Fire

Although the book is entitled "Fire" and the first part is comprised of an introduction to the essay on fire jumpers and forest fire fighting that immediately follows, the balance of the book is a series of Sebastian Junger's essays from wartorn or conflicted areas of the world. Junger is a talented journalist and writer; I deliberately use these two different words: "Journalist" in that he notices things well and, it seems to me, records events accurately while walking the fine line between "ju [...]

This is a collection of essays, not a cohesive book. I have to say that each essay left me wanting more, which is kind of good and bad. The title essay is on smoke jumpers, and it had a lot of information and good stories, but if you're looking for a book on smoke jumping or even things that are related to fire, you might be disappointed. That said, the other essays are amazing in their own right. Junger tells of the many dangerous situations he's been in and the political situations that caused [...]

If Sebastian had just stuck with the first story about the firefighters, this book could've easily received a 4th star. Bummed that the title was misleading. Other stories of "dangerous jobs" were interesting, but nothing as gripping as the forest fires.

Enjoyed all the stories except for the one on Whale Harpooning. At the end of every story it seemed to just end while I was waiting for more to each one. Least liked book from Junger Ive read.

Fire is an excellent collection of essays by Sebastian Junger somewhat misleadingly titled. The first two essays deal with fighting forest fires in the American West. The book then turns to essays, or feature pieces, that report on war in the Balkans and Afghanistan, diamonds in Sierra Leone, the peculiar division of Cyprus between Greeks and Turks, the last harpoon-using whale hunter in the Caribbean, and a few meditations on the difference between bravery (displayed when an action is not stric [...]

I was at the library looking for the author's newer book, War. It wasn't there, but I did see Fire - an account of fire fighters on the lines fighting forest fires. I always wondered about why these fire people run toward fires while I would run away - and although I've seen coverage of devastating fires, I imagine to see them up close as a wall of flame must be an experience for ultra-human people.I guess I should have read the small print - the book is a collection of essays - granted the firs [...]

Even after reading the other reviews of this book, even after reading the sort of vague introduction by Sebastian Junger about dangerous jobs, I STILL was caught by surprise when the stories in this book changed from fighting wildfires to the last remaining whale harpooner on the planet.I loved the wildfire stuff, which was the first 50 or so pages. It's fascinating and I could have read on and on about the science of wildfires, the men and women who fight them, the technology and practices they [...]

This is a selection of articles written by Junger throughout his career as a journalist. The articles are written about a number of places he's been, things he's seen and things he's done. He's a wonderful writer and has done a lot to bring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to people's attention.

A collection of journalistic essays that are really linked only by being horrifying and dangerous. Most of them are related to war in some way (like Junger's investigations in Kosovo or Sierra Leone, for example) but a small number are entirely different. The title, for instance, refers to the opening essay on fighting forest fires, and there's another piece on whaling. Junger's extremely easy to read - this is the second book of his I've read and he manages to be intelligent and informative wit [...]

I gave this a three only because I was expecting more about wild land firefighting. While it does initially start here it goes into some of his other expeditions. He does write well, just not what I expected.

I thought this book was beautiful and insightful. Hunger has a unique writing style like nothing I have ever encountered. This, mixed with the topic addressed within this book, makes for a fascinating read.

3.5 stars. I loved the essays on fighting wild fires.

Great short stories not just about forest fires, but wars and adventure.

Just could not get into this book. I loved The Perfect Storm, but not this one. I tried more than once but it just didn't hook me. I never finished it.

3.5/5

torn between the three and the four, I started off at 3.8ish or so, backslid through some of the fire fighting details, whale hunters, kosovo, and then colter's way was short and sweet, sierra leone competent, and then afghanistan section timely and excellent some ways the develompent of Junger, from interest in high-risk professions (blue-collar danger) cf. The Perfect Storm to his eventual War, and managing to "get the story" on Massoud, Afghanistan.Modern societyhas perfected the art of havin [...]

I think I picked up this book because I wanted something different. something to check off a few more areas of the world about which I've read. I hadn't read or seen A Perfect Storm (not my thing), so I didn't have preconceived notions of what this would entail. That was both good and bad. I definitely enjoyed many parts of this book, and I learned a lot. But some sections, especially recounting massacres in Kosovo and Cyprus, were just hair-curling. I generally look askance at books that make m [...]

Really enjoyed the forest fire related essays, the first two, going to see how the other ones are.Whaling in the Caribbean was still really awesome, definitely a totally different culture from any I've ever known. I enjoyed the historical context of how whaling came to the area and what it means from a larger global perspective, both economically/politically and environmentally.Would have really appreciated an update on the Kashmiri hostages.ough, I'm assuming it didn't end well for them.Kosovo [...]

