Rating: 
Summary: The Terrible Hours
Review: I like the way that Peter Maas wrote the book cause you feel like you're in it by all the details in the book. But, I thought it was bad for all the men to go down, but I thought it was cool that all but one was rescued in the sub. It was a long time for them and it was not cool that they when down cause of the vents in the Squalas because the Christmas tree board. It was the best rescue under water ever in history. I thought it was a god idea that Momsen came up with the suit but, they didn't use that they used a chamber and brought and got all them men air before so, that they could live longer so, that they could be rescue I thought it was amazing that they got the sub and men back and the sub, back the work just under name Sailfish and not under the Squalas. So, I thought it a 4 Star book for history people to read.
Rating: 
Summary: The Terrible Hours a good book
Review: I found this book so interesting I didn't want to put it down. The story was amazing with attention paid to the suspense, the drama, the tragedy and the personal tales of the sailors who were part of it all. I was emotionally involved with the story and would count Swede Momsen as a hero of the Navy and our country. Maas' efforts to acquire for Momsen the recognition he deserves are flawlessly executed as an undercurrent to the story and a prologue. A fantastic read.
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Summary: Swede Momsen and the Rescue and Salvage of the USS Squalus
Review: Peter Maas, an ex-Navy man himself, has done a masterful job with this recounting of the U.S. Navy's greatest prewar submarine disaster. Written in a matter-of-fact style, he takes us through the sinking and salvage of the Squalus in the days when deep-ocean diving was in its infancy. He also acquaints us with a man whose work in underwater operations is at least as important as that of Jacques Cousteau, Commander Charles "Swede" Momsen. The rescue of the Squalus's survivors and her subsequent salvaging by Momsen and his dive unit is only half the story. The rest of it concerns Momsen's determination to insure that the tragedies of the S-4 and the S-51, lost with all hands in peacetime accidents with their crews unable to escape from their sunken boats, would not be repeated if he could help it. Helium-oxygen diving gas, rescue chambers, the first self-contained underwater breathers using heli-ox, the first attempts to provide submariners with emergency rescue breathers, all are products of Momsen's fertile mind and driving personality. His impact on the Navy is still felt today, including in modern submarine design. In his own way, Swede Momsen's influence on submarines is as important as that of Mush Morton, the wartime sub skipper sans peur. I can recommend this book unreservedly to anyone interested in submarines, ocean salvage, deep-sea diving, or page-turning sea stories. It's worth the reader's time to learn of this unsung American hero and his work.
Rating: 
Summary: Unabridged audio - poor narrator
Review: The story is great, but the narrator of the unabridged audio is not. His misplaced emphasis and intonation are very distracting -- instead of listening to the story, I keep noticing the poor narration. This is a dense enough story, with many characters, that it would have been a little difficult to listen to anyway. But of the 15-20 audiobooks I've listened to, this had the worst narrator.
Rating:
Summary: A Separate Peace
Review: A Separate Peace is an amazing book, which explores the innermost thoughts of mankind. There is rarely a dull moment in the book. The author does an excellent job of creating a closeness with the reader and the characters. This book has many symbols in it. A Separate Peace teaches great life long lessons. Its main purpose is to show that every person fight a war within themselves and they spend their lives defending themselves against this inner enemy. These inner changes take place regardless of what is happening in the world. I would highly reccomend this book to all teenagers, but guys specifically.
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Summary: A Gripping Tale of Heroism and Survival
Review: In May of 1939, The U.S.S Squalus, the Navy's newest submarine, was finishing her trials off the East Coast when something went terribly wrong. A hatch which was shown to be closed on the sub's control pannel was left open and thousands of gallons of water poured into the submarine as she was executing a test dive. The sub plunged to a depth of over two hundred feet. Thirty three men out of a crew of fifty nine survived as the sub landed on the bottom, but no crewmen had ever been rescued from such a depth. "Swede" Momsen, the developer of the Momsen lung and the submarine rescue chamber, was summoned by the Navy to assist in the rescue. It is in this part of the book where Maas does his best work. He tells Momsen's story with brilliant detail and puts the reader on the deck as the brave divers attempt to attach the diving chamber to the deck of the Squallus. Due to the heroic efforts of Momsen and his crew, the thirty three survivors are eventually rescued. But Momsen's work didn't end here. These same men also accomplished the amazing feat of actually raising the Squallus to the surface and returning her to port. This book describes in great detail the story of Swede Momsen and his heroic group of divers, who, despite over 600 individual dives, did not lose a single diver. This book also points out Momsen's other contributions to the submarine community, such as the development of wolfpacks, where a group of three submarines hunted enemy shiping as a group, and the correction of the faulty torpedo detonators which failed to explode. Swede Momsen had a huge part in the development of the American submarine fleet, and this excellent book is a fitting tribute to him and his brave men. I highly recommend this excellent book to anyone who enjoys submarines or good old fashioned heroism and courage.
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