The Terrible Hours : The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History

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May 23, 1939. Television was being advertised for the first time to American consumers. Europe was on the brink of war as Hitler and Mussolini signed an alliance in Berlin. These were the days before sonar and before the discovery of nuclear power revolutionized submarine design. Dependent on battery power, submarines were actually surface ships that "occasionally dipped beneath the waves." If a sub went down, "every man on board was doomed. It was accepted that there would be no deliverance."

Swede Momsen was, according to master storyteller Peter Maas, the "greatest submariner the Navy ever had," and he was determined to beat those odds. Momsen spent his career trying to save the lives of trapped submariners, despite an indifferent Navy bureaucracy that thwarted and belittled his efforts at every turn. Every way of saving a sailor entombed in a sub--"smoke bombs, telephone marker buoys, new deep-sea diving techniques, escape hatches, artificial lungs, a great pear-shaped rescue chamber--was either a direct result of Momsen's inventive derring-do, or of value only because of it." Yet on the day the Squalus sank, none of Momsen's inventions had been used in an actual submarine disaster.

In The Terrible Hours, Maas reconstructs the harrowing 39 hours between the disappearance of the submarine Squalus during a test dive off the New England coast and the eventual rescue of 33 crew members trapped in the vessel 250 feet beneath the sea. It's also the story of Momsen's triumph. Under the worst possible circumstances, Momsen led a successful mission and helped change the future of undersea lifesaving. Not only has Maas written a carefully researched and suspenseful tribute to a true hero, in the process he has salvaged a long-forgotten, riveting piece of American history. --Svenja Soldovieri

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

Like a tough old salt holding forth in a dockside pub, Kevin Conway narrates this riveting maritime drama in a raspy voice well-weathered by sea spray and Lucky Strikes. Chronicling the true story of 33 American sailors trapped aboard a sunken submarine just prior to World War II, author Peter Maas uncovered the unsung hero behind their attempted rescue, Navy officer Charles "Swede" Momsen. A deep sea visionary, Momsen's unorthodox theories and unproven inventions represented the lost men's only hope. "For someone whose formal education had shaped him for duty as a line officer in the US Navy, Momsen was getting into pretty deep water." Conway does an excellent job of portraying the various crew members without turning character into caricature and knots the nerve-wracking, claustrophobic tension of this ill-fated mission in the back of your throat. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --George Laney

Book Description

On the eve of World War II, America's newest submarine plunged helplessly to the North Atlantic bottom during a test dive. Miraculously, thirty-three crew members still survived. While their wives and girlfriends waited in nearly unbearable tension on shore, their ultimate fate would depend on one man.

In this thrilling true narrative of terror, heroism and courage in the depths of a malevolent ocean, prizewinning author Peter Maas brings us in vivid detail a blow-by-blow account of the disaster and its uncertain outcome. The sub was the Squalus. The man was a U.S. Navy officer, Charles "Swede" Momsen, an extraordinary combination of visionary, scientist and man of action. Until his advent, it was accepted that if a submarine went down, her crew was doomed. But Momsen, in the face of an indifferent, often sneering naval bureaucracy, battling red tape and disbelieving naysayers every step of the way, risked his own life again and again against the unknown in his efforts to invent and pioneer every escape and rescue device, every deep-sea diving technique, to save an entombed crew. With the crippled, partially flooded Squalus lost on the North Atlantic floor, Momsen faced his personal moment of truth: Could he actually pluck those men from a watery grave? Had all his work been in vain?

The legacy of his death-defying probes into our inner space remains with us today, and in this depiction of the perseverance and triumph of the human spirit, Swede Momsen is given his rightful place in the pantheon of true American heroes.

Customer Reviews:

Diver's Story.......2007-05-23

I have been a (US Navy qualified) diver since 1958. Momsen has been a household name for years but I had never heard his story. This book filled that gap. Great story, well told.

I suspect most anyone would find this a good read but divers will find it facinating.

Another Great American Story.......2007-03-29

The story if Charles "Swede" Momsen is another one of those that few people know of, but should. This book is really more about the life of Momsen and not just the rescue of the Squalus. Though it was one of the crowning achievments of his extraordinary life, and perhaps his proudest moment, the rescue of the Squalus started well over a decade before the ship was even built. Momsens tenacity in developing diving, and submarine rescue devices for years before the sinking is what made the rescue possible at all. The Terrible Hours does an excellent job at informing you of the history of the development of the tools and techniques that were used by Momsen and his crew to rescue the 33 survivors of the doomed (without Momsen) sub.

Not given near the coverage of Squalus rescue, but propbably an achievment that saved much more than 33 lives, was Momsen's work on torpedo exploders and submarine attack techniques that had to have saved hundreds or thousands of American lives in WWII.

