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Fate is the Hunter
 
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Fate is the Hunter (Paperback)

by Ernest K. Gann (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.95
Price: £6.97 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 390 pages
  • Publisher: Pocket Books; Touchstone ed edition (1 Jul 1986)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0671636030
  • ISBN-13: 978-0671636036
  • Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.5 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 13,377 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #6 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Novels & Novelists > 20th Century
    #9 in  Books > Biography > Historical > United States > Military
    #10 in  Books > Fiction > Short Stories > Historical

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Product Description

Review
"Saturday Review"This fascinating, well-told autobiography is a complete refutation of the comfortable cliche that "man is master of his fate." As far as pilots are concerned, fate (or death) is a hunter who is constantly in pursuit of them....There is nothing depressing about "Fate Is the Hunter." There is tension and suspense in it but there is great humor too. Happily, Gann never gets too technical for the layman to understand.

Synopsis
A biography detailing the experiences of the American novelist, including his time as an air pilot in World War II.

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Fate is the Hunter
85% buy the item featured on this page:
Fate is the Hunter 4.9 out of 5 stars (39)
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Customer Reviews

39 Reviews
5 star:
 (38)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (39 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The most exciting and inspiring book I have ever read., 13 Jul 1998
By A Customer
I have read and re-read "Fate is the Hunter" so many times that the pages are loose and falling out. You are not just reading the best aviation book of all time, you are in the cockpit behind the master himself, as he savors the illicit thrill of a zero-zero takeoff from a fog bound Presque Isle airport in a C-47 during the war, taking a load of steel girders to Goose Bay. Just after takeoff, the girders break loose and slide to the rear of the aircraft, which starts a climb so steep that the plane is shuddering in a stall. As Gann and his co-pilot are pushing the control column forward as hard as they can with their feet a crewmember is trying to move the girders back up the near vertical floor.

Gann's writing so inspired me that I wanted to become an airline pilot, but my flying ability was just slightly better than Bixby, his inept co-pilot that almost collided with the Taj Mahal, another fascinating story later on in the book. I became a dispatcher instead, an occupation I truly loved, which was also inspired by Gann's interaction with the dispatchers of his line.

I wrote Ernest Gann at his home in Friday Harbor, Washington and tried to convey just how much I enjoyed "Fate is the Hunter" and what an impact it made on my life. I received short note from him. It was very gracious and humble, and is one of my greatest treasures.

I also highly recommend "Hostage to Fortune", a chronology of Gann's incredible life from a rebellious young man that could never follow his father into business and be chained to an office, through a lifetime of adventure, to his retirement on Red Mill Farm, on an island in the Pacific northwest.

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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars AN UNFORGETTABLE MASTERPIECE, 18 Nov 2000
By A Customer
About a hundred years ago I walked into a bookshop in a small English town and found a hardback copy of "Fate". It was gathering dust on a high shelf - something that had been ordered and never collected the lady bookseller said. That was at the beginning of my flying career. I tried, and nearly succeeded in tracing EKG's footsteps around the globe. True the equipment was a bit more modern and we had inertial nav over astro nav, even so it was all very memorable - especially when I got to make a pencilled notation on the page of that book indicating the date I'd been there. The career has ended now, and I more or less resemble that battered hardback copy that resided at the bottom of my flight bag for nearly 17,000 flight hours. So, thanks for a story of flight and flying men that will never be beaten, EKG. My privilege to have shared the same sky. Any co-pilot slots available at our equivalent of "Fiddlers Green", I'll be along shortly.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for aviation enthusiasts, 21 Feb 1999
By A Customer
The book chronicles Gann's career as a "high timer," an airline pilot with more than 10,000 hours in his log book. If you are a fan of the propeller era of air transport, (DC-2/DC-3/DC-4) you will find his accounts of life on the flight deck fascinating. Additionally, private pilots may learn useful tips for flying in foul weather.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fate is the Hunter
After many years out of print this has to be the definitive "pilots own" story of the development of civil aviation in the early twin engine days of the thirties+ little known... Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. Weks

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but the prose is a bit flowery and over-stuffed
Its an interesting book but not the easiest to read because the author is prone to over-elaborate, flowery discriptions and philosophising every few paragraphs. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2005 by Ian Scott

5.0 out of 5 stars ELEGANT
"Fate is the Hunter" is one of those stories that seems to be have been around as long as flight itself. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic story of an airline pilot
I loved the book when I read it back in 1971 when I was in the airforce in Alaska. A year or so later I saw a movie on television by the same name. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Captures the True Spirit of flying for the airlines
This book truly captures the emotions of a pilot and what it was like to fly for the flegling airline industry 60 years ago. Mr. Gann also chronicals the start of M.A.T. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read
This novel is a must read for any aspiring airline pilot. Even though the novel was written before I was born, the tone of the novel is a perfect fit for today's flying... Read more
Published on 22 Jun 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars The measure of a man...
Everyone here has given this book five stars and I am no exception. Pilots know that flying is not just transportation but a way of learning who you really are, the stuff you... Read more
Published on 14 May 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Gann puts you in the cockpit!!! And gets you thinking .
The finest aviation memior ever written. A biography that reads like a novel. Read the chapters about flying in ice and thunderstorms and you'll be back with Gann in the... Read more
Published on 7 May 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all-time favorites.
I first read this book when I borrowed it from my grandfather. He recommended it, though I told him I did not like "guy" books. Read more
Published on 16 April 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I have read yet.
I am a relative of Ernest and his book "Fate is the Hunter" is the best book I have ever read, I have yet to find a book that tops it. Read more
Published on 11 April 1999

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