Includes a section of b&w photos and one section of color plates. In the fall of 1991, two deep wreck divers discovered a World War II German U-boa...
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Jan 17, 2012
Jessica
rated it: 
Holy moly. I didn't think that this book would be as amazing as it was. I had thought it'd be a rather dry telling of an awesome discovery, but it was so much more than that.
Mr. Kurson was able to tell John Chatterton and Richie Kohler's stories so that it read just like that, a story. His tone was honest and even, his research was obvious. There were points where I had to remind myself that this wasn't fiction.
I truly appreciated the history that Mr. Kurson injected into More...
Mr. Kurson was able to tell John Chatterton and Richie Kohler's stories so that it read just like that, a story. His tone was honest and even, his research was obvious. There were points where I had to remind myself that this wasn't fiction.
I truly appreciated the history that Mr. Kurson injected into More...
Feb 04, 2008
Janet
rated it:
Just as on the Titanic, it is U-869’s ghosts that do not let her sleep, crying out of the depths for their story to be told.
2 amateur “shadow” divers moved beyond reason, spent 6 years of their lives in study, research, planning, travel, and dangerous deep sea diving (risking death countless times, three men did in fact die while diving the wreck) to uncover the identity of a lost WW2 submarine discovered in 1991 on the floor of the Atlantic just off the coast of New Jersey. It is More...
2 amateur “shadow” divers moved beyond reason, spent 6 years of their lives in study, research, planning, travel, and dangerous deep sea diving (risking death countless times, three men did in fact die while diving the wreck) to uncover the identity of a lost WW2 submarine discovered in 1991 on the floor of the Atlantic just off the coast of New Jersey. It is More...
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Oct 01, 2008
Alanna
rated it: 
This is not a book I would normally have picked to read. It was our book club pick this month. I was surprised that I actually did like it. I found it interesting. I thought it was amazing that these divers would not give up until they had the answers they needed to satisfy their own curiosity and need. They went through so much, put in so much time to research, and faced terrible peril. I dive and have done a 100 foot on a shipwreck but after reading this book I don't think I will do it aga
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 16, 2009
trishtrash
rated it:
This book is principally the story of two American divers who risk their lives to explore and identify the wreck of a WWII U-Boat.
Rich with adversity, adventure and war history, the author's enthusiasm for the tale (which in turn is lit by the dedication and determination of the divers themselves) lends the writing that elusive thrill of perfect retelling. The balance of back-story of the men who explored the wreck, the detail and technical information, the history, the suspense of t More...
Rich with adversity, adventure and war history, the author's enthusiasm for the tale (which in turn is lit by the dedication and determination of the divers themselves) lends the writing that elusive thrill of perfect retelling. The balance of back-story of the men who explored the wreck, the detail and technical information, the history, the suspense of t More...
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Aug 19, 2008
Ron
rated it:
I wanted to love this book, with its plots and subplots involving the discovery of a "mystery ship" (an unidentified German U-boat sunk off the coast of New Jersey during WWII, and discovered by divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler in 1991), but ultimately all I could do is like it and think about what might have been. My all-time model for what a book can do with a single "true life" event - examining its roots causes, and exploring the larger context within which it hap
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Mar 09, 2009
Arit
rated it: 
This was a very riveting book about two deep-wreck divers who risk everything to solve the mystery of a U-boat (German submarine) that they found off the coast of New Jersey. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It really was very suspenseful for a non-fiction. Wow! There were so many things about deep-wreck diving that I never knew, and things about World War II. My only complaint is that the deep-wreck divers Kurson quotes in the book use A LOT of bad language. I'm really not a f
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Feb 05, 2009
The "U-Who" and German soldiers' stories "have settled," Kurson writes, at the bottom of the sea, "where one uncovers the freeze-frames of final human experience." Critics compare Shadow Divers, a danger-filled adventure story that blends action, mystery, science, and military history, to Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Sebastian Unger's Perfect Storm. Like these true-adventure authors, Kurson, contributing editor to Esquire, definitely knows how to tell a story (s
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Jan 03, 2012
One of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. Kurson has a way of writing and describing situations and environments with a flare that genuinely made my pulse and eyes race. At tense moments I found myself thoroughly glued to the words and annoyed when they ended.
