Rating: 
Summary: Don't miss this one!
Review: I have read this book twice and plan to read it again. This well-written account brings the reader into the life raft for a reading experience like no other. It is educational, exciting, and insightful. I couldn't put it down once I started.
There are a few adventure books (i.e. Touching the Void and Into Thin Air) that cross boundaries and draw in all types of readers. This is certainly on of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Makes You Thankful
Review: I started reading this book because I wanted a great adventure story. This is not an adventure story. This is on the edge of death pure human suffering. Callahan is a very skilled seaman and very lucky man. His story is riveting and told very well. His story is so interesting, his writing skill, though quite good, really isn't necessary to read the book cover to cover. This book has many places where you want to sit down and cry with the man. I'm really tempted to give five stars, but I really wanted more information about his readjustment when he got back to land, but it ended fairly abruptly. Still, I feel I know Callahan's Dorado fish, his raft, and his feelings pretty well. He did a great job.
Rating:
Summary: Makes You Thankful
Review: I started reading this book because I wanted a great adventure story. This is not an adventure story. This is on the edge of death pure human suffering. Callahan is a very skilled seaman and very lucky man. His story is riveting and told very well. His story is so interesting, his writing skill, though quite good, really isn't necessary to read the book cover to cover. This book has many places where you want to sit down and cry with the man. I'm really tempted to give five stars, but I really wanted more information about his readjustment when he got back to land, but it ended fairly abruptly. Still, I feel I know Callahan's Dorado fish, his raft, and his feelings pretty well. He did a great job.
Rating:
Summary: Water water everywhere!
Review: I'm an avid sailor, but I've never been out of sight of land. This memoir offers a lucid first hand glimpse of life adrift in the middle of the Atlantic, literally thousands of miles from salvation. Callahan captures the highs and lows of his 76 day ordeal in simple, sparse prose that focuses largely on his daily struggle to distill fresh water and catch fish with rapidly failing equipment in sweltering heat and choppy seas. Did I mention the periodic shark encounters? All in all, this is a gripping tale that left me feeling quite grateful for the myriad modern conveniences that we all take for granted. Somehow Callahan's daily intimacy with basic survival also left me longing for a simpler life, one with fewer proxies standing between me and my basic needs.
Rating:
Summary: A Truly Scary Tale At Sea
Review: Steven Callahan is a blessed man. This true story is one of the most harrowing accounts of survival in a truly hopeless situation. He capsizes in minutes in the middle of the night with a raft and not much more. Nobody knows he's missing. No one is looking for him.Told with desperation and some much needed occasional humor, Callahan paints a story so real and frought with fear that you can read it in one sitting. It is difficult to imagine what one would do in a similiar situation and the very thought of it is spine tingling. This is a tale for every person who ever took to the water and every adventurer who feels safe in thier environment. You will never take the ocean for granted again after reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Truly Scary Tale At Sea
Review: Steven Callahan is a blessed man. This true story is one of the most harrowing accounts of survival in a truly hopeless situation. He capsizes in minutes in the middle of the night with a raft and not much more. Nobody knows he's missing. No one is looking for him. Told with desperation and some much needed occasional humor, Callahan paints a story so real and frought with fear that you can read it in one sitting. It is difficult to imagine what one would do in a similiar situation and the very thought of it is spine tingling. This is a tale for every person who ever took to the water and every adventurer who feels safe in thier environment. You will never take the ocean for granted again after reading this book.
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Summary: Man:1 Nature:0
Review: Steven Callahan's "Adrift" is an exciting and intellectually deep tale of one man's survival. When bad weather arises, a storm turns Steven's sailboat upside down. Watching his dreams go under, Steven readies himself and few supplies onto an inflatable life-raft, and prepares for a journey that will change his life forever. Fighting off dehydration, starvation, and even sharks, Callahan struggles to stay alive, and finds new meaning to what being "alive" really means. Seventy-six days pass, as well as many ships that miss him, before the author finds his place in nature, and ultimately, the key to survival. "Amazing" is an understatement to Callahan's writing. Whether you're a sailor, fisherman, or any other outdoorsman, this is the book for you!
Rating:
Summary: 76 days across a "wet desert"...
Review: Superbly written, which is why the book transcends the basic story of survival. Steve Callahan's ample opportunities for introspection weren't wasted, and this makes some of the best reading. In addition, reading this book is like watching a movie where the hero seems most certainly fated to die, buy you know he won't(or "doesn't" in this case). I eventually wanted to just skip to the rescue because I couldn't bear to read of any more disappointment, disillusionment, equipment loss or failures, or physical or mental suffering. Right up there with my favorite true-life read, "Hacksaw".
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Summary: English Review .....AR
Review: The book I read was Adrift by Heather I Auburn. This was one of the best books I have read. Adrift has a lot of action and suspense to it and always left me on the edge of my seat. I think I enjoyed this book the most for all of the other books I have read because of how it was non-fiction and how this could of actually had happened to an every day person.
The book took place in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where a man by the name of Steven Callahan had found himself adrift at sea. Mr. Callahan is an expert ship builder who has built ships for many years and had never had a problem with any of them until this time where his ship was sank after a storm. Mr. Callahan used his spare lifeboat to keep himself above the water. He also managed to rescue 6 pounds of food and 3 pints of fresh water. In this book Mr. Callahan has to figure out and learn how to stay alive for 76 days until helps gets to him. He has to also learn how to obtain food and fresh water while using only the few supplies that he has in his lifeboat.
In this book there was a lot descriptive language. This was not a very hard book to read but had a lot of descriptive word explaining how Callahan was able to make something to obtain fresh water and food. The inventions were described very good so that the reader would be able to visualize what the invention looked like and how it was used. As I read the book I was able to accomplish what I believe the reader was trying to get out to his audience and how he felt at the time when he had no food.
The most interesting thing about this book is how this event had actually occurred in real life and was not a fiction story. It shows the story of someone's life and how they have overcome so many obstacles in his life. I think after reading this book that I have taken more appreciation for some of the things that I have in life. I have also learn that things can change in a second if you are not ready for it you may not have a second chance.
This is a great book for all readers. I think that this book is very good for people that enjoy a lot action and suspense. It is also a good book for people that liked the movie Castaway. This book has a lot of interesting facts and shows how someone can not only run in to obstacles but also can learn to overcome them.
Rating:
Summary: A great survival book!
Review: This book is an excellent ocean survival story that kept me throughly entertained from start to finish. Honestly I couldn't put the book down. This book will change the way you look at your life. After you finish reading it, you won't take the simple things in life for granted anymore. If you enjoy true life adventure and survival books, then I suggest you read this one, it's excellent.
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