The book is an excellent read and I highly recommended to fans of submarines, diving, and rescue. If those things don't interest you, the humanity of the story will.

20th Century Benjamin Franklin: Charles "Swede" Momsen.......2007-02-26

May 22, 1939, merely a few months before Germany invaded Poland and the world decried the clarions of war, a submarine named Squalus (pronounced `skwaylus') sunk onto the Atlantic floor during a test dive with 58 crew members on board. 33 people survived and waited in darkness and silence, save for the hammering of morse code to let whoever might be on the surface know that they are alive. Peter Maas tells the story of these terrible hours as only a master storyteller can with such great wielding of the language that everything seems to come alive, the people, the vessels, the ocean. Even the cantankerous pontoons make the central character of the story Charles "Swede" Momsen look like Ahab.

If you think of the ratio between the length of the submarine and the depth of Ocean it sunk under was like walking in the swimming pool with water coming up to your chest. But if humans had left the submarine, it would look like ants trying to crawl up from your toes. Humans aren't nearly as lucky as ants in such circumstance due to the nature of our respiratory systems, as well as the chemicals that sustain are being. They all go haywire, so we learn from Maas, and most likely die. Unless we have help from people like Momsen and live.

I picked up Maas' book primarily because the awe and respect it kept mentioning toward a single person, Momsen, in its back cover (how's that for judging the book? ;) and of course because of all the favorable reviews in Amazon on its behalf. Being a student of people I wanted to know more about Momsen and I was not disappointed with his character and everything he did so well: He saved lives. He saved lives while constantly fighting off bureaucratic intransigence. He is one of those few people you meet in life who seem to do well anything they work on; one of those few people you can depend on. These people are not without failure but with abundant perseverance: Learning to overcome failure with an open mind and science, which opens the mind--success awaits to achieve whatever goal. This has been the main theme of all great people of the past, present, and the future.

To have a little bit more appreciation for Momsen's work, I learned that Germany lost 1000 lives (peace and war time combined) in submarines since 1774. In contrast, the United States lost 75 sailors. After having read Maas' book I can safely say this is largely due to Momsen because the number one reason for submarine accidents is due to poor design. Incidentally Squalus's sinking was precisely due to the design of levers and their placement. The very nature of this problem is not far off from modern software problems with poor GUI design. And Momsen's single greatest reason for success was testing, testing, and more testing.

You may ask why I related Momsen to Franklin in my title. Because aside from the scientific, military, political acumen this great man had, he even fixed the Navy's postal service.

" Reading 'Terrible Hours' are hours well spent".......2007-01-29

This is the story of the rescue of The Squallus in 1939, near NH. I of course have heard of the Squallus, and though I worked at Bupers for almost 10 year, I had never heard of "Swede" Momsen, who headed up the rescue. This is compelling reading. My Aunt felt this book was better than the "Perfect Storm" (At least the ending was happier). This is very compelling reading.

Gripping story of rescue at sea.......2006-09-03

This superb thriller keeps readers on the edge. In May of 1939 an accident left U.S. navy submarine "Squalus" sunk and disabled on the ocean floor 250 feet beneath the surface. The trapped crew had less than two days of oxygen remaining, and would perish unless the navy could somehow perform a daring rescue. Enter career naval officer Swede Momson, an inventor whose rescue devices - diving bell, mixed gas deep-water breathing equipment - had never been fully tried out due to intransigence from the navy brass. This is the story of Momson's rescue devices and their use as the navy attempted to save the crew members of the Squalus, and a mini-biography of Momson as well. Author Peter Maas writes superbly with a tense and readable style that describes this harrowing race against time.

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The Terrible Hours

Manufacturer: Books on Tape, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 0736648364

3 Books: 1) The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind Greatest Submarine Rescue in History (Peter Maas) / 2) Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of USS Indianapolis (Dan Kurzman) / 3) Abandon Ship!: The Saga of U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster (Unboxed Set of Books)

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3 Books: 1) The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind Greatest Submarine Rescue in History (Peter Maas) / 2) Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of USS Indianapolis (Dan Kurzman) / 3) Abandon Ship!: The Saga of U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster (Unboxed Set of Books)
Peter Maas
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WUXF0A

Product Description

3 Books: 1) The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind Greatest Submarine Rescue in History (Peter Maas) / 2) Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of USS Indianapolis (Dan Kurzman) / 3) Abandon Ship!: The Saga of U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster (Unboxed Set of Books) , in either Hard or Softcover, (See Seller Condition Comments), Shipped in one package to save on shipping costs.

