Previous Book Reviews
Blue Latitudes—November 2002
Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz is subtitled Bolding Going Where Captain Cook has Gone Before. Mr. Horwitz spends a year and a half visiting many of the places Captain Cook visited from 1768 – 1779. The book culminates with Cook’s violent death in modern day Hawaii.
The book alternates back and forth between Cook’s 18th century experience and Mr. Horwitz’s modern day travels. Horwitz does an excellent job of interpreting the various sources available and giving an account that the historical layperson can relate to. Key characters include the author, Cook, the colorful Joseph Banks (the Endevour's Botanist) and Horowitz’s even more colorful traveling companion Roger Williamson. Horwitz paints a picture of Cook as an austere, yet fair man—seemingly driven to the edges of the earth. As driven as Cook is to explore the world, Banks is driven to explore the anatomies of females from different Polynesian cultures. Roger is mainly content to explore the bottle and make wisecracks about Horwitz’s adventure. If you think Blue Latitudes sounds like a dry historical piece, you’re sorely mistaken. Any potential dryness is quickly quenched by Horwitz’s wit, Banks's “botanizing” and Roger’s boozing.
Much to my wife’s amusement I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading Blue Latitudes. Despite that, I found myself strangely moved after reading the account of Cook’s death. While the consequences of Cook’s voyages are complex, you cannot help but feel a great admiration for this man who started with so little yet went so far. Great book, highly recommended.

Journey's Through the Inside Passage—September 2002
Not being a huge Joe Upton fan (I didn't enjoy one of his previous books), I held off buying Journey’s Through the Inside Passage. Finally, the good price ($8.95), pretty picture on the cover and catchy subtitle (Seafaring Adventures along the Coast of British Columbia and Alaska) sucked me in. I have to report that I was pleasantly surprised—the book was an excellent read! The book starts south in Seattle and works it’s way up the inside passage, north to Glacier Bay and Cape Spencer in SE Alaska. Mr. Upton does a great job of intertwining history and stories to give one a real feel for the coast. There are not only excerpts from George Vancouver and John Muir, but also accounts from lesser- known characters that add color to this otherwise gray/green coastline. My favorite stories recounted in the book always seemed be attributed to "a friend", making one wonder about the level of embellishment. Probably my favorite part of the book was the excellent section on the blast at Ripple Rock. This infamous rock was blown to smithereens in 1958, resulting in the largest manmade non-nuclear blast in history.
Unlike many books, Journey’s Through the Inside Passage includes about 7 - 8 excellent maps that cover the area being discussed. My only complaint about the book is that it was too short at 189 pages—I wanted more. I guess you get what you pay for;-)

At Sea in the City—July 2002
Given the terrible tradegy that occurred on September 11th, it was nice to read about New York in a peaceful context. At Sea in the City was clearly written before the tradegy occurred, although the author makes mention of the events in his epilogue. At Sea in the City recounts the author’s various adventures sailing about New York city in their 24' catboat called Tradition. As the author navigates the waterways around New York and Manhatten he narrates an interesting history of New York’s maritime past. My favorites were the accounts of the disasters that beset the Golden Venture, Castel Del Ray and the General Slocum. I also found the accounts and history of the various islands around New York fascinating. Anyone who has ever attempted to pilot and maintain a quirky sailboat will probably enjoy the the tales of minor collisions and engine problems. If you do buy the book, compare the cover of the actual book to what you see here on my website... pretty funny.
This book reminded be a little of a New York version of Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban. If you enjoyed Passage to Juneau and are interested in learning a little mre about New York’s maritime past, you will probably enjoy At Sea in the City

Highliners—May 2002
I first read Highliners when I was in my teens. Unfortunately, I lost my copy, and then the book went out of print. Fast-forward 20 years... I am down at Fish Expo browsing the in-show bookstore and what do I stumble upon but a brand new copy of Highliners—it has been recently reprinted. Better yet, Bill McClosky has written a sequel called Breakers. I grab both books and head to checkout. I busy myself extolling the virtues of Highliners to the clerk, who can barely get a word in edgewise. Finally she says, “it’s great you feel that way, you should really tell the author, he is standing right next to you”! I end up shooting the shit with the man who created Hank Crawford and get my two books autographed. The whole experience made the boat show for me.
I am really happy to report that Highliners is just as good in 2002 as it was in 1980. The book is a yarn that recounts Hank Crawford’s 11-year addiction with Alaskan fishing. Breakers tell you the “rest of the story” and gives you another 8-years of Crawford. You don’t need to be interested in fishing or Alaska to enjoy this book—it is just a dang good story, with good gritty characters. The cover proclaims the story is “Sexy, violent and entertaining”, and I have to wholeheartedly agree.
Two thumbs up Mr. McClosky! Buy the book through tgw.net's association with Amazon.com and help support our site.

