Sheridan Books

Although very detailed, this book is geared more toward those taking frequent or extended trips on the canals of France. It's also aimed at boat owners (primarily those coming from Great Britain)as opposed to vacation boat renters. The detail is more on the navigation end of things. I guess I was looking for something geared more for the casual tourist who rents a boat for a week or so and needs details on towns, shops and services along the canals.

Now in its tenth edition which is revised by David Jefferson, Through The French Canals by Philip Bristow deftly describes and accessibly illustrates 39 scenic routes through waterways ranging from the English Channel to the Mediterranean. Weather information, Hatles and ports de plaisance, waterway signals, recommend-ations for suitable boats, information on locks, the cost of living, cruiser hire, even French vocabularies and conversion tables, fill the pages of this informative and thoroughly "user friendly" guide for vacationers and boaters looking to enjoy a grand ride along the inland waterways of France.

Incredible book written by incredible people. If you want to improve your health or heal yourself read this book today. I also recommend "The Sunfood Diet" by David Wolfe.

This was my very first raw book. It's lacking in-depth info and does not have many recipes. For example, it mentions sprouting but doesn't tell you how or how long to sprout each kind. The recipes are hit or miss but again, there aren't many to choose from, and nothing that would turn people onto a raw diet. I'd recommend any of Gabriel Cousens books or Alissa Cohen's Living on Live Food book instead.

This seafaring tale involves an interesting concept: a bet between two ships as to who can get that year's tea harvest to London the fastest. Riding on the bet is not only money and prestige but the hand in marriage of one of the captains' daughters. This is a cool idea, but it was nearly ruined for me by the author's inclusion of plot points I just couldn't believe in. Firstly, when her father the captain dies, Hannah takes over the ship. I can't conceive of this ever happening in the time period concerned: there is simply no way that sailors would have allowed a woman to command them. It's possible that Woodman could have made her takeover more believable by giving it a stronger foundation in the plot, but as it is, I just can't suspend disbelief for it. Secondly, Hannah falls in love with the captain of the opposing ship. This is someone she's barely ever talked to, has spent no time with and essentially doesn't know. I could accept her falling in lust with him, but at the end of the book she apparently intends to marry this person, and there's every indication that they'll live happily ever after. That doesn't sound realistic to me. What saves this book somewhat, despite the rather shallow characterizations and the implausible elements of the plot, is the occasionally excellent quality of the writing. The author describes ships and the ocean beautifully.

I literally couldn't put this book down! I read it in a day and a half. It is the story of Hannah Kemball, 21 years old, who has to go with her captain father who she barely knows, on his ship to China in the tea trade, because her mother has just died. It is a wonderful look into the life and ships of the Victorian tea trade. She meets Munro, who has definate feeling for her, as she quickly picks up the sailing jargon and ability. In China her father makes a bet with a fellow captain over who will make it back to England first- and the wager is her hand in marriage! It is a great story of Hannah's independence, determination, and strength, without giving too much away. The only problem I had with it were all the sailing terms, which I know nothing about. But those aren't hard to get through, or at least brush over if you don't know them. This is an amazing story, and I would definately recommend it to anyone who wanted a good read.

Rosemary Savage is lost in every sense of the word. Her mother has recently died, and Rosemary is newly arrived in New York City from Australia. Alone and desperate, she ducks into a used bookshop one day and becomes mesmerized. The Arcade (which resembles The Strand in real-life New York) is a sea of books, a place for the lost Rosemary to find herself, or perhaps to vanish even more. She marvels at the knowledge contained within and decides that she has to work there, no matter what it takes. She is reluctantly hired by the owner, George Pike, and his albino manager, Walter Geist. And so Rosemary unwittingly steps into this tale of intrigue and suspicion in which everyone and everything is lost and cannot be found.

The Secret of Lost Things hosts an interesting cast of characters, which may be its strongest attribute. The enigmatic Pike and the troubled Geist are just the beginning. There is Pearl, a transsexual who aspires to be an opera singer; Oscar, the emotionally unavailable but brilliant man who captures Rosemary's heart; and Lillian, the Argentinean woman whose son is missing, presumed dead. Add to that Chap, Mr. Mitchell, and Art, and the reader finds a whirlwind of oddity and deception surrounding the innocence so vividly embodied within Rosemary.

