Book Bin

[VALIS]

Since we're discussing lighter reading, in addition to the serious stuff I like to have on board books like "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handey (full of musings such as "It's too bad that whole families have to be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs."). George Carlin books are good, too.

I also like bizarre reading like The Book of the Subgenius: The Sacred Teachings of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs. On crewmember started leafing through that one on a passage and became quite concerned for his safety and my sanity.

I think I have "The Wealth of Nations" on board, but I still haven't read it. It turns out that escapism and diversion are more my style when I'm at sea.

[Orestes Munn]

Ike and Dick was very good. That Nixon; what a neurotic creep!

Just finished the Amity Schlaes Coolidge biography; not bad, but too polemical.

[LarryHoward]

Ike and Dick was very good. That Nixon; what a neurotic creep!

Just finished the Amity Schlaes Coolidge biography; not bad, but too polemical.

You have to remember that Nixon was one of the first subjected to the unblinking eye of TV investigative journalism. Prior, the President was treated with kid gloves a lot of the time. SInce, the president is groomed and "handled" for the media and it's generally expected that there are few secrets as we seek to tear down the mighty.

[Orestes Munn]

Ike and Dick was very good. That Nixon; what a neurotic creep!

Just finished the Amity Schlaes Coolidge biography; not bad, but too polemical.

You have to remember that Nixon was one of the first subjected to the unblinking eye of TV investigative journalism. Prior, the President was treated with kid gloves a lot of the time. SInce, the president is groomed and "handled" for the media and it's generally expected that there are few secrets as we seek to tear down the mighty.

This book covered the era of the Eisenhower presidency only and does not show either man in a particularly good light. Ike treated Dick shabbily for the entire duration of their relationship. Nixon is handled with as much sympathy as can be mustered for a man chronically incapable of spontaneous expression and who monitored his own every move, seemingly from outside himself. He was highly intelligent and had genuinely good and courageous impulses, particularly on the subject of race, where he bucked his party, his president, and particularly his Southern California supporters. He had genuinely loving and generous relationships with his family and suffered deeply from his paranoia and tendency to personalize all of politics. The book shows that all of this was plain at the time with contemporaneous accounts. Even understanding the times and the man, the term "creep" fit pretty well and still does, in my jaundiced opinion.

[Ish]

Author Carl Hiaasen writes about a cast of characters in and around Florida. The antics are a belly Laff and keep you entertained to the last page. His books are great to leave on your boat for the off watch. Currently 1/3 way through the 100 year old man as recommended on Scants. So far an engaging plot

I usually have a Dave Barry or two on board, for those quiet times when the Yanmar 3GM30F manual or its ilk aren't holding my attention and it's pissing rain outside.

Ish which one of his books would you recommend. He’s a prolific writer.

I honestly have never had a bad Barry book, although some are better than others.

This is easier than typing all those titles, these are the best in my collection.

barry.jpg

[BeauV]

Dave Barry's "A Complete Guide to Guys" is a must-read for all women. I've given it to my daughters who have laughed a lot and tried to hit me occasionally for doing it.

http://www.amazon.com/Dave-Barrys-Complete-Guide-Guys/dp/0449910261

[SemiSalt]

I was recently hired by an author to provide an illustration for his new novel. He gave me some brief specs for the boat that will apear as an illustration in the book. That's all I should tell you. That's all I know.
I thought it would be a pice of cake to draw a sail plan for a design that didn't exist. It was difficult. As I told Tim, "It's like being asked to play lead guitar on a song you have never heard that has no chord changes."
But after fussing around for a few days I began to get into it. I'm open to suggestions if you have any that would help bring the sail plan to life.

If it's a cruising boat, there is not enough crap on the back!

[SemiSalt]

I think that on commercial vessels at that time crew signed on voluntarily in most cases and were free to leave at any port the ship touched. There were undoubtedly unscrupulous captains or ship owners who shanghaied crew but I don't know the legal ramifications of that practice. It's an interesting question though.

One of Melville's books deals with this. I forget if it's Omoo or Typee.

[SemiSalt]

"Thinking Fast And Slow" by Daniel Kahneman. A very interesting book about how humans make decisions.

Are we all guys here? If there is a female in the crowd, she might be interested in "By The Grace Of The Sea" by Pat Henry." It's the record of a woman's small-boat circumnavigation. I gave it to a friend who liked it, and it came back to me after she died. I tried reading it, but I didn't find it interesting enough to finish. So I guess it's a chick book, and I don't mean in an Ellen MacArthur, Isabelle Autissier sort off way.

