Ghost Liners: Exploring the World's Greatest Lost Ships

This book is very nicely put together. This not only covers the RMS Titanic but it also covers the sister ship that also had gone down as well as a good three other ghost liners. This book is a must have. Highly recommended for readers ranging from 6th - 9th grade readers.

Personally, I rate Dr Ballard's books; The Discovery of the Titanic, Lost ships of Guadalcanal, Return to Midway and Exploring the Lusitania as some of the finest works on the subject of shipwrecks ever to have been published. On this occasion, however, I am left with a feeling of disappointment at finding such a thin book. Perhaps anything short of the discovery of another Titanic would always be a disappointment to some - but let us examine the content. Firstly, we have 5 of the world's greatest ever shipwrecks; Titanic, Empress of Ireland, Lusitania, Britannic and Andrea Doria. Each of these vessels was a great ship in it's own right and their like will never be seen again. Indeed, entire books have been written about each of them - by this author and by others. As with all great shipwreck stories, there is always an element of mystery - arguments for and against the mine versus torpedo theory for example. Those arguments, in addition to all the many other elements of the overall picture, must always be fully presented and reasoned in order to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. In this book, the text, photography and excellent (as always) illustrations by Ken Marschall are confined to 56 pages. Quite frankly, that is not enough room for any single great shipwreck - let alone five! Easy to see why I was left wanting more. NM

Robert Ballard is one of the few genuine adventurer - hero models available to young people of the 21st Century. He is is incapable of being boring. He's somehow interesting even when he's talking about a can of paint. He has manifold unquestioned achievements, both scientific and spectacular in the public eye. His flair for photography and for commissioning or selecting exciting paintings of underwater scenes is unparalleled. His feeling for developing memorable themes, in this case lost ships, is gripping for both adults who allow their imaginations to seized by large events effectively told, as well as children. At times one hears unjustified carping from scientists at Ballard's role as a popularizer. At others, not unreasonable arguments are raised that some of his books don't offer enough credit to others. I have known Ballard from the time of his PhD dissertation at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and onwards. I prefer to interpret Ballard's telling of major stories with simplifications as part of his ability to reach and affect large audiences, including young people who have become one of his major targets and goals in later life. Kids simply don't have the life experience and maturity to weigh all nuances of complex phenomena like scientific and exploration discovery. Ballard has made extraordinary efforts with his Jason outreach programs to enliven science education for school children, facilitating realtime "exploration" opportunities to hundreds of thousands of young people. Ballard has a sense of personal ethics (refreshing in a "me" generation), being reluctant, for example, to allow souvenirs to be retrieved from the Titanic and other wrecks. Even though one can argue scientific and other value for such retrieval, I attribute to him sense of purpose and principle along with other unusual qualities as a person and author.

Awesome pictures! Ken Marschall did a wonderful job with the illustrations, and the photographs were nice, too. The text explained clealy what had happened to each ship, and the controversy about some of them. I really learned something from this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes studing TITANIC, ANDREA DORIA, LUSITANIA, THE EMPRESS OF IRELAND, OR MY PERSONAL FAVORITE, BRITTANIC. I have studyed these ships most of my life and have found this is the book the best. Dr. Ballard gives a hands on look at these ships with actual photos and paintings by the well know artist, Ken Marshall. If you are in to TITANIC and have read this book, I would recomend that you purchace TITANIC: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY by Don Lynch for the most complete info and photos