Marine Diesel Engines—October 2001
My dad gave me his copy of Marine Diesel Engines by Nigel Calder after he sold his Grand Banks and had no more diesel engines to look after. Boy, was I glad I had this book during our recent trip to Alaska! I not only read this book cover to cover during the trip, but I also used two of Mr. Calder's troubleshooting tips to successfully solve show-stopping problems we encountered in Southeast Alaska. My copy is now dog-eared and appropriately smudged with grease.
At Amazon's website there are 32 samples pages that will give you a good idea of the contents of this well written and illustrated book. My favorite aspect of the book is that it’s written in a user friendly way—even I understood it. I have two other books on marine diesel engines and neither of them come close to being as well written or understandable as this book. Both the theory/background sections as well as the troubleshooting section are excellent. The book was incredibly applicable to the Patience’s diesel auxiliary installation and I suspect other sail boaters will find the same.
Great book, highly recommended. I liked it so much, I put Mr. Calder’s other books on my Christmas wish list. Buy the book through tgw.net’s association with Amazon.com and help support our site.

Blind Man's Bluff—December 2000
I bought Blind Man’s Bluff by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew at Miami Ineternational Airport. I was looking for something to occupy my mind during a long flight back to Seattle. I didn’t have high hopes for the book, but I figured it had to be better than reading Hemispheres (United’s free in-flight magazine) over and over. I was pleasantly surprised—I actually ended up with a book I could hardly put down.
The book re-tells a number of true submarine missions that took place during the cold war. The stories are well researched, and some are truly amazing. My favorite stories come later in the book when the daring US submariners tap Soviet telecommunications cables in Okhotsk and the Barents. The book also gives a slightly different, but interesting spin on Howard Hughes and the CIA’s attempted recovery of the soviet Golf submarine that went down in the Pacific. Sontag and Drew give a little more insight to the politicking that went on behind this fiasco. Perhaps it’s propaganda, but somehow the book leaves you with the feeling that those guys in the navy really knew what the heck was going on.
Bottom line Blind Man’s Bluff gets two thumbs up. Buy the book through tgw.net’s association with Amazon.com and help support our site.

Ship of Gold—September 2000
Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder is a non-fiction book about the Central America, a sidewheel steamer that sank in 1857 off the Carolina coast. The book toggles between two different time periods by alternatively providing a blow-by-blow account of the actual tragedy and the modern day attempt to recover the 21 tons of gold aboard the ill fated ship. Both the valiant attempts of the late Captain Herndon to keep the Central America afloat and balsy salvage efforts of Tommy Thompson will keep you reading this book late into the night.
What I found additionally interesting about this book were the insights into financing a shipwreck recovery project. Any entrepreneur who has contemplated raising money for his/her venture will probably find the description of Tommy's fundraising rounds interesting. I have read several purported 'business books' that didn't give as many good details as this book did.
Overall the Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is a great book. When you buy this book, it is almost like getting three books for the price of one:

  • The Loss of the Central America
  • Great Adventures in Shipwreck Salvage
  • Insight to Raising Money for Speculative Ventures
Buy the book through tgw.net’s association with Amazon.com and help support our site.

The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst—July 2000
The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst by Nicholas Tomalin & Ron Hall is a strange and somewhat disturbing story. In 1968 Donald Crowhurst set out on his trimaran the Teignmouth Electron to win the first ever singlehanded non-stop around-the-world sailboat race—the Golden Globe. Crowhurst never returned to Great Britian. Instead of sailing around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), through the Southern Ocean and then around Cape Horn (South America), Crowhurst never left the Atlantic. As his boat and state of mind deteriorate, he starts to weave an elaborate hoax via his radio transmissions to his sponsors and the race coordinators. As the race nears an end, Crowhurst has convinced the world of his recordbreaking performance. He is sailing home to a hero’s welcome. br> Finally, Crowhurst gets so overwhelmed by his web of deceit that he decides to take his own life and leave the Teignmouth Electron adrift. This re-release of the original 1970 best seller is a great read. You wont put it down and you will never forget the story. Buy the book through tgw.net’s association with Amazon.com and help support our site.

The Endurance—June 2000
The Endurance by Caroline Alexander is a great book recounting Ernest Shackleton’s failed expedition to cross the Antarctic continent in 1914. For those who have not heard the story, it is truly a great tale of heroism, courage and leadership. The 27 men who endured 600 days of deprivation are true studs—making generation X’ers like myself look like real wimps. It is hard to believe no one has made a major motion picture of this story.
This is only the most recent book written on the story of the Endurance. The best part of this rendition are the 140 original B&W photographs reproduced in the book. These amazing and beautiful images were taken by the expedition’s photographer Frank Hurley. Buy the book through tgw.net’s association with Amazon.com and help support our site.


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