This book is comprised of eleven essays and when I finished it and entered it in my book journal I was bemused to find it was just 250 pages. I thought it was longer, not because it was boring, far from it, but by how long it took me to finish it. Having little time for reading the past month meant sporadic sessions where I often had to backtrack and re-read portions to catch the thread. Junger has a keen ability to write about the nitty-gritty technical information of a subject and somehow make [...]

After reading this, you might start to think that Sebastian Junger is either suicidal or severely sadistic. Fire is a collection of articles that have appeared in other publications and some have been expanded upon for this collection. All are true and deal with the dangerous situations that Junger has exposed himself to in order to get a story. Some topics include American forest firefighters, the last true harpoon whale hunter in the world, the conflict between Turkey and Greece over the islan [...]

Per (who always puts it best):"Sebastian Junger reports on raging forest fires in the Western U.S, war zones in Kosovo and Afghanistan, the deadly diamond trade in Sierra Leone, the plight of travelers kidnapped by guerrillas in Kashmir, the last living whale harpooner on the Caribbean island of Bequia, and the Greek-Turkish conflict on Cyprus. There is also a fascinating chapter on John Colter (explorer, fur trader, and member of the Corps of Discovery led by Lewis and Clark) in which he comme [...]

Pričevanje vojnega novinarja: Afganistan, Kosovo, Ciper, Kašmir, Sierra LeoneStran 174Sodobna družba je seveda do kraja izpopolnila umetnost življenja, v katerem se nič ne dogaja. S tem pravzaprav ni nič posebno narobe, le da se velikanskemu številu Američanov zdi to čedalje lažje življenje obenem tudi čedalje bolj puščobno. Življenje v sodobni družbi je urejeno tako, da naj bi se v njem zgodilo čim manj nepredvidenih dogodkov, in čeprav se zdi takšno življenje prijetno, je n [...]

Fire is an eclectic collections of short stories from Sebastian Junger career as a journalist. It starts with an explanation of his personal dream of being a forest firefighter but his experiences of witnessing massive western U.S. forest fires as journalist. He then moves through several of his experiences covering conflicts from Sierra Leone to Cyprus and several in-between. As in Junger’s other books his writing style conveys lots of information very efficiently, but also keeps you turning [...]

"Fire" is a collection of essays that Sebastien Junger, author of "The Perfect Storm" wrote as a reporter for various periodicals, including Harper's, National Geographic, and Vanity Fair. The common theme among these stories is the examination of dangerous occupations and situations, and Junger takes us up into the Rockies with smokejumpers, visits Caribbean islanders who still hunt whales with hand-thrown harpoons from rowboats, explores the division of Cyprus between Greeks and Turks, examine [...]

Perhaps, had I read Fire closer to its original release date in 2001, I would have found it more enjoyable. Unfortunately, due to the constantly changing political world, and the choice of Junger's writing topics, I often found the book dated.A collection of non-fiction magazine pieces Junger wrote over a period of years, Fire, actually has very little to do with wildland fire fighting, as the cover led me to believe. In fact, most of the articles are about political situations across the globe [...]

I'm not entirely sure why this collection of articles by Sebastian Junger is entitled "Fire," but I'm guessing it is a metaphor for what it is like to put yourself in various dangerous situations. The first story, which is about putting out forest fires, was actually the weakest. There was a bit too much back story, and not enough of what was going on in the here and now (which is the early 1990's in this case). I found it most interesting to read the articles that revolved around the Taliban in [...]

I kind of wish the whole book really was about fire, but the title and cover are a little misleading. The first two chapters are about wild land fire jumpers. He wanted to be a fire jumper, so he spent time with them and clearly has a passion for the work. Instead of the adventure of firefighting, he opted for a career in adventure journalism, which makes up the rest of the book. The quality of the essays is fairly inconsistent. He writes in the compelling introduction that the unifying theme of [...]

While I couldn't get through The Perfect Storm, Fire was amazing.As with so many of my book purchases, an npr interview with the author had me excited about the publication of the book, but I didn't rush right out and buy it as soon as it was published because I figured that if I waited a few weeks, it would show up on the bestseller lists (which would mean a significant discount). After the raging success of The Perfect Storm, I didn't see how it could be otherwise.If the book ever did make an [...]

It is really a collection of essays that he collected while writing for various magazines. Originally he had this book in mind first, then he wrote the piece, “A Perfect Storm” for a magazine, revisited that piece and turned that into his first book.Chapters of special interest were: “Fire”, “The Whale Hunters”, and “Dispatches from a Dead War”. In “Fire” he clearly explains what life is like for smoke jumpers and brush fire fighters out west. You hear the stories of these fo [...]

This book is a collection of "essays" (where the definition of "essay" is "reprinted magazine article") about a number of subjects. The first two chapters are about the brave man and women who fight forest fires in the American West. After that, the book goes into a different direction, with a story about a whale hunter, and then on to various sites around the world where battles are being fought or atrocities are being perpetrated. It's mostly good stuff. Sebastian Junger is a good reporter, wh [...]