Invasion,: Being the personal recollections of what happened to our own family and to some of our friends during the first forty-eight hours of that terrible ... the Nazis were driven from our territories

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Invasion,: Being the personal recollections of what happened to our own family and to some of our friends during the first forty-eight hours of that terrible ... the Nazis were driven from our territories
Hendrik Willem Van Loon
Manufacturer: Harcourt, Brace and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Les Enfants Terribles / 3 Audio Compact Discs in French / 3 Hours Playing Time

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Les Enfants Terribles / 3 Audio Compact Discs in French / 3 Hours Playing Time
Jean Cocteau
Manufacturer: French & European Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

General | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
ASIN: 0685115968

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THE TERRIBLE HOURS
PETER MAAS
Manufacturer: HARPERTORCH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S6YMJQ

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The Terrible Hours

Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0732268915

Product Description

The epic resuce of men trapped beneath the sea.

The Terrible Hours - the Epic Rescue of Men Trapped Beneath the Sea

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The Terrible Hours - the Epic Rescue of Men Trapped Beneath the Sea
Peter Mass
Manufacturer: Harper Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0732264537

The Terrible Hours : The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History

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The Terrible Hours : The Greatest Submarine Rescue in History
Peter Maas
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF44W6

The Terrible Hours : The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History

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The Terrible Hours : The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History
Peter Maas
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEMKOQ

Book Description

Cambodia has never recovered from its Khmer Rouge past. The genocidal regime of 1975-1979 and the following two decades of civil war ripped the country apart. This work examines Cambodia in the aftermath, focusing on Khmer people of all walks of life and examining through their eyes key facets of Cambodian society, including the ancient Angkor legacy, relations with neighboring countries (particularly the strained ones with the Vietnamese), emerging democracy, psychology, violence, health, family, poverty, the environment, and the nation's future.

Along with print sources, research is drawn from hundreds of interviews with Cambodians, including farmers, royalty, beggars, teachers, monks, orphanage heads, politicians, and non-native experts on Cambodia. Dozens of exquisite photographs of Cambodian people and places illustrate the work, which concludes with a glossary of Cambodian words, people, places and names, and an appendix of organizations providing aid to Cambodia.

Customer Reviews:

A look at contemporary Cambodia.......2006-04-30

Karen Coates has written a warts 'n' all view of contemporary Cambodia, giving us a glimpse into how hard life really is in a country traumatized by war but which still retains a magical quality that attracts and infatuates people like Coates and her husband Jerry Redfern, both journalists who worked in-country on and off for six years. Personally, I loved the book, I could hardly put it down. I could relate to many of the people Coates met on her travels, and if you get the chance to stay long enough in Cambodia, you will meet them too.

My emotions fluctuated wildly between elation and dismay as I read the stories meshed together from her interviews with scores of Cambodians, from the fragile hope of street beggar Bun Na, to the dogged determination of commune leader Ly Chheng Ky, a lone woman in a typically male-dominated environment. She introduces us to Choun Nhiem, better known as the old sweeper of Ta Prohm from the cover of the popular Lonely Planet guidebook. She interviewed three people I've met on my own travels; Rithy Keo, a supervisor at the Kien Khleang rehab center just outside Phnom Penh, enthusiastic conservationist Tom Evans, working in the forests of Mondulkiri, and Youk Chhang, the tireless and dedicated director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. These three are just the tip of the iceberg of unsung heroes and heroines working to make a better Cambodia. But its a tough job and Coates makes that abundantly clear throughout her twenty-one chapters, in which she examines the past, present and future, dissecting Cambodia's many ills and its' hopes. This book is a must read for anyone seeking to delve below the flimsy veil of idyllic Cambodian life that most of the tourist hordes see and believe is the real Cambodia. They have little idea of what lies just below the surface.

Comprehensive yet emotional look into Cambodia's past and future.......2005-07-15

This book delves into many issues that Cambodia is facing today, leaving the reader with a greater knowledge of this country and its people. Through individual stories of regular Cambodian people to official interviews with government officials, this book covers it all.

all politics is local.......2005-04-26

Cambodia Now captures beauty in a traumatized country by focusing on individual Cambodians and their lives. This book goes far to explain how everyday Cambodians, not the power brokers and not the tour guides, are slowly recovering from the Khmer Rouge holocaust.

Facing Death in Cambodia.(Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of War)(Book Review) : An article from: Pacific Affairs

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Facing Death in Cambodia.(Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of War)(Book Review) : An article from: Pacific Affairs
D. Gordon Longmuir
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000ENUNFA
Release Date: 2006-02-18

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Pacific Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 839 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: Facing Death in Cambodia.(Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of War)(Book Review)
Author: D. Gordon Longmuir
Publication: Pacific Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 78 Issue: 3 Page: 510(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Ride the Wrecking Ball Through the History of Demolition

Rubble is the first-ever biography of the wrecking trade, a riveting, character-filled narrative of how the black art of demolition grew to become a multi-billion-dollar business, an extreme-spectator sport, and a touchstone for what we value and what we disdain.

