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Breaking Ships | 
 enlarge | Author: Roland Buerk
Publisher: Chamberlain Bros.
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $14.95 (75%)
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 769456
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 1596090367
Dewey Decimal Number: 623.824
EAN: 9781596090361
ASIN: 1596090367
Publication Date: March 28, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ex-Library Book Will contain Library Markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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Product Description
Asbestos, explosives, and chemical waste are only a few of the hazards involved in the meticulous work of destroying a giant ship. When new labor laws and environmental standards came to Europe, the ship-breaking industry moved to places like Chittagong on the coast of Bangladesh-places where the lives of workers seem expendable, and the environment is someone else's problem.
Breaking Ships follows the demise of the Asian Tiger, a ship destroyed at one of the twenty ship-breaking yards along the beaches of Chittagong. BBC Bangladesh correspondent Roland Buerk takes us through the process-from beaching the vessel to its final dissemination, from wealthy shipyard owners to poverty-stricken ship cutters, and from the economic benefits for Bangladesh to the pollution of its once pristine beaches.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
Well done and unusual August 5, 2006
Konrad Baumeister
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
Buerk follows the "death" and dismemberment of the giant ship Asian Tiger from beaching to the sale of the last nut or bit of insulation, a process of some months. The story of how Bangladesh became a market for this type of work (which now supplies steel for domestic uses while the world price rises every day), the devastating impact on the environment, and the ambiguous cost/benefit to the workers are all dealt with. Buerk interviews all types of people involved in the industry and project, including the captain beaching the vessel, the business family running the project, various labor subcontractors, workers of varying skill (and pay) level, still poorer villagers in the north who desperately wish to get the backbreaking jobs on the beach, vendors on the roadside hawking products pulled off the boat, even steel mill operators taking in the steel and sending it on for recycled use as rebar in the cities. Throughout, the author is sympathetic to the men in each position, and recognizes that while the work is probably some of the worst in the world and pays terribly, still for the average Bangladeshi it appears to be preferably to no work and starvation. A number of b&w photos add significantly to the book. By the time the ship is largely gone, new ships have appeared on shore. For the workers it is a grinding life, but it seems to be the only life they have. Recommended read.
Fast, interesting read April 24, 2006
Jake McKee (Dallas, TX, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is short, but it's wonderful to have a complete and quick overview on the subject. I completely enjoyed the book, and was done in two days. The author does a great job of sharing some facts, but mostly painting a picture. It felt more like a textual version of a photo essay.
That's the rub for me... while the book had many photos, they were all in black and white. Had they been in color, and maybe even a few more included, I would have absolutely rated 5 stars. Maybe in the second edition (because I'm confident the book will be well received enough to have a second printing!)
Overall, solid purchase.
Enjoyable July 14, 2006
Luke Parker (Australia)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Follows the path of one ship as it is broken up and destroyed. Provides a good overview into the ship breaking industry, but a little short of hard facts.
By no means a heavy read; The author has worked at the Economist and that style of writing comes through. Some good photos included.
If you are into scrap metal, shiping or construction, you'll probably enjoy this.
 Below Average July 31, 2006
John Dickerman (Washington, DC)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book was pretty disappointing. I was hoping for something with a little more meat on it. Its a deceptive 160 odd pages. The book is small, almost like a pocket book, and it reads super fast because there are pictures on almost every other page. It felt like you really only get a taste of what a humanitarian and enviromental disaster ship breaking in Bangladesh and India really are. It reads almost as if it is a "day in the life" book, mainly because it focuses on the dismantlement of one particular ship. I think this book is less about ship breaking than it is an obituary for the Asian Tiger oil tanker. Get it from the Library if you're really interested, don't waste your 15 bucks on this.
this story deserve a documentary March 29, 2007
Luis Mansilla Miranda (Vina del Mar, Chile)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I became interested in Ship Breaking when I watched some few images on the TV and from there I thought there was a documentary about it, but nothing. So I read this little book and it fulfilled my expectations. The whole process of shipbreaking is interesting, from the beaching of the ship, the dismantlement and the uses made of steel in Bangladesh.
The book also gave me a glimpse of Banglasdesh history, geography and people. How difficult is living in this poor country. Anyway, if you are interested in more images, here you have the coordinates to look it up using google earth: Longitude, 91 44'07E, Latitude, 22 25'54N.
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