# Alistair MacLean
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 9, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625 "2005-03-09T03:14:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/1 "2005-03-09T03:14:23Z")
I’m reading _Ice Station Zebra_ again, and given errors like headlights on Formula V race cars and calling a submarine a ship, I wonder what Dopers thing of his work.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/2 "2005-03-09T04:08:39Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I’m reading _Ice Station Zebra_ again, and given errors like headlights on Formula V race cars and calling a submarine a ship, I wonder what Dopers thing of his work.
I thought all his books were great!
In seventh grade.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/3 "2005-03-09T13:11:56Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#):
>
> In seventh grade.
They started being goofy with _The Way to Dusty Death_.
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/4 "2005-03-09T13:35:43Z")
I read a bunch of them when I was in my early teens. The only one that remains in memory at all is **Puppet on a Chain**. So, I guess I’d say his work is largely forgettable.
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### Author:  [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/5 "2005-03-09T18:20:54Z")
Yeah, I went through a MacLean phase probably in 8th-9th grade. Fine for the time (in fact, The Guns of Navarone was one of my favorites for awhile) but now I rank him right up there with Clive Cussler.
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### Author:  [@waits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waits)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/6 "2005-03-09T18:28:40Z")
I also went through a bunch of his books in my early teens. Looking back on it, _H.M.S. Ulysses_ and _Breakheart Pass_ are the only two that stuck in my mind.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/7 "2005-03-09T19:16:11Z")
> [@Ol'Gaffer](#):
>
> I rank him right up there with Clive Cussler.
Hey now, there is no need to go dissin’ my man Clive. I still wade through each and every books he pumps out. Not the one’s he co-writes though, those are just drivel.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/8 "2005-03-09T19:17:58Z")
I would like to apologize for the last sentence in the above post. Please read what I meant and not what I mangled.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alistair-maclean/293625/9 "2005-03-09T19:32:47Z")
I could never read his name correctly. I always wanted to call him **Lean McAlister**.