09-21
This was an absolutely fascinating book! Who knew lobsters were so interesting? Not me!
Must reading for lobster fans !!.......2007-09-09
This entertaining book provides many insights about the New England lobster and the lobster industry. Corson describes the adventurous lives of these tenacious relatives of the spider. Every year they walk miles from deep in the continental shelf to find the warm summer waters close to shore. There they lay their eggs, shed their shells, and occasionally find their way into lobster pots.
A lobsterman himself, Corson also shares his own experience as one of the last breed of seafaring "hunter-gatherers". Importantly, he also describes how the lobster industry has tried preserve the lobster population through scientifc research and restrictions on harvesting.
As one who grew up in a lobstering town, I found this book very informative and entertaining, with a great balance of marine biology, New England history and good old fashioned story-telling. It is a "must read" for anyone interested in knowing more about the coastal environment, the New England fishery--or that boiled red crustacean starring at the clambake.
Book Description
The Red Claw crayfish is a new and very promising aquaculture species. The Red Claw is very similar to the native American species, except that it grows to a HUGE size--almost to that of a lobster! There are several other notable differences, such as year-round breeding, awesome fecundity... often over 700 eggs per breeder! They also have a non-aggressive nature, which allows many more Red Claw crayfish to live happily in a given space than would the native American crayfish.
This book is one of the few sources for complete information on all aspects of the culture of this lobster sized freshwater crayfish. Compiled from leading edge research direct from Australia as well as individual and University findings from all over the U.S.,this book dispels the hype and furnishes the facts about this little known but highly prized new aquaculture species. Fish farmers have managed to become major players in this bottomless market in only a couple of years. Small scale family run operations are harvesting 'short lobsters' in less than a year, and the startup costs are relatively low.
There are not many Red Claw crayfish reference books, and this book packs all the info you may need into a small price. Included in the book are photos from down under, food and feeding regimens needed to raise the Red Claw to giant size, well managed pond and tank factors, hatching and juvenile production, stocking methods, regularly updated sources of supply, processing and sale tips, and marketing recommendations.
Customer Reviews:
After reading this book I started the Redclaw Hatchery........1998-10-31
First off, I would like to thank the author for writing this book on Red Claw Culture and esspecially for including the section on information resources.
The book was able to bring a lot of great information together, and presented it in a manner that made the average 'water farmer' comfortable with Red Claw production. This must not have been an easy task, considering the lack of available information.
After reading the book I decided to dig deeper and became excited with the possibilities. The book was correct in stating that this industry is in it's infancy and quite likely will grow fast.
I now operate the Red Claw Crayfish Hatchery in Pittsburg and have a website. And this book got me started!
Book Description
“Coomer writes so well, with such freshness and authenticity, that we hate to put the book down.” —The Boston Globe
The first thing Hannah said to the dog: “I don’t know if there’s enough room for you on this island. I’m already here.”
Inhabiting an island off the coast of Maine left to her by her great-uncle Arno, Hannah finds her life as a dedicated and solitary artist rudely interrupted one summer when a dog, matted with feathers and seaweed, arrives with the tide. The dog quickly endears himself and easily adapts to Hannah’s habits, but he is only the first in a series of unexpected visitors. He is soon followed by a teenager running from an abusive father, a half sister in trouble, a mainland family in need, and a trapped whale. Now in the midst of a community that depends on her for support and love, Hannah faces new emotional challenges as family secrets are uncovered, each one more alarming than the next.
In his latest novel, Joe Coomer offers the rugged yet stunning beauty of Maine and the lobstermen and their families who are tethered to the sea for survival. Pocketful of Names is a deeply human tale about the unpredictability of nature, art, family, and whatever else washes up on the shore.
Customer Reviews:
My first Coomer read..........2007-07-30
Pocketful of Names is a great story! It does a great job of describing life on Deer Isle, ME, with respect for those who live there as well as insightful humor I doubt any in the area would find offensive.
Thank you, Joe! Waiting for your next story...
Wonderful complex story.......2007-07-26
Joe Coomer tells a great tale and I loved this book. One of those that you hate to have end. It might be a bit more of a woman's book but the characters are complex and there are many twists and turns. I recommend it highly.
Pocket Full of Names.......2006-08-28
I've read nearly all Coomer's books, and this one lived up to my expectations. I particularly enjoy the characters and their rough edges. In this one it was the elderly man with a memory problem, which we related to alzheimers. Coomer makes you laugh in a John Irving type way. Another winner. Definitely a quiet tone, but page turner. Loved it.
Great and authentic local color.......2006-08-07
I was skeptical of this book because it purported to be about the coast of Maine and was written by a guy not from here. (I'm not from here either, however.) But he pretty much nails the local character--or at least an authentic piece of it--and gets the feeling of the place perfectly.
While the plot seemed a bit strained at times, I found it very involving with characters--especially the main character--that really came alive for me.
