Rating: 
Summary: Worked for me..
Review: The strength for me of this book is that for once the sea isn't disguised as a person with human-like "emotions." This is not "The Cruel Sea". Junger sets his story in the impacable worlds of physics and economics. Want to know HOW the sea can rise to heights no vessel can endure? Junger will tell you. Want to know WHY men and women risk the graveyard shoals of the Grand Banks - Junger will explain the economics of fish. It gives an inexorable inevitability to the tragedy that follows.Junger has been described as writing like "a poet who went to meteorology school." He is not a poet. His style, for the most part, is workmanlike. But he tells his tale without undue dramatics, letting the events speak for themselves - while the main character, the sea, sits massively at the outer limit of our human comprehension. Start this book and it is like running downhill at the edge of control; you know the ending is not going to be pretty, but it isn't that easy to stop.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping to the last breath
Review: I heard from a friend that this book was great. Then I saw the trailer to the upcoming movie and decided to read it before the movie came out. I have never been so engaged by a book before. I read this book faster than I have ever read a book. From the simple descriptions of the bars of the local town, to the frightening detail of what it feels like when you drown. This book never falls short of interesting, and will terrify you to go near a boat again. True writing in it's highest form. Not only do I give praise to the author, but my sympathies to the men who perished in this perfect storm. A+
Rating:
Summary: The Cold Hard Truth Perfect Stories are NonfictionAdventure
Review: Appreciate adventure stories? Read THE PERFECT STORM. Life experiences enrich readers depth of knowledge. Board the Andrea Gail and live on the edge without leaving your easy chair. Forget the critics who toss barbs. The book is a good read. You will also appreciate the efforts of rescurers who manhandle the sea to save others. Another interesting adventure I found was about two unlikely candidates -- two woodsmen. What a romantic gamble they took! Told from Richard Smith's vantage of living with his role model, Noah John Rondeau, Smith's life time friend, twenty-five years his senior, the book LIFE WITH NOAH takes readers to the wilds of the Adirondack Mountains of the 1930s. Living a hermit's life in the remote Cold River country Smith regales his experiences (often on the verge of survival) in common language that borders on beautiful prose when he waxes about the beauty of nature. His story entertains and teaches about life's simple gifts. Few would follow the life route of these men but all can benefit from their experiences. THE HUNGRY OCEAN and ISAAC'S STORM are two other water-based action stories.
Rating:
Summary: Very engaging
Review: Other reviews mentioned Krakauer books either by way of comparison or context. I read his "Into the Wild" right before I read "The Perfect Storm" and the former doesn't approach the latter in terms of excitement or storytelling. The Junger book is about a particular ship, yes, but it is informed by many other relevant stories. This book is a very compelling (and scary) look at what happened in a storm, not just what happened to a single ship in a storm. That it ends up being about much more than the Andrea Gail doesn't detract from the work at all. My only experience with Krakauer was that his book was a scattered, slightly interesting, stretched-out magazine article only sometimes about his subject and often about himself. Stick with Junger.
Rating: 
Summary: Disjointed account of Sea Tragedy
Review: I was very excited to read this book. It had been recommended by friends who had also suggested to me "Into Thin Air", the account of the Everest tragedy by John Krakauer. In my opinion, Krakauer's book is infinitely better if only because Krakauer was actually on the mountain during the horrific events and therefore was able to convey extra detail. The problem with this book is that it is not sure what it wants to do. It begins by outlining the lives of the crew of the Andrea Gail (AG), a ship that was lost in 'the perfect storm'. Once the chronology enters the time of the storm, however, everything written about the AG is pure speculation, because the details about the fate of the AG are unknown. Intead, Junger weaves the tales of others (survivors) caught in the same storm, all the while speculating about the fate of the AG. I ended up losing interest in the AG and feeling shortchanged on details about people on the other boats and the rescuers dispatched to help them. It is almost as if these other individuals are fictional characters. The crew of the AG is worth memorializing, but I would have rather seen more of the book dedicated to learning more about the other people that experienced this storm. Then, their testimonies carry more meaning and human interest. On the other hand, this book was very fascinating in its accounts of certain issues: ocean conditions during a severe storm, what a boat/crew might experience if faced with such a storm, and life in the fishing industry. If you want to learn about these issues and do not expect such a compelling story, I do recommend this book. Otherwise, try Krakauer's book instead.
Rating:
Summary: Melodrama on the High Seas
Review: It's easy to see why this book was such a huge bestseller, as Junger weaves a tragic love story in with a tale of men doing manly work, the wrath of mother nature, and peppers with a dash of science lending what is a mythic tale an aura of detachment. The book centers on a fishing trawler which (presumably) sank in the Atlantic during a horrific storm in 1991 and the men who crewed it. Junger's interviews with their surviving loved ones, sailors who were caught in the same storm, and others who survived similiar near-death experiences form the compelling core of the book, as he recreates the buildup to the trip, the fishing, and the storm. Along the way are excursions into the history of commerical fishing, trawler design, fluid dynamics, meterology, and many other tangents. It's a good, melodramatic tale, and when you're done, you can see why it's being made as a big Hollywood movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much technical hype
Review: This book starts out with good intentions but it becomes too bogged down with technical hype. I have a scientific background yet I became too bored with some parts of the text. The rescues in the latter section were highly captivating
Rating:
Summary: Mildly Engaging
Review: This book was only mildly interesting. Yes, I was saddened by the account of the lives lost during this storm, however the author really doesn't do a good job of telling the 'story' of the Andrea Gail. He seems to jump from the story to history, to the story, to weather facts, and then back to the story. It is very distracting. Also, there just isn't that much of a story to tell with respect to the Andrea Gail - the boat sailed into a storm and was never heard from again. I was much more interested in the stories of the sailboat with the two women on it, (Sorry, I've forgotten the name of the boat) and the helicopter rescues. At least there was some survivor information available here. My only reason for finishing the book was to try to imagine how it will all be portrayed in the upcoming motion picture.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against The Sea
Review: This is a riveting read about the downing of the Andrea Gail. Junger explains the dangers of fishing given extreme and not so extreme weather conditions. Gives the reader a greater appreciation for seaman who choose this way of life. Added appreciation for the Coast Guard and other agencies that provide rescue efforts for any size vessel traveling the open seas.
Rating:
Summary: Some of the technical 3-d info was slow, but took off ..
Review: from there. I disagree with the reader below that states that these men are portrayed as money spending alcoholics. If you don't live the life, you can't make that judgment in my view. It takes a certain type of person to live that life, take that risk, and be separated from family like that. I refuse to look at these people in the context of 9-to-5 terms. In my twenties, I went out a lot, lived paycheck to paycheck, but just happened to do it in a business suit. Having spent five years scuba diving off of Cape Ann, I have a whole new appreciation for the people of the area and the world in which they live. I personally don't relate well to the 3-dimensional discriptions of the bait and tackle, so I breezed over that. The weather information, storm descriptions, etc. were horrifying. The end was a bit chilling. I wish the author put a glossary of terms (may be with diagrams) so that terms like "beam-to" were more understandable to those of us not involved in sea-life. I would also have loved to see pictures of the storm, a typical "sword boat" and perhaps some of the people involved. All in all, a good read.
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