Overview

As a child Geoff Dyer spent long hours making and blotchily painting model fighter planes. So as an adult, naturally he jumped at the chance to spend a week onboard the aircraft carrier the USS George H.W. Bush. Part deft travelogue, part unerring social observation, and part finely honed comedy, Another Great Day at Sea is the inimitable Dyer’s account of his time spent wandering the ship’s maze of walkways, hatches, and stairs, and talking with the crew—from the Captain to the ship’s dentists. A lanky Englishman in a deeply American world, Dyer brilliantly records daily life aboard this floating fortress, revealing it to be a prism for understanding a society where discipline and conformity become forms of self-expression. At the same time we are reminded why Dyer is celebrated as one of the most original voices in contemporary literature.

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9780804170208

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Reviews

Charles McGrath, New York Times [Dyer's] account of his stay on the ship is mostly blissful, filled with curiosity and with admiration for the crew and the dangerous, difficult work it does: repairing airplanes, flinging them up into the sky and then snagging them when they come back down again. Los Angeles Review of Books Remarkable....the book is very, very funny, from beginning to end. It is also incredibly moving, in the way only fresh and generous writing can be.... By the end of the book Dyer can state unabashedly that he's had one of the greatest encounters of his life on this boat, and I'm right there with him. NPR.org Dyer soars for the rest of the book, which shares sea legs with David Foster Wallce's brilliant cruice-ship essay A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. San Francisco Chronicle Terrific reading . . . . And so with this generous, illuminating and very funny book, Geoff Dyer, one of the most inquisitive writers in the English language, has proven his writing chops on land and at sea. What's left? We need to send him to space. New York Times Book Review This is what I love about Geoff Dyer's work: His feet are never on the ground. New York Observer Very much the flipside of Wallace's most famous essay, 'A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again' . . . . Another Great Day at Sea is like the more expensive sequel with a punchier moral . . . . Where a lesser writer--or, it must be said, even Wallace--would keep an icy distance, Mr. Dyer becomes one of the crew members Chicago Tribune Hilarious and oddball and nearly perfect, and you'll learn more than you ever thought you wanted to know about aircraft carriers . . . . I love this book. Los Angeles Times Dyer is to essays what Anthony Bourdain is to food. Boston Globe Dyer's antic, anxious, inventive mind is often fun to follow Portland Oregoniain A revelationl