And it's a novel with some real depth of ideas, not just a local color story.
Full disclosure--a picture I took is on the back dustjacket--that's why I got a copy. When I heard my local bookseller had it on his favorite booklist, I decided I better read it and was stunned at how good it was.
You won't be disappointed in this book.
Pocketful of Names.......2006-07-12
This is one of the best books ever! I have read all of the authors' (who deserves much more recognition than he has so far received) books and this latest is his top read so far. A gifted word master and storyteller,the author spins a tale that you absolutely want to believe is true. Set on a harsh island in the northeast Atlantic, the novels characters become people you know and root for. It is a tale of the human spirit(and of the dog spirit). Dog lovers-this is a must read! You will fall on the floor howling with laughter, you will pump your fist at the ceiling and shout "yes", and you will weep tears of happiness. I am eagerly waiting his next novel.
Book Description
Declared a triumph by the New York Times Book Review, Linda Greenlaws first book, The Hungry Ocean, appeared on nearly every major bestseller list in the country. Now, taking a break from the swordfishing career that earned her a major role in The Perfect Storm, Greenlaw returns to Isle au Hauta tiny Maine island with a population of 70 year-round residents, 30 of whom are Greenlaws relatives.With a Clancy-esque talent for fascinating technical detail and a Keillor-esque eye for the drama of small-town life, Greenlaw offers her take on everything from rediscovering home, love, and family to island characters and the best way to cook and serve a lobster. But Greenlaw also explores the islands darker side, including a tragic boating accident and a century-old conflict with a neighboring community. Throughout, Greenlaw maintains the straight-shooting, funny, and slightly scrappy style that has won her so many fans, and proves once again that fishermen are still the best storytellers around.
Download Description
In THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES, Linda Greenlaw returns from her years of adventure to Isle au Haut, the island that has been the Greenlaw home for five generations. There are only 70 year-round residents on the island, 10 of whom are Greenlaws. In describing her first year as a lobsterman, the author explores themes of love, family, and the pursuit of a simpler life. In particular, she discusses working with her father, who is her helmsman, and their relationship - what they learn about lobstering and each other. The book contains many vivid, and sometimes hilarious, stories of life on Isle au Haut and the characters who live there. THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES also describes the ongoing battle between Isle au Haut lobstermen and the Stonington lobstermen. This is the war that is referred to in the title, and it is this conflict that provides a narrative arc for the book. The book integrates material on topics ranging from the secret ingredient in Linda's mother's lobster casserole recipe to island lore. In addition to these kinds of lighter items, THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES includes a harrowing section on three young island residents killed in a boating accident. As in THE HUNGRY OCEAN, Linda Greenlaw displays Tom Clancy's genius for describing equipment, Jimmy Breslin's flair for a yarn, and a wonderfully real voice, sometimes contemplative, often cranky, always all her own.
Customer Reviews:
Very fun!.......2007-01-04
I laughed alot! Anyone who has ever lived in a small town will relate to this book. If not you will wish you lived in a small town just for the comedy of it! Linda is a good writer. If you have red any of her other books you already know this! I highly recommend this book!
Life Among the Boredom and the Chowder..........2006-12-17
I bought and read this book because my Grandfather, Asbury Arthur [Bob] Gray, was borned in Stonington, Maine; just behind the Opera house on Highland Avenue. His Aunt Millie's stove is still on displayed in the General Store and when I walked through the town for the very first time back in 2001, there were people who looked strangely like my Grandfather all over the place. He was a dear old man, with terrific story telling capabilities, many about the sea since he, like Linda Greenlaw, come from a long line of fishermen. There were tales of exploration, and of terror (like the Great Storm of 1873 where his Grandfather, James H Gray, and the crew of the DH Webb survived by hiding out in the Bay of Chaluer, off the coast of the Prince Edward Islands), and of family (although he lost his mother when he was only 10 and was forced to move to Bath and work in the Iron Works because his Dad and his two brothers were at sea). This book is every bit as good as a conversation with Grandpa Gray, the humor and the charm shines right on through. So does the boredom and the chowder... Thank you Linda for letting us share your little island and your great big hospitality! I enjoyed it immensely.
The Lobster Chronicles.......2006-10-06
This book chronicles the life of Linda Greenlaw, the author, during a lobster fishing season. Living on a small island off the coast of Maine, the author allows us into her downeast life. We learn some great information on the lobster fishing industry, as well as the lifestyles of the residents of Isle Au Haut.
Some funny anecdotes and a glimpse into life off the coast of Maine make up this short, quick read, book. Being a resident of Maine, myself, I always like to read authors from here. I have yet to be disappointed.
