Title: Living The Miracles: A Sailor’s Life in the Nuclear Power Age
Author: Albert Lee Kelln
Publisher: Proisle Publishing Service
ISBN: 1737871262
Pages: 220
Genre: Memoir
Reviewed by: David Allen
Author interview with Albert Lee Kelln
Hollywood Book Reviews
HBR: What is the key theme and/or message in the book?
ALK: This book was primarily written to introduce the operational intent and capabilities of the world’s first nuclear power series U.S. Attack Class submarines. The prolonged intense submerged operations demonstrated to the world the massive range and safety of nuclear ship propulsion.
HBR: What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
ALK: The operational adaptability of U.S. nuclear missile submarines will be a major factor in discouraging world nuclear type wars.
HBR: What is the significance of the title?
ALK: The various operational factors and experiences displayed by U.S. Nuclear Submarines were such a dramatic improvement that many referred to their refined capabilities as miraculous.
HBR: Tell us about the process for coming up with the cover.
ALK: The massive lone wolf book cover without any persons in view illustrates the miracle of its array of awesome weapon power which most people have never seen in public.
HBR: Do you write listening to music? If so, what music inspired or accompanied this current book?
ALK: The author presents and describes individual events in such a collective yet awesome manner that creates a close and trusting brotherhood man to man, yet not supplemented by musical interpretation.
HBR: If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
ALK: There are an abundant number of now civilian post submariners of high qualifications and background. In addition, a search of naval publications such as “American Submariner” or the “Submarine Review” published by the Naval Submarine League will produce many candidates.
HBR: What were the key challenges you faced when writing “Living The Miracles?”
ALK: The key challenges the author encountered were to actually recall all the many technical factors in a complete and accurate mode of fairness and detail, being fully informative, yet with every element of security protected.
HBR: What was the highlight of writing this book?
ALK: The highlight of this book was to celebrate key leaders like President Eisenhower, Admiral Hyman Rickover, Admiral Holloway, Queen Frederica of Greece, Admiral Bob Long, the USS Skate’s skipper Admiral Jim Calvert, and the memorial burial at the North Pole of the famed Arctic Explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins.
Yet, it was also a highlight to flesh out in words some of my own personal accomplishments. Skate’s Skipper defined me as a unique Arctic explorer in that I was the FIRST in world history to: fly over the North Pole, stand on the North Pole, and travel under the ice shelf at the North Pole. A second accomplishment was to expose myself in minus 23 degrees cold temperatures to be hoisted up to repair Skate’s only working radio antenna while deployed in the Arctic, and my resultant body damage. I also was the founder of the naval support organization the Naval Submarine League.