Bennett's Book Nook
Kyle Licud
Alt_Nation
There are many problems in the book that could have had very different outcomes. But the main issue that can be focused on is the method of surrendering the Soviet sub to the US Navy. In the book, the officers of the Red October fake a radiation leak, and evacuate the enlisted crew from the ship. This results in the entirety of the enlisted men being in life rafts and getting picked up by the US Navy, with the Red October submerging and escaping to defect. However, the same result could have been achieved by simply sailing into US territorial waters and surrendering the crew. However, this is met with many potential problems, as the enlisted crew would no doubt report back to the motherland that the United States had in fact captured the submarine. The entire point of getting them off the ship was to make them think that it had been destroyed but the Americans.
Down in the Dumps
One character that the story could live without is Ivan Putin, the political officer of the Red October. During the time of the Soviet Union, all ships had at least one political officer on board, who conducted political education classes, and made reports back to the KGB (The Russian CIA), and the GRU (Soviet Secret Police). He is killed off in the very first chapter of the book, as he is the only officer that would not ever be willing to defect to the United States. However, he could have lived, and caused a different outcome for the story. If he had been allowed to survive the ordeal, he could've been subdued, maybe drugged, and surrendered to the CIA for interrogation. This would have presented problems however, as the crew may have discovered the fact that he was missing. Then again, they could be presented with the idea that he was sick in his quarters. But this is just one possibility.
Fab Five's Favs
- “It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly.”- Realistically,diplomacy is not all about being friendly and open with your counterparts. Much of it is going behind peoples backs and lying your way through in order to get the job done.
- “It was one thing to use computers as a tool, quite another to let them do your thinking for you.”- This quote is talking about the sonar computer being used to track down the Red October. In other words, it says that you cant put all your faith in a machine, and that you must also rely on your gut instinct and skill.
- “Danger confronted properly is not something a man must fear.”- Danger confronted with panic and disorganization tends to only lead to more danger rather than make things better.
- “One of the compensations for wearing a uniform and earning less money than an equally talented man can make in the real world is the off chance of being killed.” - This is a familiar concept in the military. The fact of the matter is, civilians DO make much more than over half of the military. and many lower ranking troops question the reason for lack of higher pay. For example, as an E-2 in the VA National Guard, I make about $1,200 a year. That means I make even less than an entry level fast food job.
- “We wait. No sense spooking him. We let him come in nice and close while we do our famous imitation of a hole in the water,” - This quote attests to the cat and mouse game played every day by submarine commanders. It talks about sitting and waiting for the perfect time to jump in and strike. In this case, it is Capitan Bart Mancuso and the crew of the USS Dallas trying to sneak up on a Soviet submarine. Fun fact: a favorite motto of submariners is "Run Fast, Run Silent, and Run Deep."
Face to Face
An interview with Jack Ryan
Q: Why did you decide to take personal responsibility for finding the Red October?
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Q: What made you continue to believe that the Red October was still defecting, and not trying to attack the United States?
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Best Seller
The Hunt for Red October is one of the many New York Times Best-Sellers written by Tom Clancy. It tells of 2 men, 2 nations, and the possibility of global nuclear war. It has had nothing but praise since its release in 1984. The book tells the story of a Soviet nuclear submarine captain who decides to defect to the United States during the peak of the cold war, while a CIA analyst attempts to make contact. The story progresses rapidly, bringing 2 world superpowers to the very brink of total war. It is a game of deception, communication, and timing. I wont spoil the ending for those who have not read it. However, this is a non- stop action packed thrill ride through history, and is likely one of the greatest Cold War thrillers ever written. The characters have unprecedented depth, the motives are not always clear, ,and the story has so many twists and turns it will have you on the edge of your seat till the very last page. And it must be noted that it has been praised by a number of very important national figures and authors, including Stansfield Turner (former director of the CIA), Clive Cussler, and President Ronald Reagan. And as this book was released during the Cold War, it had a significant cultural and political impact on its readers. and, although it takes place in the near past, many younger readers who didn't live during that time could come to realize just how much could have been going behind the scenes in world affairs.
Into the Wild
Top 10 List
- “Some people feel like they don't deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past.”
- “I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong... to measure yourself at least once.”
- “We like companionship, see, but we can't stand to be around people for very long. So we go get ourselves lost, come back for a while, then get the hell out again.”
- “It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.”
- “You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.”
- “Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
- “It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough , it is your God-given right to have it...I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic. I thought climbing the Devils Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams. And I lived to tell my tale.”
- “A trancelike state settles over your efforts; the climb becomes a clear-eyed dream. Hours slide by like minutes. The accumulated clutter of day-to-day existence—the lapses of conscience, the unpaid bills, the bungled opportunities, the dust under the couch, the inescapable prison of your genes—all of it is temporarily forgotten, crowded from your thoughts by an overpowering clarity of purpose and by the seriousness of the task at hand.”
- “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.”
- “The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything.”
Thematically Speaking
The books theme is focused around freedom and self exploration.
Best Seller
Best Seller
Into the Wild is an international best-seller, and rightfully so. It tells the tragic yet inspiring story of a young man who, while having a world of opportunity in front of him at his disposal. Christopher McCandles was fresh out of college when he rid himself of his worldly possesions, and traveled the country doing whatever he saw fit.