Kurson brought this story to life. Through his engrossment with the facts, the major players, and their lives, I felt completely surrounded. As the story swims (yuck yuck) forward, I developed an understanding of th More...
Kurson brought this story to life. Through his engrossment with the facts, the major players, and their lives, I felt completely surrounded. As the story swims (yuck yuck) forward, I developed an understanding of th More...
Oct 28, 2011
Karl
rated it:
This is a thrilling adventure book about deep sea shipwreck scuba diving, chronicling the 1991 discovery and subsequent identification of the German WW2 submarine U-869 by Bill Nagel, John Chatterton, and Richie Kohler.
As in all adventure sports, deep sea shipwreck scuba diving has several schools of thought and methods, and this book describes and probes the highly individualistic and independent methods of Chatterton and Kohler, who are Atlantic wreck divers of extraordinary skill an More...
As in all adventure sports, deep sea shipwreck scuba diving has several schools of thought and methods, and this book describes and probes the highly individualistic and independent methods of Chatterton and Kohler, who are Atlantic wreck divers of extraordinary skill an More...
Jan 22, 2011
Steve
rated it:
Finished reading Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II and was quite impressed. Anyone interested in deep water diving, ship wrecks, German U-Boats, or World War II should find this true story fascinating. The book centers on two deep ship wreck divers, John Chatterton and Richard (Richie) Kohler who, with the help of dive boat captain Bill Nagle, discover the wreck of a German U-Boat about 65 miles off the
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Nov 24, 2009
Tami
rated it:
What a fascinating story. Wreck divers discover a sunken German U-Boat off the coast of Jersey and try and identify it. Not as easy as you would think. I learned so much about not only wreck diving,but history. I had no idea what the military assessors do after a war til I read this, very interesting. This book was suspensful, sad and patriotic.
I loved the reverence that the divers paid to the men whose bodies lay deep in the ocean trapped in the war sub. Their personal stories an More...
I loved the reverence that the divers paid to the men whose bodies lay deep in the ocean trapped in the war sub. Their personal stories an More...
Aug 26, 2009
Scott
rated it:
In the non-fiction adventure "Shadow Divers" Robert Kurson reveals the story of several men who discovered, and lived on, a German U-boat. The book has two settings, first there are a group of wreck divers who deside to invest some time on a mysterious ocean fishermen site, and the time period begins in 1991. The second setting is from a World War II new U-boat crew, the time period is 1944 Germany.
The book begins with a man named Nagle, who recieves mysterious "number More...
The book begins with a man named Nagle, who recieves mysterious "number More...
Sep 12, 2010
Keith
rated it:
At first glance this might be dismissed as appropriate for a light, quick read over a Jersey shore vacation. You would definitely enjoy it under those circumstances, but Kurson offers much more. You will find the true story of a few extraordinary deep wreck divers who are special athletes, each possessing a finely honed sense of purpose and super human self-control.
As the story begins, they happen upon a complex mystery 50 years in the making. In response, a core team of divers find More...
As the story begins, they happen upon a complex mystery 50 years in the making. In response, a core team of divers find More...
