Radio Man Marconi Sahib         A Great Book...I highly recomend it...

What piqued my interest in the book was the title. As a child (age 7) my father taught me the Morse Code and how to use the operator's key. I got so caught up in Radio Man, I didn't want to put it down. The detail in Alan's journal brings this era to life. As he describes the temples, the ships, the characters, and the trepidation of the times,  one feels as if immersed in some great documentary. The words used to describe the various peoples, were the words I grew up with. I'm glad the author didn't change them or omit them, as this would have distorted the facts and the real experiences of history and one who lived it. This is a deserving book about our unsung heroes from the Merchant fleets.  Luckily, it also happens to be a highly entertaining read. God Bless them all.

Dorothy E. Gregus, Behavioural Therapist

  Once you've started reading Radio Man, you won't want to put it down. It begins in 1935 when Alan Patterson first obtained his second class certificate in Radiotelegraphy and finds work on a British Ship. We follow Alan along the way- this is essentially his personal diary- as he  travels from the US to Britian to India. There are amazing details within this 200 page odyssey-- a drunken ship-mate with a case of the 'DT.'s', a cabin boy who isn't really a cabin boy at all, the deaths of friends and, most importantly, Alan's experience with war.This is an excellent book, and not just for history buffs. Highly recommended. Holly R. Davis, BA

Bushire, Buenos Aires, Bombay @ Karachi, Rangoon and Moulmein, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, Bridgetown, Port of Spain, Montevideo, Havana, and Hobart are only some of the seaports experienced first hand by Radio Man Alan Patterson (aka Marconi Sahib) during his sojourn with the British Merchant Marine Service. The 1938 and '39 pre-war imagery smoulders along with muted forewarnings of conflict to come in the Atlantic and Pacific regions. The lurking hazards of World War II were not only an omni-present threat for the allied fighting forces, but also for the Merchant Marine services. Alan's chronicles breathe life and immediacy into some of the more obscure corners of the world during these calamitious times. Obliquely revealed are the anxieties and fears that dogged the Merchant Marine crews who sailed these hostile waters- the trepidations of the times are deftly inferred. Silhouetted against vivid portraits of some of history's most storied harbours, Radio Man is an entertaining time machine offering rare glimpses of exotic ports caught up in the cross-hairs of the 20th-century's most troubled times. Thanks to Alan, and his daughter Mahrie, the unsung heroes of the war-the Merchant Marine Service- has been given a voice from the past which resonates with both compelling and remarkable clarity.

Dennis Mullen, Last Desk