Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful, wonderful book to let your son grow up.
Review: Only the first chapter may be boring, but then an epic like wonderfully written adventure story was launched. Two guys from different society levels on an boat experienced the most memorable incidents prior to WWI, and the younger man grew up together with the readers with wonderful feelings. Read this one and then read Stuart Woods' "RUN BEFORE THE WIND" would make your life more fulfilled
Rating: 
Summary: Shifting Sands and Skullduggery
Review: Picture to yourself a strange coast bordered by seven islands and a zone of shifting sands and ship passages that have a sudden way of disappearing at low tide. When a British yachtsman named Davies (one who would feel at home with the grundge look) discovers that a former British naval officer is in very cozy with the Germans -- did I neglect to say that the coast is East Frisia, that part of Germany between the Dutch and Danish borders? -- the mystery becomes not to find out who the guilty party is, but what type of skullduggery is afoot. The narrator is Carruthers, a British civil servant whom Davies talks into joining him under somewhat false pretenses. After some qualms, Carruthers joins in wholeheartedly. From this point on, you are looking at the coastline charts as closely as the principals are (if you don't, you will lose track of the story, which follows geographic features more closely than any other novel in memory). While the action is spectacular, Childers is noticeably weak on character, especially with regard to the sole female character, the German spy's daughter. But you can't always have everything, and what RIDDLE OF THE SANDS (1896) has to offer makes for very good reading.
Rating:
Summary: The first thoroughly modern fictional spy story
Review: The author invents a genre. Long may this book remain in print. Many an aspiring spy writer would be well rewarded by studying Childers' writing. For the rest of us, Riddle of the Sands is plain good reading.
Rating:
Summary: Always a delight
Review: This book has been described to me both as "the best Yachting Book written" and "The book that saved Britain". Written in part as a wake-up call to the British Public at the turn of the last century -Childers (no stranger to Whitehall politics) was terrified that existing British strategy left the country wide open to an invasion from Germany- and in part as a celebration of a lifelong passion for boats and boating, the book "works" brilliantly. Even non-yachting enthusiasts will be drawn into the story, and those of us who have worked our way along a foggy coast by chart and compass will appreciate Childers' attention to detail and faithfulness to his subject. Overall I found the two principal characters well drawn, but the Germans are a bit cartoonish, and the hint of Romance towards the end was an un-needed distraction, other than that, this is a quite-un-put-downable novel of adventire & daring that MAY just have changed the course of history.
Rating:
Summary: Always a delight
Review: This book has been described to me both as "the best Yachting Book written" and "The book that saved Britain". Written in part as a wake-up call to the British Public at the turn of the last century -Childers (no stranger to Whitehall politics) was terrified that existing British strategy left the country wide open to an invasion from Germany- and in part as a celebration of a lifelong passion for boats and boating, the book "works" brilliantly. Even non-yachting enthusiasts will be drawn into the story, and those of us who have worked our way along a foggy coast by chart and compass will appreciate Childers' attention to detail and faithfulness to his subject. Overall I found the two principal characters well drawn, but the Germans are a bit cartoonish, and the hint of Romance towards the end was an un-needed distraction, other than that, this is a quite-un-put-downable novel of adventire & daring that MAY just have changed the course of history.
Rating:
Summary: Always a delight
Review: This book has been described to me both as "the best Yachting Book written" and "The book that saved Britain". Written in part as a wake-up call to the British Public at the turn of the last century -Childers (no stranger to Whitehall politics) was terrified that existing British strategy left the country wide open to an invasion from Germany- and in part as a celebration of a lifelong passion for boats and boating, the book "works" brilliantly. Even non-yachting enthusiasts will be drawn into the story, and those of us who have worked our way along a foggy coast by chart and compass will appreciate Childers' attention to detail and faithfulness to his subject. Overall I found the two principal characters well drawn, but the Germans are a bit cartoonish, and the hint of Romance towards the end was an un-needed distraction, other than that, this is a quite-un-put-downable novel of adventire & daring that MAY just have changed the course of history.