Rich with stories of demolition’s quirky impresarios—including Mark Loizeaux, the world-famous engineer of destruction who brought Seattle’s Kingdome to the ground in mere seconds—this account makes firsthand forays to implosion sites and digs extensively into wrecking’s little-known historical record. Told with arresting detail and energy, this tale reveals the scientific, social, economic, and personal reasons for why we unbuild our world.

Named to the “Best of 2005” lists of Time Out New York and The Village Voice

Customer Reviews:

Grand Story.......2006-03-13

As one who is fascinated with the old, I thoroughly enjoyed this thought provoking expose about the place "unbuilding" has played in our past and its role in our future. I especially appreciated learning about the role demolition played in the Paris cityscape. I will see Paris in a whole different light the next time I amble through her streets. Very witty examination of an "art" that we see and hear about, but have not delved into either its colorful and varied history or its current affect onour landscape.

Loved this Book.......2006-02-10

This book is not about the technical aspects of demolition or the politics between the players of the industry. It is masterfully researched and documented by 41 pages of reference notes. It is written with matchless wit combined with seriousness and compassion. It touches on all aspects of "unbuilding" which has existed for many centuries. It goes through the early use of pick axe, the wrecking ball, ever-present dynamite to recent "deconstructing" by hand to recycle for future use every possible piece of lumber, brick and fixture. More important, it explains all the reasons why demolition does and has occurred. Some seem valid and others are simply sad. In many ways we cannot blame the demolitionists as they are often reacting to obsolescence created by government, greed by land barons, buildings that were built with a particular life span, or the new fields of play for the demolitionists such as nuclear plant obsolescence and urban asphalt removed to make way for urban living. In short, "it goes to the heart of the scientific, social, economic, and personal meaning of how (and why) we unbuild our world."

Fantastic.......2006-02-10

It's a history lesson, a technical lesson, poetry, reminiscent, nostalgic, bittersweet, and poignant. Funny, realistic, and lots of footnotes - it's clear he's done his homework! I learned a lot, and enjoyed it thoroughly.

A great read - I learned about some of the technical work, and some history and even learned about other countries, and I didn't even realize I was learning - my favorite kind of book.
The pictures were awesome.

A disservice to readers and the demo industry.......2006-02-04

As a 20-year demolition consultant and historian who was approached by Mr. Byles in 2002 to supply facts for this book, I had high expectations that it would provide an entertaining - and accurate - look at the history of the demolition industry. So it is with disappointment that I write today about the scores of issues that render this book virtually useless to the casual reader and offensive to the serious demolitionist. Its inaccuracies are many and substantial, and in the age of James Frye/Oprah Winfrey, where repeatedly sacrificing truthfulness for entertainment value is exposed as intentionally deceptive, this effort is about as irresponsible as it gets.

Mr. Byles writes that his idea for this book was formed while watching the twin towers fall on 9/11 and the resulting demolition activities at Ground Zero. However, instead of performing research by visiting jobsites and speaking with experienced demolitionists, the author openly elected to solicit kooky, over-the-top hyperbolic sound bites ("I have set off more big bangs than anybody on earth in peacetime") from three or four self-serving contractors who were willing to pontificate quasi-poignant phrases on demand ("We are seizers, we seize... the building is fighting me, but I've got to bring her to her knees... [via a] symphony of failure") in return for gushing favorable mention (Just one of Mr. Byles' selected demo buddies is hailed as, "the philosopher king of destruction... part matador, part sage, part connoisseur of collapse... a convinced neurobiologist... the dentist of urban decay... the Mozart of dynamite... the Guru of gravity...", and many more). Perhaps this would be warranted and even entertaining, if any of it were true.

To make things worse, Mr. Byles then dovetailed those sound bites with references to dozens of previously published articles - many of which themselves are well known to be inaccurate - and un-researched personal prose to paint a grand, sweeping verbal extrapolation on the demolition industry.

The lack of fact checking for this book is astonishing: Not counting the first two chapters that cover the well worn but interesting ground of how demolition was used to control fires in the 1600s, Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot and various other developments transpiring up to the 1940s, an astounding 74 of the remaining 231 pages read as an endless run of long-disproven misrepresentations, attacks on industry trade publications and mocking ridicule of virtually all responsible demolitionists worldwide (thousands of contractors outside of Byles' small cabal of sound bite buddies are dismissed as "glum rivals" and "detractors", "skulking around" while engaged in "industry bickering"). So many quotes and statements in the book are just plain untrue or appear wildly out of context, this space doesn't allow listing them all.