Jun 15, 2009
Moody
rated it:
Shadow Divers was amazing, powerful and grand. The recounting of an unknown mystery that revealed itself and its details slowly--and only after the greatest effort had been devoted to it, and the greatest sacrifices made--a mystery that yielded its final truth only after nearly all hope was lost. Kisha strongly recommended it, and I trust her opinion on books, but I was still a little uncertain. Until I embarked on it. Then I was intrigued, then I was captivated, then I was enthralled. Then I go
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Apr 24, 2009
Steven
rated it:
Best book I've read in five years. The adventure of a lifetime. A mystery underwater? I was already hooked. Two guys who find a German U-Boat off the New Jersey coast? The entire crew still inside? That's a book with promise. And the author delivers. He weaves the right combination of non-fiction research and a fascinating tale of two men struggling for seven years--against incredible and unexpected odds--to figure out which U-Boat they had found. If you know anything about research, or simply b
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Feb 12, 2012
Paul
rated it:
Here's a ripping good story spoiled in the telling. It's a (mostly) true tale that needs no embellishment, sadly marred by Robert Kurson's overheated prose and rendered ridiculous by his mixed, clumsy, and often downright absurd metaphors. At one point he likens a storm in the open North Atlantic Ocean to a "tantrum"; a vessel and men endangered, compared to a minor domestic annoyance engendered by a toddler. Kurson is also prone to inventing verbs, as in "he subtled his hand forw
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Sep 30, 2010
Ella
rated it:
I am not interested in scuba diving, in boats, in submarines or in WWII, but I was intrigued by the great ratings. Boy, am I glad I didn't miss this one! What an incredible story, and it is non-fiction to boot! The story is fascinating, the men on the diving mission are fearless beyond belief and the history they uncover is staggering. I only listened to the abridged version because the unabridged was 2 credits and I was not sure this book was going to be my cup of tea.
Robert Kurso More...
Robert Kurso More...
Sep 02, 2011
James
rated it:
Shadow Divers was exactly what I was hoping for. It is a fascinating tale of adventure and exploration that details the discovery of a mystery U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. The book works great as an adventure book, with lots of descriptive details regarding the craft of wreck diving and the tales of the people who risked and sometimes lost their lives on this wreck and others. And the risky deep-water dives in pursuit of this mystery ship certainly proved hazardous, with three divers losi
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Jan 31, 2012
Q.
rated it:
Dive Into Another World
I’m thirty-two years old, and I love history. Old history, that is. More-recent history, such as WWII, WWI, Vietnam and so on, doesn’t have the same allure for me as the Civil War, Roman history, British history, Egyptian history, etc. do.
Well, heck. That has changed because of one book, “Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson. Did you know that during WWII, German U-boats snuck up in American waters and some got so close to the shore that the crew could smell More...
I’m thirty-two years old, and I love history. Old history, that is. More-recent history, such as WWII, WWI, Vietnam and so on, doesn’t have the same allure for me as the Civil War, Roman history, British history, Egyptian history, etc. do.
Well, heck. That has changed because of one book, “Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson. Did you know that during WWII, German U-boats snuck up in American waters and some got so close to the shore that the crew could smell More...
Nov 06, 2009
AJ
rated it:
Absolutely INCREDIBLE.
i cannot express in words how fantastic i thought this book was. an absolute page turner that i wish i could convince everyone to read.
the fact that this was non-fiction made it all the better. i cannot believe that they haven't made a movie based on this book.
i recommend it to everyone.
some favorite lines:
-if an undertaking was easy, someone else already would have done it.
-if you follow in another's footsteps, yo More...
i cannot express in words how fantastic i thought this book was. an absolute page turner that i wish i could convince everyone to read.
the fact that this was non-fiction made it all the better. i cannot believe that they haven't made a movie based on this book.
i recommend it to everyone.
some favorite lines:
-if an undertaking was easy, someone else already would have done it.
-if you follow in another's footsteps, yo More...
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Dec 29, 2011
Steph!
rated it:
Wonderful job of introducing an unfamiliar sport to readers and integrating it into the story line. At the same time, telling a parallel storyline of life on the u-boat and dapples of WWII history.
At times the pure machismo that seems prevalent throughout the deep sea wreck diver community seemed to have rubbed off on the author when he seems to idolize their confidence and inflates them to non-human characters. But, I will say, it reads like you're watching a movie and I loved it. More...
At times the pure machismo that seems prevalent throughout the deep sea wreck diver community seemed to have rubbed off on the author when he seems to idolize their confidence and inflates them to non-human characters. But, I will say, it reads like you're watching a movie and I loved it. More...
Sep 28, 2011
Virginia
rated it:
This book was very interesting and made me want to do deep sea wreck diving, although I've never actually been scuba diving. I think the book did a very good job of explaining the dangers of deep sea diving, as well as the techniques used to cope with these dangers.
