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| Nights of Ice: True Stories of Disaster and Survival on Alaska's High Seas | 
 enlarge | Author: Spike Walker
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $3.07
You Save: $11.88 (79%)
New (30) Used (32) from $3.07
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 188942
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 0312199937
Dewey Decimal Number: 979.8051
EAN: 9780312199937
ASIN: 0312199937
Publication Date: February 15, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Sound Copy. Mild Reading Wear.
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Amazon.com Review
Frantic and entertaining in a guilty sort of way, Nights of Ice is like Endurance on steroids. The book presents eight true stories of disaster and survival involving commercial fisherman off the coast of Alaska (said to be one of America's most dangerous occupations). Included are tales of subzero temperatures, 100 mph winds, 60-foot-high waves, boats encased in ice and capsized, men trapped underwater, and other horrors. Author Spike Walker, who interviewed many of the survivors in compiling this book, is no stranger to such tales of the high seas; he worked as a commercial fisherman off the Alaska coast and wrote about it in Working on the Edge. Nights of Ice begins promisingly enough but unfortunately gives way to a sensationalism that cheapens the whole affair: "At that moment, Bruce Hinman's past life flashed before his very eyes. Launched instantaneously through time, he watched the events of his life play out before him...they flashed and froze there in his consciousness, in a kind of nostalgic collage of all that had once mattered in his life." As a result, there are a lot of unintentionally funny moments. Despite its problems, though, Nights of Ice is fun to read, and lovers of true-adventure stories or those interested in the dangers of the Alaskan fishing industry should enjoy it. --Andy Boynton
Product Description
Spike Walker has spent more than a decade fishing in the subzero hell of Alaska's coastal waters. This collection--coming on the heels of his classic memoir Working on the Edge--is a testament to the courage of those who brave nature's wrath each fishing season, and to the uncontrolled power of nature herself.. The crewmen in Nights of Ice face a constant onslaught of roaring waves, stories-high swells, and life-stealing ice. Tested by the elements, these seamen battle for their vessels and their lives, on every page evincing a level of courage and a will to live seldom found elsewhere in modern society.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 An excellent read if you like action. October 26, 1999
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
Great book! Not quite up to the first book, "Working on the Edge", but great. The author spares the reader all the scientific, high-tech bs of the "Perfect Storm", and gets down and dirty.
Great book, but some inaccuracy with the characters July 21, 1998
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
The fifth story titled "Lost and Adrift" is about the fishing vessel "Cloverleaf." Myself being, a former Coast Guardsman, stationed at air station Kodiak was launched out on this particular rescue. The book mentions petty officer Brian Blue as the air crewman who spotted Rick Laws in the water from the C-130. There was no petty officer Brian Blue aboard the C-130 on this mission and to the best of my knowledge from researching, there has been no Coast Gurdsman named Brian Blue in Coast Guard aviation. I was the one at the scanners window of the C-130 and was the one who spotted Rick Laws in the water on the second day of the rescue mission. I remember it well and can remember at least 3 names of the 7 cremembers on board the C-130. While preparing to drop the MA-1 kit (liferafts and survival gear) to Rick Laws from the ramp of the C-130 I also noticed Wink Cissel floating in the water. In the beginning of the book acknowledgements are credited to! the non-existent Brian Blue. The cover calls it to be true stories of survival disasters in Alaska, meaning that all the people used in the book should be factual names. I am Bruce Erb, the "Brian Blue" in the book. The third fisherman, Kim, who did not make it, was a friend and former Coast Guardsman assigned to the air station Kodiak.
Nights of Ice ... Spike Walker is great read April 4, 2001
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Having lived my entire life in and around Seattle, In March 2001, I ventured North to Alaska to visit my daughter and her family. While there I picked up "Nights of Ice".Spike Walker's subject matter is, first of all, relevant to anyone who has lived near the sea. The Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, as one non-fisherman said, "I can't drink it all and I'm damned sure I can't swim that far." Life at sea in a boat, rolling and plowing through the next wave, gets into some folks blood. I'm sure it's that way with fishermen and women but the money don't hurt either. In any case its a perilous life. Nights of Ice takes us along for a ride with people, real people, who have experienced the worst the sea has to offer. Walker's intimate knowledge of workin' the boats has us searching for lights in a "can't see your hand in front of your face" stateroom, attempting, frantically, to pull on the survival suit. We are terrified of the boat goin' down with us still on board. We gasp for air and our heart seems to stop when we hit the 37 degree water. We, along with actual survivors, use every ounce of strength and resource our bodies are able to muster in order to survive. Nights of Ice and its individual, sometimes heroic, stories are an adventure in itself.
 I read the book in one sitting July 13, 1999
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Spike Walker has hit the nail on the head with his focus on the misery and pain of being a deckhand. Behind the glory of fast money and a romanticized way of life is the harsh reality of seasickness, sleep deprivation and cruel hazing by crewmates. As a former commercial fisherman I felt all of these feelings again when reading this book, but I could not put it down until it was finished. The danger is real and Spike does a masterful job of drawing the reader in. An authentic piece of work.
This book will make you shiver! October 13, 2000
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book alot. All the stories deal with survival at sea in the waters off Alaska. The stories are kind of repetitive but if you like the first one you'll like the rest. The thought of finding one's self in the frigid Alaskan waters will make you pull an extra blanket on while you read. My only real complaint is that I would have liked more details on the fishermen involved (background, etc) so it wouldn't just have been names floating out there in the ocean. Overall, highly recommended adventure reading.
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