But above all, the most inexcusable aspect of this book is its hypocrisy. At its lowest point, the book takes several demo contractors to task for two tragic fatalities that resulted from building implosions in Glasgow and Canberra, then piles on additional derision via unflattering quotes and personal commentary. Is this warranted? Perhaps. However further on, when describing one of several fatalities suffered by some of his favored sound-biters, Mr. Byles sees fit to hold them completely unaccountable, writing, "In a freak explosion that remains unexplained to this day, the dynamite detonated [and killed the bystander]."

Come again with that? Mr. Byles, the first rule of blasting is that a detonation is never, ever unexplained. OSHA sure found a way to explain it while serving up a record fine for willful safety violations in connection with the event. Similar biased and hypocritical statements are made in other parts of the book, and Mr. Byles never explains why he avoids mentioning the disproportionate long-term OSHA/safety problems associated with his favored spokespeople.

It serves no purpose to mention names of the author's buddies, because that's not the point. It could be anyone. In the end the only name is Jeff Byles, who has gambled his reputation that he could trust his sources as truthful, and has lost his shirt. By constantly striving for the catchiest or kitschiest phrase, bypassing verbal interaction with more than a handful of demolitionists, and playing favorites, Mr. Byles not only misses the mark on accuracy but misses the essence of what it's like to deconstruct structures every day for a living. Which as I recall was the point. Thus it is difficult to imagine how a reader will come away from their experience with a better understanding of this diverse profession.

A charming and thoroughly researched look at architectural destruction.......2005-12-07

According to author/journalist Jeff Byles, we can trace the modern history of building demolition to the Great Fire of London in 1666. With remarkable foresight, diarist Samuel Pepys declared that "unless his Majesty did command houses to be pulled down, nothing could stop the fire." Pepys then "hustled home and buried his wine and Parmesan cheese in the garden." When the Lord Mayor ignored the pleas of Pepys and others, citizen activists took matters into their own hands and with "axes, crowbars, ropes and chains" they chopped firebreaks throughout the city.

Of such fascinating bits is RUBBLE composed, a charming and exceedingly thorough researching of the subject of purposeful architectural destruction. In the last century, rubbling gained a macabrely festive reputation when entrepreneurs in Las Vegas realized that people would pay to see buildings fall. In a non-city that continually recreates itself, "old" hotels and casinos (30 years is antiquated by Vegas standards) can attract a bigger crowd for their collapse than they did for their opening night. The Vegas "rubble-rousers," as Byles cleverly calls them, have brought razing to a high art, with pyrotechnic displays and lavish pre-show advertising.

It's impossible to talk about how a building collapses (it's referred to as "implosion," even though that is, technically speaking, a misnomer) without remembering the World Trade Center's twin towers, the Titanic of the late twentieth century. The towers were skyscrapers whose demise was a sucker punch at the very notion of progress, financial hocus-pocus and technological mega-complexity. Eerie predictions of their ultimate fall were early voiced, with one pundit calling them the "arrogant twins" and another, Cassandra-like, declaring, "There are so many things about gigantism that we don't know." Their doom seemed a foregone and melancholy conclusion to their excess.

Another renowned teardown was the Berlin Wall, so poorly built, it turned out, that getting rid of it was accomplished in the main by the modern equivalent of the citizen activists of London's Great Fire. A 6,000-pound section of it was sent intact to Ronald Reagan for his library, undoubtedly making heavy reading.

Though there has always been demolition, it is only in recent history that buildings are built with their destruction written into the blueprint. Does this strike anyone as morbid, like tagging each newborn infant with its parent's choice of ultimate disposal? Where is Howard Roark when we need his tormented idealism? But the practice seems logical to a civilization that no longer prides itself on permanency. After all, demolition is a big-buck industry, and the fashions of the city-scape change at our merest whim.

Sophisticated subject matter, archly amusing, but sad, sad, sad.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott

Poison Darts: Protecting the Biodiversity of Our World
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What he says needs to be heard

Paradigm Shift

Human nature and our impact on biodiversity

A different look at protecting the environment

A persuasive and learned voice (in the wilderness?)

Poison Darts: Protecting the Biodiversity of Our World
Russell Finley
Manufacturer: Emerald City Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Collections & Readers | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0974293814

Book Description

Volume I is fiction and contains a humorous adventure story about a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting nature preserves around the world.

Finley uses this story as a platform to convey potential solutions to the planet's plight and to show how and why they would work. The characters and their adventures are a fictional matrix in which real sets of solutions have been embedded. The book is filled with high-tech wizardry that already exists, or has the immediate potential to exist, or was being developed as the book was being written.

Volume II is nonfiction and can be read independently from Volume I. It is a collection of essays on the subjects of nature, human nature, evolutionary biology, and the synthesis between them that has put in motion the sixth great extinction event in the history of our planet.

