A gifted but forgotten writer

Morgan Robertson fits the description of the suffering artist. He was a writer, a sailor and an inventor, but not a business man and was therefore exploited by most people who published his work. He never received the recognition he deserved and died as he lived, in poverty.

This prophetic story is very well written. The narrator is engaging. The story is accurately detailed.
In addition to this novella you also get free of charge and not mentioned in the description of this book, a sort of memorial to Mr. Robertson. Short essays written by people who knew Mr. Robertson. Quite a deal.
I hope that Audible records more of this under rated author's work.

6 people found this helpful

glad I have this a listen

another great job by Frederick Davidson. I have a respect for Morgan Robinson after this. I have never heard of him before this book.

1 person found this helpful

Couldn't get past the narration

I cannot stand this narrator.

I was really excited to listen to this book, I bought it, downloaded it to my ipod, started it - and frowned.

Not this narrator again - I forgot to preview first.

This is the second book I had to stop mid-way because this narrator. I personally think his style is too over the top.

As for the content - I could not get past the narrator.

Overall - PREVIEW the book first, then decide if you want it or not.

2 people found this helpful

Fascinating life story after the ship story.

The story was good. Not expecting the story to be only have of the book. The rest of it is more of the authors life story. Fascinating.

The Wreck of the Titan

My sole purpose of listening was to discern how close it mimicked or was a premonition of Titanic disaster the happened 14 years after this book.

The similarities are uncanny.

The ending about the author dragged on and on but wasn't horrible.
Would definitely recommend.

The Last Old-Fashioned Writer of Sea Stories

As critically admired and as widely read as he was in his own lifetime, this seems to be the only one of Robertson’s 14 books that has endured – probably due to the creepy prescience of its main action. Though not finding this as gripping as did his contemporaries, nevertheless I admit it’s a well-crafted, well told tale with a nicely rounded finish.

More engaging is the second half of this recording: a series of biographical and autobiographical glimpses of our author (my title is a friend’s description of him). They’re a sympathetic window on a gifted, generous but unhappy man who, with no formal education, made a name (if not a steady income) in the parsimonious publishing world of late 19th - early 20th century New York.

Frederick Davidson’s performance prevails over a somewhat impaired recording, with occasional distortions that obliterate entire words.

couldn't Get thru chap 1. bad narration. ..

I don't really know how to rate it.. I couldn't get thru the first chapter, due to the narration... the story of the titan is at the very least is interesting in contrast to the titanic....

Save your money

This audiobook is five and a half hours long. The actual story is two hours long. The rest seems to be about the author. Not worth the money.

Good overview of a little remembered author

Written in 1898, this eerie foreshadowing of the Titanic tragity is interesting in its own right.

But wait, there's more!

It's followed by biographical material, autobiographical and otherwise, of Morgan Robertson that paints an interesting picture of this Edwardian author, inventor, and above all, sailor.

Difficult to hear

I have heard so much about this book in regards to the Titanic tragedy so I decided to listen to it. It certainly did have some similarities to the Titanic but the story was the bigger part of the book. It was rather difficult to understand and get used to the narrator's "high English" but what made it even more difficult was the audio kept fading in and out! I had to constantly adjust the volume control on my stand-alone listening device. I finally put on a headset (which I prefer not doing) in order to fully hear what the narrator was saying.

All and all, a ho-hum story and rather a disappointment as the story was rather bland. The narration style and audio problems also put this one in the do-not-reread category.

Good luck with that!