false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1185290445m/1566172.jpg 1566172 2 Container ships lack the literary appeal of other, more romantic vessels, such as pirate ships and sail boats, and as a result their stories aren't often told. But as Richard Pollak demonstrates in <I>The Colombo Bay</I>, there's plenty to talk about. After all, a quick glance around your living room probably reveals numerous items imported from overseas and container ships are how they got to you. In 2001, after securing passage as an observer aboard a massive container ship bound from Hong Kong to New York via the Suez Canal, Pollak was just about to begin his journey when the 9/11 attacks struck, throwing the world into tremendous uncertainty. Pollak chose to go ahead with the trip but his trepidation serves as an appropriate undercurrent to the uncertainty that the crews of these ships face every day. Though the ships are enormous and strong, they live under a constant cloud of potential disaster. Piracy, far from being the stuff of old movies, is very much alive in the modern world, often with container ships being the victims. Storms, the threat of running aground, stowaways, and the possibility of being an unwitting accomplice to global terrorism are always top of mind for the people operating these massive, and massively important, pieces of machinery. Pollak approaches his journey with a dogged curiosity and a refreshing dash of naïveté that, combined with his skilled storytelling, make for a compelling read. He finds the accommodations more civilized than one might expect from such a utilitarian craft and a crew that, while they are used to the hardships of nautical life, are real people trying to cope with a profession that keeps them from their families for months at a time. Aside from a near miss with Hurricane Karen off the North American coast, nothing much dramatic happens during Pollak's ride on the <I>Colombo Bay</I>. But that inactivity, coupled with the constant possibility of palpable danger, provides an accurate depiction of life aboard a container ship. --<I>John Moe</I> 1558763 30 12 2003 The Colombo Bay total:5|5:2|4:1|3:2| 5 20 8 3 5 1 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Tue Jul 24 08:20:53 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 24 08:22:18 -0700 2007
Like the stranger at a party who captures your interest in a never considered before topic by both illuminating it in...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Nov 13 19:45:55 -0800 2008 Mon Apr 20 16:57:23 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 12:18:44 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 12:26:28 -0700 2008 The Box, I was inspired to read this book by reading William Gibson's Spook Country. Pollak's book is compulsively readable, a travelogue of his journey from Hong Kong to New York on the containership Colombo Bay. The book is balanced evenly between Pollak's equally skillful descriptions of sai...more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Apr 20 17:15:17 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 17:15:17 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 15 10:49:54 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 10:49:59 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Thu Oct 16 20:01:00 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 16 20:01:00 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Jan 05 20:58:53 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 05 20:58:53 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Sat Oct 20 20:15:28 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 20 20:15:28 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1566172