Customer Reviews:

What he says needs to be heard.......2005-05-11

If professional editing is indeed what this book needs to ensure that its message is heard, as some of the reveiwers seem to think, then let us hope a professional editor who cares contacts Russell soon.

As a relatively undemanding reader with a quest to know more, I simply found it easy to read, funny and refreshingly down to earth, realistic and human. I was looking for solutions rather than problems, and solutions that recognised that what drives most adult humans, for better and worse, is greed.

I am someone who has happened rather belatedly upon a concern for the environment, and the critical importance of maintaining bio-diversity, due to finding out about Peak Oil. Having grasped the implications of resource depletion, I immediately fell into a doomsday depression, coupled with a burning desire to impress upon everyone the urgent need to restrain their consumption and live a simple life. Not long after that, I realised the futility of "rioting for austerity". I therefore decided to be optimistic, and place my faith in human ingenuity, like my father's hero Paul Simon, despite mounting evidence that the Ehrlichs were right in all but timing.

One of the many encouraging points that Russell makes in this book is that both Simon and the Ehrlichs were right, and what is more, Simon's point about the potential of human ingenuity to overcome problems means that one plank of Russell's solution - creating well protected reserves of bio-diversity - simply gives humans the opportunity to demonstrate that ingenuity sooner rather than later. (Unfortunately, just to prove how urgent the message is, since publishing the book, the agreement to develop ANWAR has gone ahead - enough oil to last the US 200 days in exchange for an arctic wilderness of inestimable value to future generations. Go figure).

As a former marketing professional, I can quite see how the other plank of his solution - the Take It and Forget It contraceptive (with antidote), for men or women, is a winner - and worthy of investment in research.

When I understood that the likely investment to bring this contraceptive to reality (it is already a partial reality for animals), coupled with the costs of preserving 70% of the world's current biodiversity, is less than the cost of a few days war in IRAQ, I wished I was Bill Gates.

Paradigm Shift.......2004-12-08

Humans are a very successful species. They are so successful that they have circumvented evolution and ecology to a point where significant selection pressures applied to the human population have been nearly severed. With the simple act of passing along DNA, the human population has exploded to an unprecedented level. Over the past several thousands years of human existence on the planet earth, several major technological events occurred that have bumped up the carrying capacity of the population.

For thousands of years, humans were supposedly hunters and gatherers - but, if the truth were known, they were probably more like gatherers and scavengers, since some recent evidence has debunked the image of the "mighty human hunter." At any rate, this lifestyle can only provide support for a limited number of people - and as a result, the human population remained low for thousands of years.

Agriculture was invented around 8 to 9 thousand years ago, no fewer than 10 times by various cultures. Along with this paradigm shift in food management, came stabilized living areas (as opposed to a nomadic existence) and the domestication of animals. The invention of agriculture bumped the carrying capacity significantly - a population increase began.

With the stabilization of humans came cities, industrialization, and manufacturing of goods - first with simple metals, initiating historical periods, like the Bronze and Iron Ages, to the Industrial Revolution, that allowed the population to grow even more.

The Industrial Revolution gave way to the Age of Medicine, and the Space and Computer Ages. These later periods led to the greatest human population explosion ever witnessed. These historical events were the necessary paradigm shifts that allowed the short-changing and short-circuiting of evolution and natural selection.

As a result of this snow-ball effect of passing DNA along from generation to generation, and the lack of a natural "check" on the population that can significantly keep the population to naturally manageable numbers, the environment on earth has experienced a catastrophic and detrimental decrease in biodiversity.

In order to support such a massive and "out of control" human population, natural resources need to be harvested, mined, gathered, and processed at a phenomenal rate. Most of these materials are not renewable, and those that are, cannot be renewed at the rate the human population is growing. With the gathering of natural resources by an irresponsible species, with a lack of understanding of basic biological principles, ecological doom is soon to occur. The earth can handle only so much manipulation. The organic and inorganic cycles of the planet can only function to a certain limit - the biogeochemical cycles have their thresholds - and humans are pushing these cycles to their limits.

Not only is the harvesting of resources detrimental to the planet - but so is the destruction of natural ecosystems to make room for more humans - urban sprawl, city growth, and the development and construction of canals, dams, highways, and related infrastructure are only a few examples of how the environment is being manipulated and fragmented for the benefit of humans.

The past few years have witnessed the explosion of the "Information Age" - the invention of the Internet and the ready exchange of ideas via electronic means. People have the ability to access tons of information that they otherwise would not have access to. Using this to their advantage, environmental groups are reaching out to an otherwise ignorant population, and educating them on the perils of human meddling in the natural systems of the planet. A faint cry can be heard - a cry of concern, shame, and worry. The environment is falling apart, and a crippled scramble is manifesting an attempt to address the environmental damage created by humans. But is it enough? Will humans maintain the status quo of being a creature that doesn't react to a crisis until the 11th hour?

