# Clive Cussler: Does anyone actually enjoy his books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120 "2005-10-07T00:06:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/21 "2005-10-07T03:36:27Z")
Oh, I’d love to have his car/plane collection. I always said if I ever got loads of cash I’d have some classic cars and some really cool vintage planes (and maybe a couple of tanks :)). BTW, how does he afford all that stuff? In the book I’m listening too he has a vintage Ford transport airplane (he manages to take out a a fully functional Fokker Dr.I Triplane with it :dubious: )? All that stuff is VERY expensive. Did he inherit a fortune or something? -XT ---
**Author:** ![Theologue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Theologue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theologue)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/22 "2005-10-07T04:10:45Z")
I read one, once, after Tom Clancy jumped the shark. Cussler is a case of writer entirely too much in love with his main character. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/23 "2005-10-07T05:20:54Z")
Cussler has written on fair techo thriller, 25 times. Every single one of his books is the same freakin plot. Lather, rinse repeat. And like any echo they get weaker over time. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/24 "2005-10-07T05:28:37Z")
make that Cussler has written on **e** fair techo thriller, 25 times. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/25 "2005-10-07T06:19:53Z")
I more or less echo the general sentiment here, except that I think his best book is **Deep Six** ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/26 "2005-10-07T13:40:07Z")
I’ve read two of them. Like Robert Ludlum, his books are wonderfully luddicrous. They make me wonder about the people complaining about the unreality of Science Fiction, when stuff like this is out there. It’s fun but mindless. “Dirk Pitt” is _precisely_ the right name for the hero in books like this. His name makes him sound like he eats nails for breakfast. When he wrote “Raise the Titanic” it was widely believed that the Titanic was wonderfully preserved in the very cold, still environs of the North Atlantic, and could be raised in one piece. For some reason, no one believed the reports from eyewitnesses that the ship had broken in half. I’m still amazed that they thought there would be little deterioration or rusting. Arthur C. Clarke believed the same thing. He had the Titanic being raised in the chapter “The Ghost from the Grand Banks” in his novel **Imperial Earth**. Later he coauthored a book entitled **The Ghost from the Grand Banks**. Then the _real_ Titanic showed up, broken in half, as everyone should have realized, and covered with rust icicles. But if you think the stuff about the Titanic is unbelievable, what about the magical Russian element from which you can build an impenetrable missile shield? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/27 "2005-10-07T13:42:10Z")
Actually, if you want a good Cussler read, have a look at his two books about finding sunken ships. True stories starring him about hands-on history exploring. Cussler is responsible for finding the Civil War submarine the _Hunley_. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/28 "2005-10-07T13:44:39Z")
I read **Raise the Titanic** in my teens and enjoyed it. Everything else by Mr Cussler that I have tried has been dreadful. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/29 "2005-10-07T14:38:34Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I certainly hope not as that would indicate that even his early books have gapping plot holes…like the fact that the crush depth of a ping pong ball is probably something like 100-200 feet at a guess. Taking a ping pong ball to the Titanic’s depth and…well, you get the idea. > > -XT Didn’t Scrooge McDuck once salvage a ship by pumping it full of ping-pong balls? Or am I imagining things? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/30 "2005-10-07T14:48:26Z")
[quote] Didn’t Scrooge McDuck once salvage a ship by pumping it full of ping-pong balls? Or am I imagining things? [/quote Yep. And they tried this out on **Mythbusters** , too. It works. But McDuck and Mythbusters wwere working in pretty shallow waters. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/31 "2005-10-07T15:01:13Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Does he usually write himself into the books? He’s actually a character in this one. Yes, usually. A lot of times some old gentleman shows up at the most opportune moment to smuggle our main character to safety or supply some essential piece of equipment. Doesn’t matter that they are somewhere in the deep rainforest of South America or up some north korean river and that the novels sometimes tail end each other. Later we find out the the name of the gentleman was … dun dun dun … Clive Cussler. Funny how Dirk never seems to recognize him from one adventure to the next though. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/32 "2005-10-07T15:17:14Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > I especially like the weird alternate universe Cussler sets up, where no matter what threat to civilization arises, it will somehow involve scuba diving and/or oceanography. Fortunately we can rely on the forces of NUMA, the marine research organization that routinely consults with the President of the United States. If Cussler’s America is ever confronted by a crisis that isn’t at least tangentially related to the oceans, we’re all screwed. So, basically, Dirk Pitt is aquaman? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/33 "2005-10-07T15:20:14Z")
I haven’t read any of his books, but I saw Sahara last weekend. I actually somewhat enjoyed it, not because it was good, though. The first hour I spent wondering it was going to get good. In the 2nd hour, it got so bad and so many plot holes and logic gaps showed up that it became funny in an Ed Wood sort of way. “Please don’t tell me he’s going to shoot down that helicopter with that civil war cannon!” And of course, the toxic waste factory that doesn’t seem to have any logical purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/34 "2005-10-07T15:39:00Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > So, basically, Dirk Pitt is aquaman? More of a Mermaid Man type, I think. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/35 "2005-10-07T15:53:38Z")