Where The Secret of Lost Things seems to be lacking is in the literary thriller area. It is evident that the book was written to be a tale of literary suspense; here it does not succeed. The novel involves a lost manuscript of Herman Melville's called The Isle of the Cross. (Apparently, this is actually a true story - Melville's publisher rejected the manuscript and it has since been lost). Rosemary stumbles upon references to it with Mr. Geist and takes Oscar into her confidence, an indication of her sheer innocence. Rosemary becomes entangled within the web of lies at the Arcade which surround this lost work and eventually plunges headlong into disaster.

While this should be compelling, it simply isn't. There is something, some element of literary suspense that is critical to the genre, that is missing from Hay's work. It is tricky to put a finger on exactly what is wrong, but upon reading the book, the slow pace and difficulty to make any headway into the novel signal that there is something wrong.

The book also does not have a satisfying ending. Like the novel itself, the conclusion is ambiguous and the reader is left wondering if any of it was actually real. In novels, there is a healthy level of ambiguity, but this seems to take it one step too far.

While The Secret of Lost Things is a bit of a disappointment on the literary mystery level, it is still worth reading, if only for the eccentric cast of characters that Hay depicts. Any book lover would probably enjoy this novel, but those outside of that characterization will most likely find it rather dull. Overall, it is worth reading - the vivid descriptions of the Arcade will make any reader wish to find employment at a bookstore.

Originally published at Curled Up With a Good Book

The book was an okay read. I don't know if it was the title, the book jacket, or the summary on the back, but for some reason I had expected a fantastical element to the story, and there utterly was none.

The characters unfortunately were made to be the biggest rag-tag group short of a MTV Real World casting call, and really not for that much purpose. The book wasn't really a page-turner until the last forty pages or so. I'm not sure if we're supposed to wonder about the truth as it was presented at the end, but I didn't - it seemed clear cut to me. I was kind of surprised to find the whole book was building to just that one event really, it almost seems like a short story gone novel.

This is a beautifully written novel. The protagonist is naive yet strong and brave. I love the author's use of language in her discriptions and vocabulary. I'm a school librarian and way past Rosemary's age and yet I can feel for her and picture her in her settings: fixing up her dingy apartment and clomping around The Arcade. I love this book and will recommend it to my circle. Sheridan, please write more; thank you.

Rosemary Savage is an 18 year old Tasmanian girl. When her mom dies, Rosemary's aunt "Chaps" buys Rosemary a ticket to NYC telling her "this is your moment, your chance to escape." Rosemary is as naive as they come, having been raised by a single mom and led a very sheltered life inside the confines of her mother's hat shop and "Chaps" bookstore.

Rosemary arrives in NYC and immediately falls in love with the Arcade, a large rare and used bookstore that contains as many quirky characters as books.

Many reviews here have outlined the story so I won't, but I will say that I enjoyed this novel very much. Rosemary is such a well-drawn character that I'm sure she's based on Sheridan Hay's real life. Rosemary's vulnerability and naivete feel crushing at times and having lived in NYC during Rosemary's age, I can identify with so many of her emotions and experiences.

All of the characters are well drawn--Walter Geist the creepy store manager who happens to be an albino; the detestable Oscar (the narcissist in the story) who Rosemary hopelessly falls for. I wanted to reach into the story and shake some sense into Rosemary over Oscar. The strong and vibrant Pearl, a pre-op transsexual who takes Rosemary under her wing as a friend and tells her "us girls got to stick together" and Lillian, the concierge at the Martha Washington Hotel where Rosemary lives when she first arrives in the city. Lillian has a dark sadness from her life in Argentina and Rosemary cannot help but he drawn to the tragic figure. These three women form a strong bond with each other based on mutual love, respect and maternal instincts.

Of course, all the men at the Arcade are leering over Rosemary's youth and beauty and she learns to protect herself from her coworkers. When a missing Herman Melville manuscript (one of the "Lost Things" in the title) turns up, the spire of great financial gain rears its head and we see the worst of the characters. While this was a central plot point, I was far more interested in the relationships between the characters and seeing how Rosemary negotiated the city, her grief over her mother's death, and growing up a world away from home.