Enter Russ Finley. No doubt he has fretted with these questions throughout his life. What is the solution to this looming "end of the world as we know it?" He is rich with ideas, and he successfully created a means to communication his ideas for the greater good - he wrote a book entitled "Poison Darts."

In this brilliantly written book, divided into two sections, Russ Finley addresses the looming doom head-on. Although part I of the book is science fiction in nature, it presents plausible and reasonable solutions to the human over-population problem. Once the speeding human population freight train is under control, the rape of the earth can stop - and the healing can begin. Part II contains a series of essays of an intellectual character that concentrates on many of the issues discussed and explored in part I.

The first section is about a non-profit group that engineers a pill to neutralize sperm cells and switch the cells over to a non-viable form. This allows the prevention of un-planned pregnancies. It's a clever strategy and if distributed properly, can be very effective in inserting a "check" back into the human population. In addition, the group also starts to set aside and preserve the last undeveloped tracts of land throughout the world. Of course, the group also ensures the properties are protected from poachers, loggers, etc. with an elite team of soldiers, trained to keep the peace and the land safe from unscrupulous people.

As a result of placing a control on the human population, many of the environmental problems and issues have a chance of being reversed. But, it will take a tremendous effort to maintain this new "way of doing things." Russ Finley has thought of nearly everything when writing this fictional account. The story provides plenty of "food for thought" and allows the reader to ponder the fate of the human species, and the planet earth.

The book is sprinkled with scientific facts, which makes it interesting reading. Also, the book is supported by a web page. Uniform resource locators (URLs) are cited throughout the text, and the reader can refer to these URLs for updated links and information. This allows for the text to never be out of date.

The essays in Part II continue the discussion with focused queries into the many environmental issues facing the planet today. The essays can be read independently from Part I and can be read in any order. If you are avid student of the world with an environmental twist, this book is a must-read.

Human nature and our impact on biodiversity.......2004-11-28

A thoughtful, accessible plunge into the subject of human nature and our impact on biodiversity.

Russ Finley, evoking the wit of Studs Terkel, the scientific eye of Jacques Cousteau and the wisdom of Dr. John Gray, takes the reader on a free ranging tour through the historical and current debates on population, biodiversity and the male-female dynamic. Entertaining, educational and always insightful, this well referenced work will have you chuckling as you reassess commonly held beliefs on the environment, politics and the choices we all make in life.

A different look at protecting the environment.......2004-11-27

"Poison Darts" is really two stories in one. Volume I, a quick read, is an entertaining fictional story. It illustrates a world where a clever think tank of specialists, each devoted to protecting the environment in their own special way, basically save the world from certain environmental catastrophe. It all revolves around the "TIFIC" or the "Take It and Forget It Contrapceptive" as it is named in the book, and the effects our ever growing population has on the environment. The story lays out in detail Finley's theory on why our environment is being destroyed and his solutions to many of the most challenging problems our world has ever seen.

Finley, is more realistic than many environmentalists I have ever read the work of. Working on the proven but unaccepted idea that the "noble savage" is a myth, Finley bluntly tells the story of future environmental degredation at human hands. His solutions to the difficulty encountered in preserving the environment are quite different. Instead of the all too familiar approach of just roping off the wilderness, and making laws against environmental damage, Finley proposes that the reason for the destruction of our eco-system is mostly because of the amazing growth in world population over the last 100 years. His pushing for the development of the "TIFIC" is a main theme in this book and he continually discusses the connection between a rapidly growing world population and environmental destruction. His theory of reducing the world population by all but eliminating unwanted pregnancies (using the TIFIC) is the key to saving the environment from human destruction. If there are less people, they will not use as much of the Earth's resources, and thus there will be far less environmental damage. Volume I is a witty, interesting story that gives the reader hope that a solution to the problems that come with preserving biodiversity are possible to impliment.

Volume II is downright scary. Instead of taking place in a fictional world, Finley is dead honest in describing what is happening in our world and why we must act quickly to save the Earth. Finley doesn't tree hug, or say we shouldn't destroy eco-systems because they are beautiful. He explains point blank why the destruction of the eco-system will really hurt human kind and the environment alike, and will most likely lead to irreversible destruction. Finley, and engineer, takes a more analytical look at the problems we face as a planet, and the difficulty caused by not making any attempt to solve such problems.

This book (Volumes I&II) is essential reading for those who care about preserving the planet's biodiversity, and are interested in solving the problems caused by its destruction. This book does not do much finger pointing, just analyzes the main causes of environmental destruction, and presents solutions to such problems.

