The war correspondent has his stake - his life - in his own hands, and he can put it on this horse or that horse, or he can put it back in his pocket at the very last minute… being allowed to be a coward, and not be executed for it, is his torture.

— War photographer Robert Capa,
killed by a landmine in French Indo-China, 1954

Click here for the book’s official website

I don’t have any aspirations of being a war reporter per se, but since it’s an offshoot - or perhaps the seed - of global journalism (which I’m interested in), I guess that’s why I’ve always tried to follow the whereabouts and stories of a number of conflict journalists. And with all of them, what amazes me is how they seem not to comprehend the reality of their own mortality - or maybe it’s exactly the opposite, maybe it’s because they do that they take chances with their lives. So when I came across Chris Ayres‘ memoir, so intriguingly titled, I had to pick it up. It was a great read, but I must say, however, that it wasn’t what the book cover set it up to be. I was only anticipating a laugh-out-loud, omg-that’s-so-stupid-this-guy-is-a-joke kind of read. But it wasn’t. For all his professions of being a coward, Chris Ayres really isn’t one at all.

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