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Song of the Sirens | 
 enlarge | Author: Ernest K. Gann
Publisher: Sheridan House
Category: Book
Buy New: $47.91
New (1) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $2.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 715789
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1
ISBN: 1574090925
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781574090925
ASIN: 1574090925
Publication Date: May 15, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Song of the Sirens steps aboard seventeen of Gann's most beloved vessels, from the beautiful brigantine Albatros to the incredible butterfly - hardly more than a raft with patchwork sails. Each one has its own fascinating stories...The story of ships owned & sailed by author.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Song of the Sirens February 23, 2006
I Love this writer. There is nothing dated about these absorbing tales from one of the English language's greatest adventure writers, regardless of Hollywood's love of his fictative works; and regardless of the time and venue in which men were men and heroes were conquerers of the elements.: M. Gann's achievement has been to see himself, daringly or humbly pick his way up the ladder of seamanship, and evoke,with humour and narrative storytelling, among the fleet of all us fellow lovers of the sea and ships, delightful fascination for the vessels of a now-passing era.
Excellent sea and sailing yarns September 20, 2004
I read as many sea and sailing stories as I can get my hands on. This is one of the best. Read the other rave reviews here of this book--they pretty much say it all.
I would just emphasize that this is one of the few contemporary sailing books that has a lot about sailing square rigged boats.
Also an interesting twist is that Gann's Albatros is the boat that Sheldon lost in White Squall.
When The Sirens Sing April 19, 2004
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Ernest Gann has written a memoir of what happens when you hear the Sirens singing and follow them. I loved this book as the sea-going counterpart to his marvelous memoir of flight, Fate Is the Hunter; there's the same wrily witty, compassionate observations on the vicissitudes of the sea and those who sail upon it, particularly himself, the same amused humility in the face of the perversities and miracles of chance, whether they be a failing engine at the height of a tempest, intransigent bureaucrats of the Panama Canal, a balsa raft costing less than sixteen dollars which can leave a scientifically designed catamaran in its wake, or a wild voice singing in the Greek Islands. Whether recounting desperation in a great storm off the Oregon coast, or the nostalgic reminiscenses of his earlier sailing boats and shipmates, or the languid monotony of a long tropical ocean passage, or the nature and the workings of what he terms the 'Dock Committee' (which has membership worldwide), even the time he was masterfully conned by a crafty old sailor on the wharves of New York, Gann maintains a close and humorously affectionate eye on the sometimes clear, sometimes problematical, but always interesting relationships between the mundane acts of everyday and the greater universe which lurks behind every common act and thought.Above all, there is in Sirens, as in all his books whether fic or nonfic, a love of the sea, of boats, of living fully in and of the world and of us frail, fallible and funny humans in it. In Fate Is the Hunter, it is the world of the air and those who fly; in Song of the Sirens, the sea. A wonderful read.
The nautical side to E.K. Gann April 27, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've read several book by Ernie Gann and being a pilot I was in awe of Mr. Gann's story telling ability in "Fate is the Hunter" and thought this is surely the best autobiography ever written. Now having read "Song of Sirens" I have to re-evaluate this opinion. It makes you want to run out and buy a boat!
A masterfully written true adventure. March 18, 2001
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Ernest K. Gann is, quite simply, a great writer. In Song of the Sirens he writes about his adventures aboard the many ships he has owned. His writing skill takes the reader, even a landlubber like me, along with him to experience what it is like to ride out a storm 50 miles off the coast of Oregon in a fishing trawler or to sail across the Atlantic Ocean with an old, rusty, leaky training boat with a suspect engine. The book is slanted more for the boating afficionado. While he does explain some of the technical terms, a lot of them are obviously for someone who knows sailboats. There are no pictures, either. Pictures of the ships (not boats because, as he explains in the book, a boat is carried by a ship)would have been helpful. All in all, though, this book will greatly appeal to Ernest K. Gann fans, those who enjoy adventure stories, and those who enjoy sailing stories.
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