Tower Dog: Life Inside the Deadliest Job in America

Full disclosure: I've known Doug for decades and was hearing about this work while it was happening. Meagan is a friend as well. I can tell you this is his best work, at least what I've seen. An important first-hand look at one of the hardest blue collar jobs you could get, it ain't exactly a clarion call to potential Tower Dogs! I used to climb trees as an arborist, but I'd never do this work. But without the odd bunch of crazies who get hooked on the thrill of danger in climbing cell phone towers, we wouldn't have cell phones. I don't own a smart phone, but I know they're all-important to many and my flip uses the same towers. The death toll rises as things unfold and the cast of characters well-defined. He does spend quite a bit of time on historical asides which serve to give a sense of place to the comparatively fleeting nature of the center-stage technology. I'll go back and read some of those entries again, but I like the adventurous tales he tells of this wild occupation. Many of us have had similar lives in that we would like to be known for our artistic talents - our writing, music, art or whatever - but making a living steals away the time as we assail the gate keepers of stardom. Doug deserves to be known, and while he got a feature film produced that included the late Peter Boyle, Peter Coyote as well as Patton Oswalt, the 30 Rock type of fame and fortune has eluded him. This book would kill as a dramatized screenplay, despite what his producer mentors have said. The reality TV approach has cheapened real talent and reduced the value of screen writing. Why write "Grapes of Wrath" when "Twinkies In The Trailer Park" sells more cheeseburgers? The most important thing to glean from Tower Dog is how the low, low wages these guys make to risk their lives for your cell service add insult to injury. They can't unionize as the crews travel all over the country. Our current pro-corporate anti-union government dims the prospects of this situation improving any time soon. No matter how pissed-off I would be working with some of these dudes, I'd stand up tall for their right to great pay and health care for what they do. As a piece of literature, I'd put this right up there with the best of 'em. I often thought of Steinbeck and Hemingway with the mood and posture of this prose. Perhaps that is because I root for my friends to be successful at this stage of life, and I might not be objective in that regard. But imagine doing this work for real and then producing this kind of writing about it at the same time. He says the guys love the book, and I hope it gives them some hope and respect. Some people wouldn't believe how hard work can be, whether it be hanging from a tower or spinning a tale. It's the hardness that makes work great. Pointing cameras at clowns is just reductive and low-brow... A shameless swing for capitalism, no art required. Tower Dog needs readers and a screen play, and the men it depicts need a raise.

In a world full of men who (for the most part) could care less about Shakespeare or Dickens, comes one that is as much articulate as he is heartfelt and sincere in his passion for a world chock full of underdogs. What else can be expected from a rough-and-tumble, rugged, and deadly industry such as the tower industry? You would no less expect an elephant to write a concierto in b minor, yet here it is, in stark contrast to the world it originates from. This book is as beautiful as it is rough around the edges. Taken in that perspective, I expect few tower hands to read this masterpiece, and even fewer to understand it's underlying message: that there are ALWAYS those unsung heroes, everyday, doing what they must to survive, and make the world go 'round in such a way as to make their grueling existence go mostly unnoticed by the general populace, and, thus, be taken entirely for granted.Mr. Delaney's attempt at shining a light on the underbelly of such an amazingly deadly industry should be heralded by all tower hands in all walks of life, for it comes at great risk due to the faceless powers that be that find such works abhorrent to the status quo that is the cellular world. Just like the many, many deaths that piled up during the building of the Great Wall of China, or the great rairoad race across the young United States, these tower dogs risk life and limb for the almighty dollar and, unfortunately, their share of the dollars is but a paltry sum compared to the vast amount bandied about by the carriers and general contractors that lead the industry. Middle men beware: if these tower dogs ever become self aware, it will not bode well for any of you or for those above you that hired you to milk a system dry that once flowed money downward like Niagara Falls on those willing to risk their lives because none other would.I absolutely loved this book, being a tower hand myself. I feel it embodies what we do in a very fair, objective, yet passionate way that few could ever give justice. Thank you, Doug!If you, oh meticulous review reader, have any doubts as to the validity of the contents of this book, or the investment of time that would be devoted to the reading of it; know that it is correct and will not be time wasted. In the same way the character Johanna Stayton in Overboard gained new perspective, this rendition should offer you a different perspective from one you may have developed from what you've seen on TV, or only guessed at.Cheers! :)

Preferring fiction to non-fiction, I had not expected to be enthralled by Douglas Scott Delaney's Tower Dogs; however, because Delaney is such a gifted writer, I finished the book in two days. If you use the internet, watch TV, use a GPS, or any current emergency communication unit, you will want to read this book. Tower Dogs is about the men and women who risk their lives to make sure that we can pick up a cell phone to make a call, text or Tweet, post our daily activities on Face Book, watch our favorite programs, and not get lost in unknown metropolitan or rural America. Delaney's portrayal of the landscape as seen from the towers and the history of the lands surrounding the towers knits the tower dogs' stories together in a tapestry of cityscapes and wheat fields, humor and anger, anguish and accomplishments, and despair and excitement. Delaney is first and foremost a writer or fiction, poetry and plays, and has always known how to draw a reader into the story, so this piece of non-fiction reads like a well-written novel because you get to know the characters and feel the camaraderie that makes up the family of the "dogs" as they battle heat, wind, rain, and ice to repair those spirals that pierce the sky across our continent. I have always been fascinated by the towers, especially at night driving across west Texas where there are few cities with lights that impede the darkness; the tower lights are always blinking to warn away planes flying across the night sky. I highly recommend reading Tower Dogs to get to know the people who touch our lives 24 hours a day. You will fall in love with Delaney's writing and you will have a better understanding of how our current communication system works.