Rating:
Summary: Adventure in Northern Germany
Review: This book is often referred to as the first spy novel, and it is not wrong. However, to appreciate the novel, you have to know beforehand several things. But, don't worry, that is not much. The story is narrated by an English gentleman Currthuers, who received an unexpected invitation of duck shooting from an old friend Davies. Being tired of his neglected position in "society," he accepts it to go to the North Sea only to find that he is involved in a mystery, or "the riddle of the Sands." His friend claims there's something in the air, something hiding behind the misty coast of Germany. But how can they prove it? As a story, "The Riddle of the Sands" is far from perfect. It is full of authentic descriptions of local landscapes (the author actually cruised his yacht there), but at the same time frequent reference to the geographical data and nautical terms are a bit wearisome to readers, and moreover, the narrator often refers us to the maps in the appendix. Those things only slow down the action of the novel, and actually the book sometimes has to go through lull. But, wait a while. The story gets gradually faster, and as the adventure of the heroes slowly gets near to the core of the plot, the tale becomes more and more gripping. Though characters sometimes are just more than cardboard (and especially female part is poorly done), your patience will be rewarded. It is well-known that Sherlock Holmes in "His Last Bow" turns a spy for his country, and says "There's an east wind coming." The meaning of what Holmes says is clear to the comtemporary people, and Childers, a politician, also wrote his book not as an amusement but as a warning to England about the coming threat of Germany, and actually "The Riddles of the Sands" was written about 10 years before WW1 began. In this historical context too, the book is interesting, and the tediousness of the opening chapters is justified if you keep it in mind that it is meant for Childers's sarcasm against indifference and complacency among the English people (talking of English complacency, we remember later in 1938, immediately before WW2, Alfred Hitchcock again uses it as a satire in his thriller "The Lady Vanishes" with brilliantly silly two British gentlemen who are more concerned with cricket games than surrounding danger). People don't change. So, the book itself is still enjoyable, but these historical matters will make it more precious; after all, it is one of the proof how people reacted to the coming change in the history of mankind. And if you're interested in this kind of book (I mean, books reflects German-England relationship), check out "The Battel of Dorking" by George Chesney (written in 1871) and "When William Came" (in 1913) by Saki once.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Thriller With Attitude
Review: This book is often referred to as the first spy novel, and it is not wrong. However, to appreciate the novel, you have to know beforehand several things. But, don't worry, that is not much. The story is narrated by an English gentleman Currthuers, who received an unexpected invitation of duck shooting from an old friend Davies. Being tired of his neglected position in "society," he accepts it to go to the North Sea only to find that he is involved in a mystery, or "the riddle of the Sands." His friend claims there's something in the air, something hiding behind the misty coast of Germany. But how can they prove it? As a story, "The Riddle of the Sands" is far from perfect. It is full of authentic descriptions of local landscapes (the author actually cruised his yacht there), but at the same time frequent reference to the geographical data and nautical terms are a bit wearisome to readers, and moreover, the narrator often refers us to the maps in the appendix. Those things only slow down the action of the novel, and actually the book sometimes has to go through lull. But, wait a while. The story gets gradually faster, and as the adventure of the heroes slowly gets near to the core of the plot, the tale becomes more and more gripping. Though characters sometimes are just more than cardboard (and especially female part is poorly done), your patience will be rewarded. It is well-known that Sherlock Holmes in "His Last Bow" turns a spy for his country, and says "There's an east wind coming." The meaning of what Holmes says is clear to the comtemporary people, and Childers, a politician, also wrote his book not as an amusement but as a warning to England about the coming threat of Germany, and actually "The Riddles of the Sands" was written about 10 years before WW1 began. In this historical context too, the book is interesting, and the tediousness of the opening chapters is justified if you keep it in mind that it is meant for Childers's sarcasm against indifference and complacency among the English people (talking of English complacency, we remember later in 1938, immediately before WW2, Alfred Hitchcock again uses it as a satire in his thriller "The Lady Vanishes" with brilliantly silly two British gentlemen who are more concerned with cricket games than surrounding danger). People don't change. So, the book itself is still enjoyable, but these historical matters will make it more precious; after all, it is one of the proof how people reacted to the coming change in the history of mankind. And if you're interested in this kind of book (I mean, books reflects German-England relationship), check out "The Battel of Dorking" by George Chesney (written in 1871) and "When William Came" (in 1913) by Saki once.
Rating:
Summary: Evocative, thrilling, nostalgic
Review: This book was recommended by an acquaintance who knew I came from Friesland. In fact I lived the first six years of my life, during the war, on the North Sea coast opposite the Frisian Islands (the Shallows lying between).So the story had particular resonance and I could see the actual land/seascape in my memory. Quit apart from that it was a great story with all the necessary elements of a good read: great and believable plot, well-developed characters, and lots and varied action and suspense. The descriptions of the land and sea rang very true. One of my favourite books. Hope I can get hold of the Movie.
Rating:
Summary: 5 +
Review: This is one that is a keeper. No matter how I thin my shelves, this one stays! There are comments about style..plot..etc., the reader must keep in mind the era this was written in. This was before the Nasty Nazis, but did project a, even then, German thinking about control in Europe. Besides, it is a ripping good yarn, matey!
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