All,
Rob Kurson is an extremely talented writer, and Richie and I were incredibly fortunate to work with him. Rob's initial goal was to write a popular book, a bestseller and he did exactly that. It became #2 on the NYT Non-Fiction Bestseller List. Random House has printed about a million copies, an audio book, and last time I checked there were 21 different foreign language versions. Rob made Shadow Divers a successful book.
It was never our intention to write a text book, a history book, or a reference book. You cannot fit the entire story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of several Uboats and their crew members, as well as the life stories of a bunch of wreck divers, into a 300 page book. This is just a fact of life.
Rob, as the author, selected what went in and what was left out. The book is Rob's perspecive of events. All authors do this. Rob is a ruthless researcher and there are things in the book that do not coincide with my recollections, but are written as told to Rob by third parties (like my ex-wife, or other divers). He evaluated the credibility of his sources to determine what he felt was most accurate. If you want a bunch of boring minutia, this book is not for you. Rob wrote a very dramatic rendering of a true story.
I have read though this thread and it covers a lot of ground. I recognize some of the posters and appreciate all the nice commets. I certainly don't have the time to beat a dead horse, but I can't help but wonder what 5 issues Tonka has with Shadow Divers??? Why 5?
If Tonka posts his 5 questions about Shadow Divers, I will do my best to answer them here:
"Tonka97's 5 Scenarios for John Chatterton".
Cheers