|
|
|
|
|
|
HomeShop at BookSurgeBusiness & EconomicsE-CommerceInternet MarketingNo Reason for Dying: A Reluctant Combat Pilot's Confession of Hypocrisy, Infidelity and War |
|
|  |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
No Reason For Dying Should Be Required Reading Feb 23, 2010
A friend recomended this book to me otherwise I would have never have heard of it. I went to the Amazon site to read the product review on the book prior to purchasing. My interest was perked because of the F4 Phantom missions that the author flew in the Viet Nam conflict. Perhaps my interest in Viet Nam has resurfaced because of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars we are now engaged in. I purchased the book and turned to page 1 about 7:00 pm the day I received the shipment. I finally put the book down at the crack of dawn the next morning! I returned to the story later that day and finished near dawn the next morning. I was not looking forward to reading the final page because I did not want the story to end. The author held me spellbound on the very first F4 Phantom combat mission. i felt I was in the cockpit with the pilots and could actually feel the G forces pulling my body as we made the passes into the combat zone! I pay tribute to the author to find the words and put them on paper to describe the action! Each of the misssions found a different target with lots of excitement.
The R&R trip to Hong Kong was filled with humour, passion, loneliness, and the fear of returning to the war zone. The friendships that the author developed with the enlisted personnel was very touching. The author had a way of questioning our decision to even be in Viet Nam. This obviously was not a subject to discuss openly at Da Nang Air Base in 1968. I urge everyone to read this story and listen to Brian's thoughts on the killings and destruction that Viet Nam produced. The question today is was it worth it?
I remember in High School our teacher required us to read "Catcher in the Rye." If I were in a position to issue a required reading edict the book would be "No Reason for Dying," a truly remarkable story. Thank you Brian H. Settles and I urge you to continue with your talent for storytelling!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
From A Woman's Point Of View Oct 28, 2009
Had this book not been a gift I probably would have passed it over but out of curiosity I picked it up and thought "What the heck..." I was completely TETHERED from the first page! "No Reason For Dying" by Brian H. Settles is an awakening. Masquerading as autobiographical the gripping page-turner is much more. Steve Canyon Meets Dennis The Menace....The Right Stuff, In The Wrong Place. For one, it is an incite into the Male Machismo. The author has a definite way with words. When he describes climbing into his fighter jet you can feel the upholstery, hear the shrieking engines and smell his breath. His skill of recall of the tiniest details is amazing but again its these details which give flavor to the potato salad. The "unromantic romanticist" gets into so many tight situations you have to remind yourself he wrote the book so he MUST have lived through it but at the time you're not so sure he will survive. I loved the humor. "Humor?" you say, but yes it is comic relief from his painful emotional roller-coaster. References to James Dean's "Rebel Without a Clue" are priceless even if intended to be self-deprecating. All of the above describes the entertaining part of the book but the end has words of wisdom that every American President needs to hear before he sends one more human being to try to survive the Hell of war. Lets fix our flats before we buy tires for the rest of the world. The scars of the author's early life have been transformed into a roadmap for humanity. It helps fill the gaps that society and history have left for us when dealing with each other.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Orphan's Odyessy to Manhood and Combat: Jeff Lewis Oct 19, 2009
Stellar story of an orphan of mixed race from Nebraska who grew up in a loving family in Indiana, excelled in academics and athletics, and upon graduation from college became a fighter pilot in the Viet Nam war's most intense combat escalation period. I found myself rapt in his rich prose as he described his constant underlying struggle about the rightness of the war's goals juxtaposed against his deep personal misgivings about killing other "people of color." His accounts are replete with profound substance and insights.
Brian's story takes place with the backdrop of a newly wed man who left his bride at home while he succumbed to the myriad of temptations placed before him in an environment that provided cover for his infidelities and personal excesses. He deals with those exigencies with candor and honest reflection.
NRFD is an outstanding read about a man's journey toward redemption and spiritual wholeness.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
What a ride Sep 19, 2009
An excellent read. Not only an extraordinary view into the life of a fighter pilot, but also an even more intense look into the small blocks that build into the structure of ones life. The racial issues that anglos may have never considered. The conflicting, yet unavoidable dance that the loneliness of a warrior in a foreign land invites. The granting of a license to infidelity and day to day survival techniques to maintain ones sanity all fueled by the high testosterone level of a twenty something. An intense and honest baring of a soul.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
NRFD: An excellent, insightful and unforgettable experience. Sep 07, 2009
No Reason for Dying is everyman's tortuous journey within himself to courageously confront and answer the gut-wrenching questions of life for meaning, manhood and humanity. For Captain B. Settles he not only waged battle in service of his country, risking life and limb, but also he waged a greater battle to save his soul from doubt, abandonment, mistrust, ambiguity, and uncertainty. His journey offers a raw, unabridged, no holds barred view into the life of a combat pilot and into the private life of a human being. Never safe from the enemy even at 35,000 feet, Brian "Bee" Settles was also never safe from his endless, self-inflicted persecutions and struggle for identity. Kudos to the author for his unyielding iron will and profound courage to reveal his soul, his search and his success.
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