Charles McGrath, New York Times [Dyer's] account of his stay on the ship is mostly blissful, filled with curiosity and with admiration for the crew and the dangerous, difficult work it does: repairing airplanes, flinging them up into the sky and then snagging them when they come back down again. Los Angeles Review of Books Remarkable....the book is very, very funny, from beginning to end. It is also incredibly moving, in the way only fresh and generous writing can be.... By the end of the book Dyer can state unabashedly that he's had one of the greatest encounters of his life on this boat, and I'm right there with him. NPR.org Dyer soars for the rest of the book, which shares sea legs with David Foster Wallce's brilliant cruice-ship essay A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. San Francisco Chronicle Terrific reading . . . . And so with this generous, illuminating and very funny book, Geoff Dyer, one of the most inquisitive writers in the English language, has proven his writing chops on land and at sea. What's left? We need to send him to space. New York Times Book Review This is what I love about Geoff Dyer's work: His feet are never on the ground. New York Observer Very much the flipside of Wallace's most famous essay, 'A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again' . . . . Another Great Day at Sea is like the more expensive sequel with a punchier moral . . . . Where a lesser writer--or, it must be said, even Wallace--would keep an icy distance, Mr. Dyer becomes one of the crew members Chicago Tribune Hilarious and oddball and nearly perfect, and you'll learn more than you ever thought you wanted to know about aircraft carriers . . . . I love this book. Los Angeles Times Dyer is to essays what Anthony Bourdain is to food. Boston Globe Dyer's antic, anxious, inventive mind is often fun to follow Portland Oregoniain A revelation to lovers of literature, who'll learn about the military from a master stylist, and to those who love ships and planes, who'll have the pleasure of a new perspective from a great writer. Virginian Pilot Dyer seems to be channeling . . . John Steinbeck . . . . The writing is loose and thin yet studded with conversational gems New York Magazine Dyer, at his best, is outstanding. He is one of our greatest living critics, not of the arts but of life itself, and one of our most original writers. . . .The essential fact about Dyer's nonfiction is that it works beautifully when it shouldn't work at all. . . .What's going on in these sentences is the fundamental business of nonfiction: the translation, at once exact and surprising, of world to word. . . .Dyer's books don't just have gorgeous throwaway moments. They are gorgeous throwaway moments, a series of extraordinary asides in the long sentence that is life. Time Out New York's Pick Your Perfect Summer Read If you're bobbing on the briny sea, you'll relate to the author's two weeks in the Persian Gulf and will delight in every digression about dentists and the pleasures of farting alone in one's room. Flavorwire The average writer would make this disparity into fish-out-of-water commentary, but Dyer starts there and then goes off into space, spinning his observations into something profound and beautiful that socks you in the gut. Salon.com The notion of installing a writer of Dyer's baroquely sensitive and self-conscious temperament aboard an American aircraft carrier stationed in the Persian Gulf is obviously a stroke of genius. . . .Thoroughly enjoyable. . . .The pleasure it delivers comes from two sources: Dyer's potent descriptive talent as he evokes the sequestered and sometimes surreal environment and society of the carrier, and the comedy he derives from his own fish-out-of-water status and high-strung personality. . . .Dyer's best is much more than good enough. Slate As concentratedly funny as anything he's written....you read him for his ability to turn every topic, no matter how uncompromising, into another excellent excuse for a book by Geoff Dyer. The Millions A unique and compelling stylist and a charming reporter, Dyer seems to have an absolute bang-up time on this assignment, and it's a pleasure to go along with him....What I found most remarkable about this book is that Dyer's uniform delight with everything and everybody he meets never gets monotonous. Tom Lavoie, Shelf Awareness Geoff Dyer is one of those writers who can't stop--he'll write about anything that catches his fancy and do it really well....This is a riveting (excuse the pun) excursion into bigness and 'endless walkways, hatches, and doorways, ' and it's totally engrossing.....Dyer goes on quite a trip and keeps us intrigued the whole way. Publishers Weekly An often hilarious and aphoristic, short-chaptered account written by a British essayist who is fascinated by American culture....a highly entertaining read. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Geoff Dyer deftly blends two stories into one short book: a closely observed, respectful account of life and work aboard an aircraft carrier, and the comic adventure of being 'the oldest and tallest person on ship, ' ducking and stooping his head constantly, struggling with the food and the noise of jets. Tampa Bay Tribune In a book where metaphors and similes could easily run wild, Dyer deploys them sparingly and to good effect....It's hard not to like a writer who can admit that, in talking to crew members about a man-overboard emergency, he comes armed 'with my knack for idiotic pleasantry, anchored in zero knowledge'....The ship's routines and drills meant there was 'never a dull moment, ' yet 'an endless succession of dull moments.' Nothing dull about Dyer, though. Jason Diamond, Flavorwire When Geoff Dyer wants to write about something, he gets totally into it. Be it a Russian film or yoga, Dyer's unique take on whatever situation he's focused on always yields a great book. In this latest case, Dyer finds himself on an American supercarrier, and the results are nothing short of superb. Huffington Post When Dyer delves into a specific topic, he delves deeply, which is why we're looking forward to his latest exploration: what life aboard an aircraft carrier is like. As always, he laces his observations with comedy and captivating storytelling. Jay Freeman, Booklist Unique, interesting, and surprising . . . fascinating. Billy Collins, author of Aimless Love Geoff Dyer has managed to do again what he does best: insert himself into an exotic and demanding environment (sometimes, his own flat, but here, the violent wonders of an aircraft carrier) and file a report that mixes empathetic appreciation with dips into brilliant comic deflation. Welcome aboard the edifying and sometimes hilarious ship Dyer. Annie Dillard, author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek What could be better than weeks far away on the flat seas of the Arabian Gulf with Geoff Dyer? He is, if possible, even more witty and charming than usual. The carrier's hugeness, its crew's tireless cheer and openness, and the enormous mechanical and electrical forces at work everywhere fare wonderfully here with Dyer's unique combination of depth, irreverence and explosive humor. John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead I hope one day to meet the demented genius who decided to put Geoff Dyer aboard an American aircraft carrier. The result sounds in places as if Sterne en route to his sentimental journey had paused for a week's stint on HMS Victory. There's something like New Journalism happening but in the hands of a writer who'll suddenly flash out sentences such as, 'The sea was a prairie of glitter green.' In the end one is forced to call it a Dyer book, which luckily for him and us is a high compliment. Steve Martin Dyer stows himself away on an American aircraft carrier, fortunately, with all his hilarious tics in place. A rare kind of non-fiction, with sentences that keep on giving long after your eye has sailed on. Brenda Wineapple, author of Ecstatic Nation Another Great Day at Sea, Geoff Dyer's chronicle of his two weeks in residence aboard the USS George H. W. Bush, is a tale of routine, lyricism and terror, of long hours and hard work, and of camaraderie and conviction, which are a form of faith. Original, humane, and very funny, Another Great Day is another great book by an incomparable writer. David Finkel, author of Thank You for Your Service Another Great Day at Sea is what we've all come to expect from Geoff Dyer--another great book. I loved everything about it. It's brilliantly observed, beautifully written, incisive, funny, and filled with stirring truths about life and the value of service. Sam Lipsyte, author of The Fun Parts: Stories A great day is any day you get to read Geoff Dyer, and this book is no exception. Witty, empathetic, and insatiably curious, Dyer is the perfect guide to the floating world of an American aircraft carrier. With Another Great Day at Sea he makes a perfect night landing on the 'postage stamp, ' with elan to spare. Tom Bissell, author of Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creation I have read Geoff Dyer on World War I, jazz, photography, the Venice Biennale, and D. H. Lawrence, among many other subjects. It's as though his mind is slave to some unpredictable Internet browser inaccessible to the rest of us. His new book--an inimitably close study of life on an American aircraft carrier--is one of his best, funniest, and most humane yet. Geoff Dyer remains an unconventionally great writer--perhaps the most bafflingly great writer at work in the English language today. From the Hardcover edition.

