A remarkable memoir, by turns funny and deeply moving, of one man's coming into his calling and his transformation from ambivalent Ivy League grad ...
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Feb 08, 2012
Loren
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Zac Unger grew up in Oakland, California with a desire to rescue people. He channeled that into scuba diving and studying to become a forest ranger until his mother encouraged him to become a fireman.
Rather than telescoping chapters that evolve from one another, Working Fire unfolds in a series of essays. This makes for some odd jumps in time where the reader senses quite a lot must have happened to get Unger where he was when the story unfolded. One of those leaps seems central to the More...
Rather than telescoping chapters that evolve from one another, Working Fire unfolds in a series of essays. This makes for some odd jumps in time where the reader senses quite a lot must have happened to get Unger where he was when the story unfolded. One of those leaps seems central to the More...
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Feb 08, 2012
Ann
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Since my husband is a firefighter, I've read quite a few books on the subject. I mostly read them because I find they're all over the house; they wouldn't normally be my first choice. Compared to other firefighting books, this is 5 stars. Working Fire stands out because it reads like it was written by an honest to God paycheck-earning author, not just a firefighter who has some good stories to tell. I can't remember the last time I read a book that is this well written. The author IS a firefight
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Oct 29, 2010
Bill
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Lexile: 1070
Very much in the style of Jon Krakauer. Working fire is a lucid, articulate treatment of a field that very few of us truly understand. The writer is analytical without being tedious. At times, the text is hard to put down; at others, it gets a little prosaic. I got Tim O'Brien vibes at times.
Words of Wisdom: The word "firefighter" has a strange connotation. It seems like a natural cousin to "crime fighter," but it's different. Fire fightin More...
Very much in the style of Jon Krakauer. Working fire is a lucid, articulate treatment of a field that very few of us truly understand. The writer is analytical without being tedious. At times, the text is hard to put down; at others, it gets a little prosaic. I got Tim O'Brien vibes at times.
Words of Wisdom: The word "firefighter" has a strange connotation. It seems like a natural cousin to "crime fighter," but it's different. Fire fightin More...
Feb 08, 2012
Rodney
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An enjoyable read no doubt, but as a fellow firefighter, I found it a bit over-dramatized at times. No offense to Mr. Unger, but constantly referring to his gear as "smoke-stained" and "blackened" was just a little over the top for me by the end. It seems as though Mr. Unger, to his credit, felt it his responsibility to keep alive the myth of the heroic firefighter, as I assume many of the readers of this book will be non-fire service individuals. I certainly could relate
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Aug 02, 2011
Alexis
rated it: 
Eloquent and fascinating. Those are the two words I can think of to sum up this book. Zac not only lets you inside the brotherhood of his job, but inside his mind as well. I originally heard of him through the story of his daughter, but his own story is extremely riveting as well and an excellent read.
May 09, 2008
Ann
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I see that this book has an average rating of under 3.8. What those people were thinking, I cannot imagine. I found this book absolutely fascinating. Unger, the son of an upper-middle-class Oakland Jewish family, was always drawn to outdoors work and went into firefighting almost on a whim, not realizing that many men try for years to get into a company like Oakland's. What he learned, in his training and on the job, reflects on how we run our cities, how we treat our elderly, our poor, our
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Aug 23, 2011
Noah
rated it:
There's nothing exceptional about this book, but Unger is a pretty good observer and the world he inhabits is too juicy to resist. A pretty good read overall.
Feb 08, 2012
Juanitomandujano
rated it:
The book speaks for itself. Zac Unger needed a purpose in life and he found it in an application for the Oakland Fire Department that his mama went and got for him. Not really a slacker, but unsure what he wanted to do in life, he went to school basically to become a biologist despite the fact he hated biology, but he only chose that major because he enjoyed being outdoors.
Long story short, this is his story of his days at the tower, as the academy was referred to as, and about his More...
Long story short, this is his story of his days at the tower, as the academy was referred to as, and about his More...
Feb 15, 2010
Laurie
rated it:
picked this one up from the NY state fireman's museum. this book was SO FUNNY and TRUE! no matter where you are a firefighter, the things Unger talks about in his book are constants across the board. from the training academy to rookie school to finally feeling comfortable and knowledgeable in the station, his account of the oakland fire department is just like all the rest. this is comforting and finally makes me understand why people keep calling this career a "brotherhood".
Jan 18, 2012
Derek
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This is a great book for anyone who has ever wondered what it is firemen do and why they do it.
Mar 12, 2008
Carol
rated it:
So far, I am completely engrossed in this book, and that's not good, because I have other books I HAVE to read for my YA Lit class. The author has an eye for descriptions, and funny comments about the process of becoming a fireman. I've been reading portions aloud to my family. I never knew reading about firefighters could be so interesting.
Dec 16, 2009
Cathal
rated it:
Great book, about being an Oakland firefighter, after graduating from Deep Springs and applying on a whim. He's lucky. He talks very little about the medic side of his work, which made me sad, since this is 70 to 80 percent of the job, even in Oakland, I imagine. The fire scenes and the culture are spot on.
Feb 08, 2012
Traci
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this was a hard book for me to push through for some reason, but i just kept going forward with it.
it was alright, not my favorite.
it was alright, not my favorite.
Aug 21, 2010
Jessica
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My firefighter husband recommended reading this book to get a perspective of his career through another mans writings.
Feb 21, 2012
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