
Probable Roman shipwrecks unearthed at a Serbian coal mine - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/probable-roman-shipwrecks-unearthed-at-a-serbian-coal-mine/
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andsmi2
NUMA scientist Dirk Pitt is quoted as saying, “I wasn’t sure what to do next,
it seemed like all hope was lost. then this old man showed up, he seemed real
familiar to me but I couldn’t pinpoint why. He helped me find the ships that I
then used to escape from some unreasonable situation.”

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler)

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gadders
Are the Dirk Pitt books any good? I need a new thriller/action series to binge
read.

~~~
vintagedave
Some are, largely the older ones. The newest books have lost something to me,
and the related series feel like they're ghostwritten (they are ghostwritten
-- but importantly, they feel like it.)

From the books here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler#Bibliography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler#Bibliography),
'Dirk Pitt Adventures', which he wrote himself:

* The very old ones, Pacific Vortex, Mediterranean Caper, and Iceberg, are definitely dated. They also include some distasteful treatment of women and transexuals. The harsh (physically) behaviour to women seems to be Cussler's attempt to channel a Bond-like feeling. I don't like it at all.

* Dragon (if it's the one I remember) has an unpleasant rather racist feel. Like Crichton's Rising Sun, it's anti-Japanese.

* Raise the Titanic is what made him famous. Worth reading.

* The books Treasure, Sahara, Inca Gold are his absolute best. Big, thick, crazy adventure novels.

* Shock Wave I didn't like when I read it: something about the tone. I heard he had a personal tragedy before he wrote it, and maybe that affected the book.

* The books after feel increasingly ghostwritten, or at least churned out.

I enjoyed them as a teenager, and I was too young so some of the sexist or
racist elements in the older ones passed me by. I read the Bond books at a
similar age, and didn't understand everything I read. As an adult, re-reading,
I disliked those elements strongly.

Yet, some of the stories are fantastic thrillers.

So: I'd recommend you avoid the ones that are distasteful, and the newer ones.
But Titanic and those three others are worth reading. 'Big, thick, crazy
adventure novels'. When you read them, you'll see why they keep periodically
trying to make movies of his books.

~~~
gadders
Cheers. I'll give those ones a look.

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RickJWagner
Ah, the good old days. Newspapers were a primary news source, humor was an art
form, and a particular news provider could be enjoyed by everyone of every
political persuasion.

Aside from the dead trees aspect, I wish those days could return.