Having lived in New Jersey at the time the wreck was discovered, I vaguely recall the story in the news, so it was very interesting to me to read a complete report of the events. It was also interesting to read about how More...
Having lived in New Jersey at the time the wreck was discovered, I vaguely recall the story in the news, so it was very interesting to me to read a complete report of the events. It was also interesting to read about how More...
Nov 13, 2011
Troy
rated it:
Dangerous Depths
A dangerous descent into the unknown murky depths of histories darkest moments, twisted and mangled, resting hundreds of feet below the waves of time. Shadow divers displays the courageous acts of two Americans who dive into their own lives to discover the mystery of a German U-boat long forgotten under the waves. They survive on the human instinct to discover, at all costs. In this book Robert Kurson fills your mind with graphic images of the hards More...
A dangerous descent into the unknown murky depths of histories darkest moments, twisted and mangled, resting hundreds of feet below the waves of time. Shadow divers displays the courageous acts of two Americans who dive into their own lives to discover the mystery of a German U-boat long forgotten under the waves. They survive on the human instinct to discover, at all costs. In this book Robert Kurson fills your mind with graphic images of the hards More...
Feb 03, 2010
Michael
rated it:
Listened to the audio version of this book, found the narrators Jersey shore accent laughable. This author's diligent research shows through in the characters he creates to bring this story alive. The context of the main characters, the drunken charter boat capt. whose amazing pioneering dive career slips away through the bottle, the Vietnam vet whose wartime medic experience resurfaces during onboard tragedy while diving the Doria and German U-boat, and the business man from Jersey shore whose
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Feb 28, 2011
Dick
rated it:
This book is a non-fiction that reads like a fiction book. It is about a long lost WWII U boat that was discovered by divers 60 miles off of the New Jersey coastline. This is a very compelling book that I would compare to the "Perfect Storm" in that when you are done you have enjoyed a thrilling story but you also know a great deal about Nazi WWII U Boats as well as deep seas scuba diving. This is a story of a quest by two men who did not like or respect each other at the start but be
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Jan 03, 2009
jill
rated it:
It took me a while to get into this book. I'm not really interested in naval history or wreck diving, and the introduction didn't grab me. But I'm a sucker for other people's interests and passions, and once the story got into the various divers and their devotion to the project, I got more involved. I think Kurson did a good job of balancing the various aspects of the story -- the history of submarines and WWII, the technical aspects and appeal of wreck diving, the relationships and personal
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Sep 10, 2009
clayton
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 17, 2008
Janis
rated it:
Rivalry, passion, friendship and loyalty, danger, tragedy, mystery and -- best of all -- history! Shadow Divers is a fascinating account of two men who dedicated years and risked their lives to unravel the story of a WWII U-boat discovered off the coast of New Jersey. I couldn't stop reading.
Jul 27, 2011
referred by political gabfest as an audio book- What an adventure. I never realized how dangerous deep sea diving is and this book gives many insights. My only criticism of the book was the narrator. I felt that I was watching a documentary made in the 60's for that was the voice of the reader, Michael Pritchard. I had heard that Campbell Scott was narrating on another version of this book and I would have liked to listen to his voice. But that aside, there was so many interesting facts in this
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Dec 01, 2011
Mama Kaye
rated it:
I LOVED this book. It was gripping -- fascinating and suspenseful. Part adventure, part mystery, part history lesson, and part personal drama.
I learned a lot about deep-wreck scuba diving, which I found to be enormously interesting. And the real-life adventure tale of these divers exploring the wreck was riveting (an exploration that spanned the course of several years and claimed more than one life).
I also enjoyed getting to know the characters in the book, especially More...
I learned a lot about deep-wreck scuba diving, which I found to be enormously interesting. And the real-life adventure tale of these divers exploring the wreck was riveting (an exploration that spanned the course of several years and claimed more than one life).
I also enjoyed getting to know the characters in the book, especially More...