[Soñadora]

I've been reading this...

Breaking Seas

It's encouraging!

[cap10ed]

TDW says :
However ... the standout piece of fiction so far this year and probably so far this century has been "The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson. An utterly splendid piece of nonsense that I recommend wholeheartedly.

I completely agree. Now to add Rick’s find to the list at Amazon. Keep em coming folks. Winters coming and the fireplace is ready for me and a book.

[Jamie]

I've been reading this...

Breaking Seas

It's encouraging!

There were a couple of scenes that made me puke in my mouth. No composting heads for me!

[Soñadora]

I've been reading this...

Breaking Seas

It's encouraging!

There were a couple of scenes that made me puke in my mouth. No composting heads for me!

here here!

[Ish]

I don't think I mentioned our full holding tank backing up through our toilet just after we rounded Cape Scott, dumping several gallons of raw sewage into the boat just as we hit the swells...that was an adventure I had mercifully blanked out of my memory until my wife mentioned it the other day.

[Brooke]

I mostly read nonfiction as well, but recently read Cloud Atlas and really enjoyed it. Also the classic Riddle of the Sands which I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned here.

Two of my favorite nonfiction authors are John McPhee and Paul Theroux. John McPhee has written a lot of geology based books but also several others, Uncommon Carriers is an amazing book about how goods are transported by train, truck, barge etc. I found it fascinating. Theroux is a travel writer but not in the traditional sense - he travels through areas (often remote) as the locals would and his insights and perspective are very interesting.

But my favorite book of the last few years is Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane. Amazing story of the early space shuttle program up through the Challenger disaster. Had me laughing out loud on one page and on the edge of my seat the next.

[Jamie]

Captain Cooks personal log from his first voyage is available free on kindle. It's a really interesting read.

[Lin]

Speaking of reading. I saw this and wanted to share it here. : )
I hope you folks in the U.S. can open the link. If not, Google YouTube, for Girls Who Read

http://youtu.be/lmEbF2uhsZk

[kimbottles]

Speaking of reading. I saw this and wanted to share it here. : )
I hope you folks in the U.S. can open the link. If not, Google YouTube, for Girls Who Read

http://youtu.be/lmEbF2uhsZk

Yeah, I married one of those girls and that was the best thing I have ever done.

[BeauV]

Speaking of reading. I saw this and wanted to share it here. : )
I hope you folks in the U.S. can open the link. If not, Google YouTube, for Girls Who Read

http://youtu.be/lmEbF2uhsZk

ABSOFRIGGINGLOOOTLY!!! Lin, thanks for this, thankfully the Kindle came along and the 64 books that The Admiral has plowed through this year so far aren't piled up against the wall some place.

B-))

[cap10ed]

Speaking of reading. I saw this and wanted to share it here. : )
I hope you folks in the U.S. can open the link. If not, Google YouTube, for Girls Who Read

http://youtu.be/lmEbF2uhsZk

Thanks Lin. I married a teacher that comes from a family of teachers. Reading was a prerequisite to say the least for our relationship to move forward. Nice clip.

[BeauV]

I just finished "Flying Cloud" by David Shaw. It's really the story of the first record setting maiden voyage of the FLYING CLOUD and her navigator, who was the Captain's wife. The Creesy couple were quite amazing, setting the fastest time from NY to SF on the maiden voyage and then breaking their won record later. It is a work of fiction, but it is so well linked and supported by primary sources from those who were aboard that it rings very true.

At Amazon for $3.79 on Kindle, well worth it.

http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Cloud-Davi ... ying+cloud

[cap10ed]

Captain Cooks personal log from his first voyage is available free on kindle. It's a really interesting read.

Jamie how do I find this on Kindle? Is there a title I should type in the search box.?

[Jamie]

Captain Cooks personal log from his first voyage is available free on kindle. It's a really interesting read.

Jamie how do I find this on Kindle? Is there a title I should type in the search box.?

I actually just use the app, so I'm not sure. Here's the name and link:

Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World [Kindle Edition]

http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Cooks-Jou ... k+journals

[cap10ed]

Captain Cooks personal log from his first voyage is available free on kindle. It's a really interesting read.

Jamie how do I find this on Kindle? Is there a title I should type in the search box.?

