Christmas Book List Suggestions???

[mcdenny]

Anyone care to offer the names of their favorite boat books. No constraints, can be sailing stories, how to build..., coffee table picture books, whatever. You know, the ones you pick up again and again.

Spouses everywhere will thank you.

I'll start:
"From My Old Boatshop"; Weston Farmer
"Boats With An Open Mind", "Thirty Odd Boats", "Bolger Boats"; All by You know who.

[Bruce Hooke]

Here are some very different books I love for very different reasons:

It is totally unrelated to boats, but for anyone who loves the desert and loves good nature writing I highly recommend A Secret Knowledge of Water by Craig Childs.

For someone of the right mindset The Power of Now is a great book, but a risky gift since so many copies have been sold.

My Times Atlas of the World is one of my prized books, but unfortunately quite expensive.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a classic, but not a light read.

Edited to add...geezzz...I really was not reading carefully. I thought you asked for good books, boat related or not. Sorry...

[sawcutmill]

"Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick

"the Yankee Whaler" Clifford B. Ashley

Any "Edward Rowe Snow" books!

[Donn]

The Well Tended Perennial Garden (Expanded Edition) by Tracy DiSabato-Aust.

[Thorne]

"Riddle of the Sands" - Childers
Entire "Swallows and Amazons" series - Ransome
"American Small Sailing Craft" - Chapelle
"Classic Boat" - Time/Life boat series book

[bott]

My top three (right now):

"Details..." Larry Pardey (the real boat geeks boat porn)

"Hand Reef and Steer" Cunlife

"Seaworthiness : The Forgotten Factor" Czeslaw A. Marchaj (great design critique and discussion, with a slant to the classic)

[Lance F. Gunderson]

I've been reading "Th Cruise Of The Blue Dolphin" by Nina Chandler Murray, the Lyons Press, isbn1-59228-462-0. Just out in peperback. Recommended.

[dredbob]

A few of my favorites:

_The Compleat Cruiser_ by L. Francis Herreshoff

_The Nature of Boats_ by Dave Gerr

_Sailing Craft_ by Edwin Schoettle

_Sailing Back in Time_ by Maria Coffey

_Yacht Cruising_ by Claud Worth

_Wandering Under Sail_ by Eric Hiscock

_The Coast of Summer_ by Anthony Bailey

And the Swallows and Amazon series and any of Sam Llewellyn's sailing novels.

---
Bob

[Dave Gray]

"The Boat That Wouldn't Float", Farley Mowatt
"Of Yachts and Men", William Atkin

[Todd Bradshaw]

Mine...I get two bucks every time one of you guys buys a copy.

[outofthenorm]

I second the Atkin book "Of Yachts and Men" and add "The Bird of Dawning" by James Masefield. Clipper ships running at speed in the English Channel. Can't be beat.

- Norm

[dan-marques]

A couple I've read recently and really liked:

The Last Gentleman Adventurer - Edward Maurice

Seaworthy : Adrift with William Willis in the Golden Ade of Rafting - T. R. Pearson

Old Glory : A Voyage Down the Mississippi - Jonathan Raban

[ssor]

The Edge of the sea, and the silent spring, both by Rachel Carson

[JimConlin]

"Worthy of the Sea: K Aage Nielson and His Legacy of Yacht Design."
by WB's Maynard Bray ans Tom Jackson.

[Ken Hutchins]

West! Sail West, Man! by Hein Zenker, A most read for anyone who dreams of circumnavigating around the world or living aboard but doesn't think he or she has enough money or a big enough boat.
It is the story of Hein and his wife Ziggy, shortly after WWI they built their boat Thlaloca and set sail, all the boat they could afford a 20 ft boat which was designed byLaurent Giles & Partners. 12 years and 55,000 nautical miles later they swallowed the anchor for a while and built a 40 ft boat to do it all over again.:)

[Dave Gray]

"Once is Enough", Miles Smeeton

[rbgarr]

If the criteria is to pick books that reward rereading, i.e., to take to a desert island:

Huckleberry Finn
Moby Dick
The Odyssey
How to Build a Wooden Boat

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned the series by Roger Taylor.

Good Boats

More Good Boats

Still More Good Boats

Etc. The fourth one I can't recall.

Great stuff to do some winter dreaming over.

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

"The Boat That Wouldn't Float", Farley Mowat

Slight correction that makes all the difference. The title is actually "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float". My mouth hurt from laughing so hard as I read this one. Absolutely hilarious.

[Lance F. Gunderson]

Here's a good one that not many may know of: "The Cruise Of The Hippocampus" by Alf Loomis, The Century Co., New York, 1922. Alf and a couple of good buddies sail a 28' ketch from Maine down to Panama and have a great time. Also recommended.

[Christopher Locke]

Entire Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.

[John Meachen]

Both volumes of Yacht Designs by William Garden.Uffa Fox's books are worth a read or two and are improved by prior reading of his biography.I also go back to Frank Bethwaite's high Performance Sailing quite often because I find it too intense to read much of at one sitting,even though it is crammed with a wide variety of information.

[Vince Brennan]

Ashley's Book Of Knots (Clifford Ashley)

Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Ropework (Graumont/Hensel)

O'Brien's eminently readable and re-readable series

The Sailmakers's Apprentice (Marinero)... boy, do I love that one!

[RodB]

I purchased the latest version of "The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction" at the WB show in August. I already had the older version but I think the new 5th edition is a must have for anyone going to use epoxy in boatbuilding. Many many techniques are covered from fasteners to deck framing, etc... Most of the information is based on lots of testing for strength and longevity...what a great reference.

Any of the "Good Boats" series by Roger Taylor are great , I love em...and have all of them.

John Leather's book on Colin Archer is great...I'm not home now so I can't look at the book for the title and I'm senile to some degree. Maybe the title is:

"Colin Archer and the Seaworthy Double Ender"

If the giftee doesn't have them all three of the WB series... Thirty, Fourty, and Fifty Woodenboats...are very nice references.

Cold-Molded and Strip-Planked Wood Boatbuilding (Hardcover)
by Ian Nicolson


RB

[djswan]

"The Lorax" by Dr. Suess
"Wood as an Engineering Material" by USDA
"Build a Classic Timber-Framed house" by Jack Sobon
"Boat Building" by Howard Chapelle
"Crackpot Manifesto" By Michael Rogers and numerous crackpots

Derek

[Canoeyawl]

The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby

Princess by Joe Richards

Hashish: A Smuggler's Tale by Henry De Monfried

[RodB]

John G Alden and His Yacht Designs by Carrick and Henderson

Practical Small Boat Designs by John ATkin

Sam Crockers Boats by Sturgis Crocker

The Commodore's Story by Munroe and Gilpin (Available from the Museum of Southern Florida.

RB

[Garrett Lowell]

"The Rudder Treasury".