| Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage |  | Author: William F. Buckley
Publisher: Little Brown & Co (P)
Category: Book
List Price: $10.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 200001
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 16
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0316114480
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.09164
EAN: 9780316114486
ASIN: 0316114480
Publication Date: July 1988
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Condition: Stained Edges;rounded corners, stained cover Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!
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 Off the "Grid" with Buckley February 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
There may be those among us who expect a sailing adventure by William F. Buckley to mirror his proclivity for ornamented literary style. Or maybe some readers need to see his writing through the gauze of Yale. Maybe William F. Buckley should be Christopher Hitchens - as they were both conservative at one time, however Buckley followed the rumline as we say in yachting circles. He remained conservative while writing his 40,000 (plus) columns and 50 books while at the helm of National Review.
What we have here is what men and women of the sea dream about; day-to-day stuff upon oceans; reflections on friends and encounters with pedestrians. A certain sophisticated comedy and reflection of the sea.
What Mr. Buckley does in "Racing through Paradise" is inform us that busy people still make time for the sea. That busy intellectual people still have a "feel" for social order. That people of means share the sea with all members along the sailing continuum. That even before there was a "grid" sailors like Buckley managed to sail, and answer the mail.
This book is sophisticated by its forthright simplicity - a reflection of several minds while on the Pacific. It extends our understanding that even with "position" ocean sailors are subjected to the ambivalence of government; the atmospherics of place, and the personality of encounter. For all who think "Wind" is among the best movies ever, read this book, and know that the "Cup" is not the end game after all.
 Sailing and Racing Through Paradise Don't Mix January 2, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book several years ago following a fine read of WFB's Atlantic High. There is no comparison. From the get-go, the pace is set by an unrealistic schedule to get to the other side of the Pacific so an important passenger (ambassador or similar rank) can attend some soire in Europe. The opportunity to read and learn about any indepth interaction between the elements, or the Pacific Islanders, is lacking. I can weather WFB's verbosity, but there has to be some meat...to go along with the large wine cellar he packs aboard. I would enjoy crewing with WFB, even keeping a journal, but racing through paradise - no thanks. Read Atlantic High and call it a good sail.
 Really, an awful book on almost every level December 23, 2003
3 out of 16 found this review helpful
The self-importance of WFB is unmistakable. That I am not a sailor probably made the book even more uninteresting. I can honestly say this is far and away the worst book I have ever *tried* to read. I made it through four or five chapters of sheer, unadulterated PAIN, before I finally decided to throw in the towel. And WFB - um, yeah, that is "the Buck's" way of referring to himself, I guess - he has this penchant for tossing around big words - he so wants to be British, but even all his money can't save him. It is really scary how dreadfully boring this book is. I tried, believe me I tried - to finish this book, but it was just too much. I couldn't make it happen. And for that I am angry - I like to complete things. A semi-interesting taxi driver in Philly gave me the book for free. I will admit there was an interesting sea-faring debacle that The Buck talked about - an encounter with a not-so-friendly local - but that was it. The rest if just nauticals, and sterns, and fine wine, and marvelous's, and excellent's, and brilliant's, and droll's, and dreadfully's, and....PAIN! I think Marlon Brando's character in Apocalypse Now, Col. Kurtz, said it best with his final words: "The Horror. The Ho-rror."
Don't waste your time or money May 16, 2003
4 out of 14 found this review helpful
Although Buckley crafts his story well, this book serves only as a platform for him to express his inflated self importance. It is uninteresting and useless as a sailing narrative. The only reason I continued to read was in expectance of a point. Don't make the same mistake.
 The NewYorker excerpts were enchanting... January 3, 1999
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
A delightful, real life, father/son saga about a months sail West across the South Pacific; Captained by William F Buckley with a crew comprising his son, Chrisopher Buckley and several other artistic and political luminaries of the 1980's. On this voyage, WFB required each of the crew to keep (and relinquish at journeys end) a personal journal. WFB keeps the writing crisp and engaging by sharing only small portions of these apparently limited and hard won loggings. All in all: A delightfully recounted adventure. I've been looking for this book for years after reading an enchanting three part excerpt of it in the NewYorker:
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