Finley's analysis of our world and human kind's effect on the environment is well written, descriptive, and realistic in its attempt to solve the problems we will face in the future. This is a great book, I recommend buying this book, and circulating it among your neighbors and friends after you finish reading it.

Enjoy!

A persuasive and learned voice (in the wilderness?).......2004-11-06

This is a two-volume book about a hypothetical contraceptive, the "Take It and Forget It Contraceptive" (TIFIC) which Russ Finley believes is just what the world needs in order to stem its population and prevent the loss of biodiversity.

Here's how a hypothetical TIFIC might work: a vaccine is made that "creates antibodies that deactivate sperm cells by interfering" with "the operation of their little tails." (Vol. I, p. 20) This works for both men and women. Fertility would be restored by having both prospective parents take a daily antidote pill until conception is achieved. Finley's idea is that nearly everybody would want to have the vaccination so that they wouldn't have to worry about unwanted pregnancies--the "take it and forget it" aspect.

In Volume I Finley writes a novel in which a rain forest frog and its tadpole supply the contraceptive and its antidote. The problem with the novel is that it lacks tension and is rather flat emotionally. The characters and the story are primarily vehicles for the dissemination of Finley's ideas. However, Volume Two, which is a collection of Finley's writings on overpopulation and allied concerns, contains some of the best writing on this subject that I have ever read.

Finley's main point, and one that few in the environmental debate seem to get, is that we are NOT going to save the biodiversity of the planet by good intentions or any combination thereof, simply because human nature is such that we will always look out for our own welfare first while the welfare of other beings, especially if they are distant, will be of secondary importance. I once asked a student of mine who wanted to have half a dozen children, if she would be willing to forgo having one of them to save the tigers. She said no.

At least she was honest. Most people would not even give up the convenience of their SUV for the tigers (if such a thing were possible). Indeed, another one of Finley's points is that "There is no mechanism to shift resources" from those who have them in the US to those in, say, Africa, who do not. He believes that the profit motive and status-seeking behaviors of humans override "most ideologies that do not have those drives as part of them." (Vol II, p. 16)

Note well that Finley wants our population to stop growing immediately because the more people there are, the more they will expand and bring about the extinction of other forms of life. Indeed, Finley believes we already have too many people on this planet. I agree with him and his assertion that both Malthus and Paul Ehrlich will ultimately be proven right, and that sophists like the late Julian Simon will be proven wrong.

Here are some examples of Finley's insight and his considerable expertise (page numbers are from Volume II):

"...[O]verpopulation has always been a local problem...When the people of Easter Island were starving to death, the planet was far from overpopulated. The archaeological record is rife with example of populations that have crashed because of overpopulation..." (p. 24)

"I prefer a definition that says you have overpopulation whenever you have people living at the subsistence level. If you assume that people who live on less than $2 a day are at the subsistence level, then roughly half of the people in the world are living in overpopulated boundaries." (p. 53)

"Once a Chinese peasant can afford a scooter, he will obtain one, and when he can afford an SUV, he will obtain one of those too. The instinctive urge to continuously seek higher status does not satiate itself." (p. 56)

"The economic systems available to us fall into a spectrum. At one end, you will find unbridled capitalism and the use of slaves...As you move toward the middle, you will find regulated free markets. This is capitalism with rules in place to limit how badly people with power can abuse those who are making them rich." (p. 76)

"Attempts to reduce CO2 levels are treating the symptoms of what ails our planet, not the cause. The cause is overpopulation--the needs, and the desires of billions of people...Giving aspirin to reduce the discomfort of a fever--global warming--is not as effective as prescribing an antibiotic--the TIFIC--that would reduce the number of agents that caused the fever--us." (p. 92)

"...[T]he people in China and India have an average ecological footprint that is many times lower than yours or mine...[Yet] China's and India's destroyed ecosystems are the perfect experiments showing that lowering one's ecological footprint all the way down to that of a rice eating peasant will not save the planet." (pp. 113-114)

Finally, let me quote from the Prologue to Volume I: "...[How] do you allow people to satiate their status-seeking urges (which are closely related to sexual urges) without allowing them to advertise their prowess with trophies--books, published papers, houses, remodels, or cars? The answer is revealing--you can't. Tell people that they must stop having sex and seeking status is no different than telling them that they must stop walking upright. You couldn't call yourself a normal healthy human if you stopped doing all of those things. You cannot change human nature." (p. iv)

This work would be more effective if Finley would publish the second volume (with the prologue to Volume I) separately. It would also help if he would hire a professional editor. His writing is incisive and persuasive, and what he says needs to be heard. His refutation of Julian Simon was especially instructive. His metaphor that frogs are the canaries in the coal mine that is our planet (and that frogs can save us) is well taken and alarming. Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a frog?

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