Okay but not exciting..........2006-07-05
I read this after I read F/V Black Sheep because it was also about lobster fishing in New England. It was entertaining and had some very funny moments but it wasn't especially exciting. I liked her stories about the strange characters who live on that island but when it was over I thought she seemed like a lonely person
Barely a book.......2006-06-30
I don't get it. There is no story, just a meandering. While I was hoping to be drawn in to a vivid life of ocean hardship and island comforts, it is just kind of drab.
The pages are easy to turn, and she writes nicely. I realized half way through the book that it was going nowhere. I finished it anyway, hoping for some insight or revelation. There was none, except of course for the map that appears at the end, too lately revealed for it to serve it's function.
Book Description
This lively book reveals a little known culture that predates the Pilgrims and has remained true to the earliest version of the American Dream: an egalitarian, self-reliant republic. The self-sufficient lobstermen of the Maine coast are models of environmental prudence: at a time when the fishing industry is in crisis, they have conserved the bounty of their waters, even as the once-humble lobster has become a coveted delicacy. How denizens of the coast achieved this balance, even as they withstood assaults from everyone from French raiders to rapacious land speculators, makes for a “stellar informal history ... a primer for conservation and the effects of bad politics” (The Kingston Observer).
Customer Reviews:
Maine History.......2007-04-12
This book is a page turner I couldn't put down. Beautifully written, it does a thorough job of concisely telling the history of coastal Maine and, by so doing, gives us a start on the history of New England. It takes us from the earliest settlers to today, and even if one has, as I have, lived on the coast of Maine for close to 40 years, one can learn from the book. Put it together with "Islanders" by Virginia Thorndike, and you have a picture of one of the last best places on earth. Please don't let these books persuade you to move here!
The Lobster Coast...........2006-09-11
is a all encompassing look at mid coast Maine, both present day and historically. It took me back to High School US history and made the French Indian wars come alive. Hear about modern day lobster pirates from of all places, "Friendship" invading a small island's lobster fields.
Look ahead for what is in store for a severely depleted fishery
then chuckle when a hidden camera reveals the secret life of lobster and captor. Great read, it belongs in your Maine libary.
More Than Meets the Eye.......2006-09-08
After finishing the first short section, my first thought was that the book was a bit of a lightweight -- at best, a paperback to read while flying across the Atlantic. But when I got to the second section which filled in many of the historical gaps -- particularly the "why's" -- from Elizabethan England to the Pilgrims to the modern era, I realized how interesting this book really was. Anyone who enjoys travelogues will enjoy this book; perhaps you need to have visited Maine at least once or have some connection to the state, but if you do read it, you will learn much more about the history of the western world than the title suggests.
Finest Kind!.......2006-02-17
Colin Woodard skillfully paints a picture of Maine both past and present, identifying the nuances that make the culture so unique, while detailing the insecurities that plague Downeasters. Through the course of the book, Woodard traces the troubled evolution of Maine as both a political and social state, detailing the hardships that plagued early settlers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and the economic disparity that have shaped the modern culture.
As a historian, Woodard is somewhat of a novice. He has difficulty weaving events together into a narrative that can be easily followed and tends to make broad leaps without establishing a proper foundation.
This shortcoming is more than compensated for by his obvious passion and interest in the subject matter. Woodard clearly understands the psyche of Maine. He recognizes that a Mainer is not an individual dwelling in a geographic territory bordered by Canada and NH, but rather somebody possessing a particular mindset... somebody that strives for the simpler things, while struggling to deal with the challenges of modern economics.
For anybody that loves Maine and the Downeast, this is a fabulous read and well worth the time. The book is definitely part history part sociology. But it's worth a look!
The Maine Coast like you've never experienced it before.......2005-08-12
A book both entertaining and educational - ranging from lobster fishing to the history of Maine - which puts 'Vactionland' in a whole new light.
While the history is clearly presented from a Maine-centric perspective, putting some otherwise well-regarded historical figures (like Revolutionay War General Henry Knox, famous for hauling the captured cannons of Ticonderoga overland to Boston in the middle of winter) in far from flattering light, it is a perspective that isn't often - if ever - told. And it's these stories which put a far more complex backstory into what so many (myself included) have long regarded as a summer vacation sanctuary, but not much more.
This book is a great summer read, a great fall read - whatever season, enjoy it with some lobster, and gain a new appreciation for 'Downeast' and all the way down the Maine coast.
Average customer rating:
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The Biology and Fisheries of the Slipper Lobster (Crustacean Issues)
Manufacturer: CRC
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0849333989 |
Book Description
Written by international experts, this reference covers the biology, ecology, behavior, physiology, evolutionary history, and genetics of the family Scyllaridae. It includes coverage of fishing methods and regulations, size composition of catches, fisheries management, and distribution of those species that are targeted directly or as by-product in other fisheries. The text includes an identification key for final stage phyllosomas, figures of phyllosomal characters, and figures of most of the species as adults. The book takes a comparative approach to understanding fisheries in different regions of the world and explains which management plans have failed and which have succeeded.
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