Fire

By: Sebastian Junger

Narrated by: Sebastian Junger, Kevin Conway

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

For readers and viewers of The Perfect Storm, opening this long-awaited work by Sebastian Junger will be like stepping off the deck of the Andrea Gail and into the inferno of a fire burning out of control in the steep canyons of Idaho. Here is the same meticulous prose brought to bear on the inner workings of a terrifying elemental force; here is a cast of characters risking everything in an effort to bring that force under control.

Few writers have been to so many desperate corners of the globe as has Sebastian Junger; fewer still have provided such starkly memorable evocations of characters and events. From the murderous mechanics of the diamond trade in Sierra Leone to the logic of guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan and the forensics of genocide in Kosovo, this new collection of Junger's nonfiction will take you places you wouldn't dream of going to on your own.

©2001 Sebastian Junger (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Danger junkies rejoice!" (Publishers Weekly)
"Well worth the time, Junger's varied writings make the listener as peripatetic as the author." (AudioFile)

A fascinating but disjointed insight into humanity

Junger has a way of looking at people that brings immense humanity to even the worst of monsters. It's honestly incredible and I wish I had a fraction of his talent. With that said while the work is excellent everything past the first two parts is lacking a clear through-line. See the book starts off talking about wildland firefighters and how they will watch a flame in awe, So you go through all that and it's an excellent story and you can't wait to see what's next and what the thesis of the book will be. Then it all just kinda falls apart.

Like the first story has nothing to do with any of the following stories. We get genocides in Kosovo, traveling with the FBI to go after war criminals, an aging general in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, the last whale harpooner, Corsica, and the diamond trade of Sierra Leone. All of this without any real connecting tissue. Don't get me wrong, I love the stories individually but I don't get why they are bundled like this. It feels like maybe this was just a dump of a bunch of stories Junger wanted to dump but couldn't get rep for so and weren't big enough for a book on their own so he dumped them here. If that's the case fine, I get it but I still wish that was made more clear on the outset.

Actually a collection of essays

I got this with the expectation that Sebastian Junger wrote the entire book about firefighters. Instead, only the first chapter or first 90ish minutes are actually about wilderness firefighting. It is also the only chapter narrated by Sebastian Junger. The other chapters cover a wide range of interesting topics like indigenous whaling, a hostage situation in Kashmir, the conflict in the Balkans, the border disputes between Greeks and Turks in Cyprus, and war in Afghanistan and are very well written, but the book itself seems to be more of a collection of his miscellaneous works than an attempt at a cohesive point. Again, the essays are very well written and performed, but not what I was expecting going into it, which left me somewhat disappointed.

I will say, however, that the chapter on wilderness firefighters was exceptional among all the other chapters. Not only does he describe the dangers present when facing wilderness fires in an intensely immersive way, but he also pay attention to the easy to miss details of how firefighters prepare and survive off of the fire line.

Mostly Kevin Conway, Mostly Not About Fire

Kevin Conway is great and the stories are interesting, but I assumed by the description “collection of non-fiction” and the main description paragraph describing wildfires that this would be about mainly wildfires. The first two chapters are, but after that it hops all around the world with interesting stories. I just thought it would be about something different.

Some good and some soso stories

The stories about fireman were exciting,but maybe ran on a little long for my taste.The story of whaling made me want to read Moby Dick.The story about Cyprus and its ongoing disputed territory was more political than adventurous.The history of our crazy world continues to evolve and even with all of our modern engineering marvels civil unrest and lack of vision continue to pit man against man and country against country in a never ending quest to gain space in an ever shrinking world.

A bunch of interesting small stories

The book for the most part was interesting. More of just a bunch of small stories than something about fire fighting. The stories were easy to follow and kept my attention for the most part. The narrator was outstanding and has the ability to change his voice/accent.

Great story telling.

This is one of my favorite books. Junger's ability to take you to each location in the book is at time inspiring.

His description of Bequia lees me to travel to the island. When I arrived it was just as he described.

Well written

Excellent performance and well written. I liked the different stories. Excellent journalism. Makes you want to read/listen to the author’s other books.

The title is misleading.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If even half the book would have been about fire or firefigthers.

What was most disappointing about Sebastian Junger’s story?

Very little is about fire.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator did his job fine.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not many, the first chapters are about fire, and don't get very deep into them. It's more like long news reports.The book then goes off into totally unrelated subjects.

Any additional comments?

When it got into whales and war, I kept forwarding through little be little. I kept thinking "This is just me being impatient, this is a round about way to get to the consequences of the fire." Nope no fire, no firefighters, just stuff i didn't buy this book to hear about.

Really should have read the reviews

Not at all what the book says it was going to be about. Very disappointed. If zero stars was an option I would have given that.

Random usings

Not a coherent collection of writings. Simply an attempt to profit from the "Perfect Storm." Pass it by.