Generous, illuminating and very funny. San Francisco Chronicle Dyer stows himself away on an American aircraft carrier, fortunately, with all his hilarious tics in place. A rare kind of nonfiction, with sentences that keep on giving long after your eye has sailed on. Steve Martin Hilarious. . . . [Dyer is] one of the funniest writers alive. Chicago Tribune [Dyer] is one of our greatest living critics, not of the arts but of life itself, and one of our most original writers. New York Magazine Urgent, funny, utterly in-the-moment and achingly honest. . . . Like the captain, like the crew, like the ship, Dyer s superb book constantly reiterates its excellence. It virtually stands to attention on its own. Philip Hoare, The Guardian (London) This is what I love about Geoff Dyer s work: His feet are never on the ground. . . . He s a philosophical naturalist, a realist. Clancy Martin, The New York Times Book Review Remarkable. . . . Earnest but never unctuous, light-handed but stirring. Minneapolis Star Tribune [ Another Great Day At Sea ] shares sea legs with David Foster Wallace s brilliant cruise-ship essay A Supposedly Fun Thing I ll Never Do Again. . . . For all the snap and snark in his prose, Dyer can t tamp down his generosity of spirit forever. NPR.org Dyer is to essays what Anthony Bourdain is to food. . . . That rare writer one reads not to learn something new but to enjoy his sidelong take on a subject. Los Angles Times A total delight. . . . Stuffed with wonderful anecdotes. The Independent (London) [Dyer is] likely the greatest writer of nonfiction we have. . . . He s the quintessential everyman through which any reader could substitute his or her own imagination. New York Observer Filled with curiosity and with admiration. The New York Times Dyer deftly blends two stories into one short book: a closely observed, respectful account of life and work aboard an aircraft carrier, and the comic adventure of being the oldest and tallest person on ship, ducking and stooping his head constantly, struggling with the food and the noise of jets. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel A great day is any day you get to read Geoff Dyer, and this book is no exception. Witty, empathetic, and insatiably curious, he is the perfect guide to the floating world of an American aircraft carrier. A perfect night landing on the postage stamp, with elan to spare. Sam Lipsyte A revelation to lovers of literature, who ll learn about the military from a master stylist, and to those who love ships and planes, who ll have the pleasure of a new perspective from a great writer. . . . [Marked by] precise observation, unerring word choice, drop-dead sense of humor and the absurd. The Oregonian The average writer would make this disparity into fish-out-of-water commentary, but Dyer starts there and then goes off into space, spinning his observations into something profound and beautiful that socks you in the gut. Flavorwire Thoroughly enjoyable. . . . Installing a writer of Dyer s baroquely sensitive and self-conscious temperament aboard an American aircraft carrier stationed in the Persian Gulf is obviously a stroke of genius. Salon.com As concentratedly funny as anything [Dyer s] written. Slate When Dyer delves into a specific topic, he delves deeply. . . . As always, he laces his observations with comedy and captivating storytelling. Huffington Post Dyer has a rare talent. . . . By the end of Another Great Day at Sea, the carrier is no longer forbiddingly otherworldly. . . . [Dyer has] moved from being a dispassionate observer to someone who prays for those who go to sea in ships. Financial Times

Author Information

Geoff Dyer’s books include But Beautiful (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award); The Missing of the Somme; Out of Sheer Rage; The Ongoing Moment (winner of the ICP Infinity Award for writing on photography); Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi; and Zona. His many awards include the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, and, most recently, a National Book Critics Circle Award for the essay collection Otherwise Known as the Human Condition. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and his books have been translated into twenty-four languages. Dyer currently lives in Venice, California.

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