Piloting the Panama Canal: Experiences of a Panama Canal Pilot

Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable true adventure tale
Review: Piloting the Panama Canal, Experiences of a Panama Canal Pilot, is a remarkable true tale of adventure you won't forget. You will meet Noriega, and other characters you already know from newspapers. You will know the life of `Zonians' - the Americans stationed in Panama who are leaving now that Panama gets its canal, for good or not-good. You will travel the canal with Russian captains and with East Indians. You'll be there and you will come back from your book-travel knowing more than you did before.

Rating:
Summary: A thrilling true adventure story
Review: Piloting the Panama Canal, Experiences of a Panama Canal Pilot, is a remarkable true tale of adventure you won't forget. You will meet Noriega, and other characters you already know from newspapers. You will know the life of 'Zonians' - the Americans stationed in Panama who are leaving now that Panama gets its canal, for good or not-good. You will travel the canal with Russian captains and with East Indians. You'll be there and you will come back from your book-travel knowing more than you did before.

Rating:
Summary: Gives You That Sinking Feeling
Review: This book is a mess. It reads in the third person, and the central character isn't the name of the author, so confusion sets in right away. Is it a biography? Is it a failed novel? Nautical terms are dropped without explanation, and anecdotes don't make sense because there's no framing concept in which to understand them. Pilots are almost universally portrayed as dysfunctional, raging alcoholics with blustery egos. Everybody drinks and drinks. There's so much alcohol fueling this book you'll wake up with a hangover. The dialogue is wooden and forced. While the story appears to be deeply personal, it is to such a point that the reader learns a lot more about the author than about Panama, its history, the Panama Canal, and first-hand relations between the U.S. and the Panamanians. A lack of maps and photos make references to geographical points almost useless.

Rating:
Summary: Gives You That Sinking Feeling
Review: This book is a mess. It reads in the third person, and the central character isn't the name of the author, so confusion sets in right away. Is it a biography? Is it a failed novel? Nautical terms are dropped without explanation, and anecdotes don't make sense because there's no framing concept in which to understand them. Pilots are almost universally portrayed as dysfunctional, raging alcoholics with blustery egos. Everybody drinks and drinks. There's so much alcohol fueling this book you'll wake up with a hangover. The dialogue is wooden and forced. While the story appears to be deeply personal, it is to such a point that the reader learns a lot more about the author than about Panama, its history, the Panama Canal, and first-hand relations between the U.S. and the Panamanians. A lack of maps and photos make references to geographical points almost useless.