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Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs


by Andy Hillstrand, Johnathan Hillstrand, Malcolm MacPherson

List Price: $25.00
Price: $16.50
You Save: $8.50 (34%)
Available: Usually ships in 24 hours
Sales Rank: 10020
Studio: Ballantine Books
Binding: Hardcover
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: April 08, 2008
Publisher: Ballantine Books


EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Product Description
“Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep, so beware, beware,” goes the chorus of an old sailors’ sing-along that celebrates the allure and danger of the seafaring life. But make no mistake–there truly is much to beware for those who are drawn to risk their lives and seek their fortunes upon the waves. And perhaps none take more chances than the men and women who brave the tempestuous, bountiful waters of the Bering Sea. Season after season, they bond and battle with its icy depths, determined to reap yet one more rewarding harvest while eluding the ever-present threat of sudden, certain death. And among the rapidly diminishing ranks of these die-hard salts, brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand have forged a reputation as fierce masters of their treacherous, enthralling trade. If you’ve watched their exploits on TV’s Deadliest Catch, you’ve only scratched the surface. To read Time Bandit is to step into their skins, smell the sea air, feel the frigid wind, and know with all your senses the exhilarating, and terrifying life on the edge.

Natives of tiny, fishing hamlet, Homer, Alaska; sons of a hard-bitten, highly successful fisherman; and born with brine in their blood, the Hillstrand boys couldn’t imagine a life without a swaying deck underfoot and a harvest of mighty Alaskan king crabs waiting to be pulled from the ocean floor. In pursuit of their daily catch, the brothers brave ice floes and heaving waves 60 feet high, the perils of 1000-lb steel traps thrown about by the punishing wind, and the constant menace of the open, hungry water.

Even the brothers’ downtime on land–where the deadly realities of the unforgiving sea are never far from their minds–is lived as if borrowed: fast and hard, haunted by the knowledge that the next season at sea could end asleep in the deep.

Here is the Hillstrands’ own heartfelt hymn to the brutally hard, gloriously independent, and mysteriously soul-satisfying life that has earned them their daily bread and defined their existence. By turns raucous and reflective, exhilarating and anguished, enthralling, suspenseful, and wise, Time Bandit chronicles a larger-than-life love affair as old as civilization itself–a love affair between striving, willful man and inscrutable, enduring nature.


CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 43 reviews)

Time Bandit  
Time Bandit is a wonderful read for Deadliest Catch fans. This volume isn't just fishing and crabbing, it is the Hillstrand family.

The book is intelligently written. It can be a one afternoon read or read chapter by chapter. There is some foul language and one inappropriate picture.
September 01, 2008

Time Bandit: Two Brothers,the Bering Sea and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs  
I am a huge fan of the TV series The Deadliest Catch. Therefore, I thought I would really enjoy this book by the Hilstrand brothers. Unfortunately, the author who helped write the book, uses language you would never hear the brothers speak! The stories they were telling were interesting but the language/descriptions of events just weren't realistic! I do not reccomend it unless it can be bought used for a buck or two. (I purchased a new hardback copy)
August 31, 2008

This Book is a Deadly Catch  
Whether you are a fan of the show or have never heard of the Bering Sea let alone the successful series, this book is a must. Written by two captains of the show, they share their lives from when they were kids to the present day. The book will, like the crab pots they use, ensnare you and hold you captive until the end. It is a fantastic read of what really happens to crab fishermen and what they go through to give us that sort after delicacy on the restaurant table. If you have seen the show, then this book is a must as the book is more realistic and more gritty. If you have not, then read the book anyway, just to get an insight of a day in the life of a crab fisherman.
August 27, 2008

Time Bandit: Two brothers on the Bering Sea  
One of the best books I have read in a very long time. I couldn't put it down!! If you are a fan of the Hillstrands and of the series "The Deadliest Catch", you will absolutely love this candid look into the world of crab fishing on the Bering Sea--one of the world's deadliest occupations. Johnathan and Andy share an intimate account of their personal and professional lives in a way no one else can. I can't recommend this book more highly.
August 15, 2008

An interesting adjunct to the TV show...  
Die-hard fans of Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch will enjoy this book. It's a sort of dual biography of Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand, and it fills in many of the details the show has never discussed. Their complex relationship with their father, how they came to own the Time Bandit, the nature of their business partnership, etc., are all detailed. The book has an interesting structure, with chapters alternating between Johnathan and Andy, as Jonathan drifts alone on a disabled small fishing boat.

That structure is clearly the work of their co-author, Malcolm MacPherson. In fact, it would be much more accurate to say the book is "by Malcolm MacPherson, based on interviews with Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand" than to say, as it does on the cover, that it's "by Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand, with Malcolm MacPherson."

This is made clear right from the first page. Anyone who's watched the TV show knows that the Hillstrands have distinct manners of speaking, and they are not formal, nearly academic manners. MacPherson writes the brothers' chapters in a single, formal voice-- which is clearly his-- with occasional bits of each brother's actual words thrown in. At times, the effect is almost comical.

I would have preferred that the book be written in the brothers' distinctive and authentic voices. However, having said that, the book is an entertaining page-turner as it is. In addition, it contains a large amount of information about crab biology and behavior, the economics and politics of the fishing industry, and the difficulties of remaining in a business that is rapidly industrializing.

I enjoyed the book a great deal. It's a quick read that will please any fan of the Hillstrands and the TV show.
August 15, 2008


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