I actually just use the app, so I'm not sure. Here's the name and link:

Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World [Kindle Edition]

http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Cooks-Jou ... k+journals

Thanks Jamie. That worked out nicely.

[SloopJonB]

Ike and Dick was very good. That Nixon; what a neurotic creep!

Just finished the Amity Schlaes Coolidge biography; not bad, but too polemical.

You have to remember that Nixon was one of the first subjected to the unblinking eye of TV investigative journalism. Prior, the President was treated with kid gloves a lot of the time. SInce, the president is groomed and "handled" for the media and it's generally expected that there are few secrets as we seek to tear down the mighty.

It can be argued that Nixon was the cause of that change, not that he was simply the first. Kennedy was protected by the press long after they had gone after Nixon. He was such a shifty, sneaky neurotic that he simply couldn't garner any sympathy.

The single best comment I ever saw on Nixon was a poster prior to the '72 election - it was a head shot of him with that sly, shifty grin of his and the caption "Would you buy a used car from this man?"

No-one would have.

Another one, later on during Watergate after he fired Archibald Cox was "Impeach the Cox Sacker"

[cap10ed]

Looking for new material to read this winter during layoff. What say you Scantlers? Fiction,non-fiction,history let the fur fly.

[SloopJonB]

I'm in the middle of a non-fiction streak right now - just finishing up Skunk Works about Lockheed's special projects group under Kelly Johnson & Ben Rich. What an incredible place - they accomplished things other people couldn't even imagine.

A while back I re-read The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins. That is bar none the best illustration of low level criminals ever written. Even Elmore Leonard said so. The Robert Mitchum movie was the same - no-one has ever dramatized the daily life of small time hoods better. Of course it's a near word for word dramatization of the book so it couldn't really miss.

[Jamie]

Looking for new material to read this winter during layoff. What say you Scantlers? Fiction,non-fiction,history let the fur fly.

I like history and science fiction, so I'm always on the search for new materials. I'm picky because I don't like bad science or historys that stretch the evidence available.

Ian Toll did a neat history if America's first frigates, Six Frigates, and the war of 1812 as well as a good read of the Pacific War 1941-1942. Cooper Belton did a neat history of US armored units if you can get past the flashy, if accurate title, Death Traps. I have enjoyed Adrian Goldsworthy's histories on Rome. In The Name of Rome which a history of how Rome managed it's armies is a great book to start with. He also does a fictional novel of the Peninsula war in Spain, which when you read, you think is a bit unbelievable, but then at the back of the book he tells you which parts he made up and which parts actually happened. I'm often surprised by how often I guess wrong. N.A.M Roberts does some interesting histories on the early Royal navy. Rick Atkinsons does some nice histories of the early part of the US participation in WWII. The Pirates of Barbary was an interesting look at the North African pirates by Adiran Tinniswood. I never realized that they made it as far as the UK.

I've enjoyed a lot of Alastair Reynold's books. Like Niven he's created a universe in which all his stories fit. Revelation Space might not be a bad place to start. Paolo Bacigalupi did a really interesting novel call The Windup Girl, about a future that is fossil fuel starved and shaped by biotechnology. Iain M Banks's earlier books can be a good read.

What I am looking for is good sailing books. Seem in very short supply.

Jamie

[kimbottles]

I just bought a used book titled "Kiaola USA-1" by and about Jim Kilroy and his ocean racers. It appears as if it belonged to his daughter (step-daughter?) "Cece" because he inscribed a nice thank you to her in his own hand on the first page and signs it "Jim and Mom"

Big book and in as much as I raced on "Atalanta" (ex-Kialoa III) I am interested to read about his boats and his racing.

I also recently purchased a new Book about the great Scots yacht designer G.L. Watson who in 1873 set up the world's first yacht design office and went on to design some of the really great large yachts of European royalty.

Then there is the book I mentioned last week about Starling Burgess.

[Tucky]

Junkyard Planet by Adam Minter has been one of my favorite non-fiction books of the last few years. Basically tells the story of the global recycling industry, why it looks the way it does, and how incredibly good it is. Author is from an old junky family and married a Chinese woman, so he is perfectly positioned to tell the story. My favorite bit is that the average American car has $1.65 or so in change in it when recycled, which becomes significant when you understand that 12 million cars are recycled per year. Author tours a car shredder in the US that gets the coins out, in addition to separating the car back into its original metal (right down to type), fabric and plastic ingredients. It's a very hopeful book, and describes how people trying to make money are solving what had been a huge problem.