Cussler’s books are the literary equivalent of _Knight Rider_, or maybe _The “A” Team_. You’re going to be entertained for a bit, the good guys win, Dirk gets the girl, the men all bond and reflect on their awesome friendship, and no brain cells have been taxed. They are boys adventure stories for slightly more mature boys. I stated in the previous Cussler thread, if Dirk Pitt came to life and stepped out of the book, Clive Cussler would drop to his knees and blow him. I still maintain that. It’s downright creepy how much Cussler loves him and gushes over his hard muscles and green eyes. And as dumb as the Dirk Pitt books are, The movie\* Sahara\* was even dumber. I wouldn’t have believed it possible. And yes, I have read and will continue to read all the Dirk Pitt books. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/36 "2005-10-07T16:17:56Z")
> [@](#): > > if Dirk Pitt came to life and stepped out of the book, Clive Cussler would drop to his knees and blow him. I’m pretty sure something like that happened in one of the more recent novels. IIRC, Pitt was hacking his way through a tropical jungle when, suddenly, he was bitten on the penis by a krait. Death seemed imminent, when a grizzled old John Houston-sort happened along to suck the venom out. It required several daily treatments over a period of a week or so, but the old fellow persevered. Before he faded back into the jungle, he told Pitt his name, which was…(dun dun dun)… ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/37 "2005-10-07T16:45:45Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > Cussler’s books are the literary equivalent of _Knight Rider_, or maybe _The “A” Team_. You’re going to be entertained for a bit, the good guys win, Dirk gets the girl, the men all bond and reflect on their awesome friendship, and no brain cells have been taxed. They are boys adventure stories for slightly more mature boys. > > I stated in the previous Cussler thread, if Dirk Pitt came to life and stepped out of the book, Clive Cussler would drop to his knees and blow him. I still maintain that. It’s downright creepy how much Cussler loves him and gushes over his hard muscles and green eyes. > > And as dumb as the Dirk Pitt books are, The movie\* Sahara\* was even dumber. I wouldn’t have believed it possible. > > And yes, I have read and will continue to read all the Dirk Pitt books. Couldn’t agree more if I’d wrote it myself. Except for seeing Sahara, I share every sentiment. I’ve been reading him since I was kid and have even started on the NUMA files, which make Pitt novels seem like well researched documentaries. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/38 "2005-10-25T06:27:58Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > If you’re going to write a series of comically implausible techno-thrillers, then what better name for your ultra-manly main character than “Dirk Pitt?” It’s perfect in its comic-book goofiness, the sort of name that demands to be printed in boldface capitals: “_Suddenly_ **DIRK PITT** _entered the room_.” For me, Cussler is in the category of great “book on tape” fare. Maybe it’s just a personal quirk, but while I can’t bear to read writing below a certain standard, extremely cheesy stuff is quite enjoyable as an audio presentation. I just finished _White Death_ (co-written with someone named “Paul Kemprecos.”) Yes, the eyes roll frequently – but it’s fun. This is how I approach Clive Cussler: He’s the natural heir of Captain W.E. Johns (author of the _Biggles_ books) and similar scribblers of Boys’ Adventure Stories from the 1930s. His stuff is like _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. It’s totally got that 1930s adventure feel, without being set in the 1930s. _White Death_ was so incredibly over-the-top that it would have been offensive if it were dialed down at all. It’s ostensibly hyper-modern – the plot concerns an Evil Corporation that’s conspiring to use genetically-modified salmon to wipe out natural stocks in the ocean, gaining a monopoly ofn the fish market through farmed patented GM fishies. The Gee-whiz science is there, too – the aforementioned sexy AI interface for an otherwise unremarkable database, adaptive camoflage with projections. Very 21st Century. But this is still a 1930s adventure story: You’ve got all the requirements: A mad scientist. Evil Eskimos bent on world domination. Relics that either have mystical powers or are believed to. A subordinate “noble savage” type as a foil to the evil Eskimos. (Evil Eskimos! With giant, space-age igloos! A dogsled race in D.C.!) It may not be the 1930s, but he manages to get a dirigible in there, anyway. Nero Wolfe is there – he has a different name, but will be instantly recognizable to anyone who loves 1930s detective fiction, anyway. This is the most outlandish NUMA story yet – even more cartoonish than _Sahara_. I sincerely hope they make this one into a movie. It’ll be freakin’ hilarious – maybe Will Farrell can play KURT AUSTIN. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/39 "2005-10-25T07:00:12Z")
I’ve tried to read Cussler. He’s like the intersection of Robert Ludlum and Dan Brown, in a wetsuit. Anyone who’s tired of him, and who’d like to try a different masculine hero whose adventures are mostly on and around the water, check out the Doc Ford books by Randy Wayne White. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120/40 "2005-10-25T09:40:21Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#): > > Cussler’s books are the literary equivalent of _Knight Rider_, or maybe _The “A” Team_. You’re going to be entertained for a bit, the good guys win, Dirk gets the girl, the men all bond and reflect on their awesome friendship, and no brain cells have been taxed. They are boys adventure stories for slightly more mature boys. You said it nicely. I used to like _Knight Rider_ and _The “A” Team_ and this is the same sort of easy-going adventure. The banter’s fairly amusing and you can count on there being cool technology and a cool car. The women are also usually reasonably intelligent and competent. I went off the books at the plot twist **Dr. Rieux** mentioned, but I still reread the earlier books now and then. Mind you, _Pacific Vortex_ did show a hint of what Cussler was going to be like when he did go off. CJ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clive-cussler-does-anyone-actually-enjoy-his-books/325120.md?page=3)