Hay constructed a believable ending to the tale and took the time to wrap up the story at length. I practically cried at the end, seeing the resolution of characters' situations and Rosemary's coming to terms with her experiences at the Arcade and in the city during her 19th year.

I definitely recommend the Secret of Lost Things and give it 4 stars. Sheridan Hay has written a fine first novel.

An illusive manuscript by the famous writer Herman Melville lays at the core of this intriguing tale that is steeped in literary tradition where books are revered, and even loved. Stretching all the way from the island state of Tasmania to New York, this novel is all about one flame haired girl's growth as she endeavors to discover her true path in life deep within the great metropolis of Manhattan.

When Rosemary Savage's mother dies, as a gesture against her all-embracing grief, her stoic best friend Esther Chapman gives Rosemary an airplane ticket to New York, knowing that a city would be the cure to the small life she had lived. An innocent babe in the woods, Rosemary has spent all her life ensconced in a provincial Tasmanian town, helping her mother run a small hat shop. Indeed, her only experiences of a really big city are when her mother sometimes took her on buying sprees to Sydney.

Although at first hesitant to leave her beloved home, Rosemary doesn't shrink from the challenge, landing in New York with only a present from Esther, a black and white photograph, and her mothers ashes in a miniature wooden Huon box wrapped in a silk scarf. Finding a room at a decrepit and rundown hostel, for woman, Rosemary is an 18-year-old innocent adift in the labyrinthine city, trying to cobble a life together, her situation and the death of her mother still weighing profoundly on her shoulders.

It isn't until she walks into the cavernous and dusty tombstone-like Arcade Bookshop and asks for a job that she feels as though she has finally come home, and it is here deep within the giant stacks of non-fiction and fiction that she meets the eclectic cast of characters, many of whom will shape much of her life to come and eventually awaken the dark and mysterious passions that lie within her.

A considerable number eccentric people are employed at The Arcade, a hodge-podge of variously failed writers, poets, musicians, singers, all marked with the clerkish frustration of the unacknowledged, the unpublished: the bad-tempered and curt owner Mr. George Pike, who loves money than the well-being of his staff; his legendry wealth a mirror of his frugality and stinginess; store manager and albino Walter Geist, every feature pallid, "his white ears like delicate sea creatures suddenly exposed to light;" Oscar Jarno, in charge of the non-fiction section, handsome in a poetic sort of way, with a magnetism in his face that immediately attracts the impressionable Rosemary.

Adding to the mix is the arcade's arresting cashier a pre-operative transsexual by the name of Pearl who operates the single register and is Pike's most trusted staff member on the main floor. After several weeks, the Arcade becomes Rosemary's home, and the city that houses it the larger world she wants for herself. Indeed, all of these characters come together, acting out their various insecurities with certain clumsiness and a single-minded reverence to the world of books.

But it is a letter that Rosemary reads to Geist that jump-starts her real journey into this world. A letter that perhaps indicates the existence of a lost manuscript of Herman Melville with the famous author's name linked to the great bookish philanthropist Julian Peabody. As Rosemary begins to delve deeper into the existence of this manuscript, she begins to read passionate missives that Melville has penned to fellow writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, and in the process realizes that Melville had something to tell her about a story that also resembles her own. Acting with a type of paternal influence, Melville could actually reveal something about her to herself.

This novel is as much a story about the love of books than it is about one girl's coming of age. For Rosemary, working in The Arcade - and her secretive desires for Oscar that steadily grow as she becomes more confident in the job - is her way of searching for an antidote to catastrophe in a world that has been emptied of all its contents. Although this novel tends to be over written and dialogue heavy in places, and the narrative slows down throughout the middle section, this tale is mostly a charming account of the world where people seem to move through a world that is mostly based on a form of deception and where few questions asked about the actual provenance of books.

In a novel where the printed word takes on the attributes of "the uncanny leveraging of desire," Rosemary comes to see the value of a life in objects; in books its where it's all about having eyes to see the true meaning of things and where the talent is to manipulate the lust for things that retains or loses their value depending on whose hands hold them. In the end it is only books that seem to hold a special kind of magic, an apparent as well as a hidden value. Mike Leonard May 08.

I'll start off by saying that this book describes one of the best IK foot setups I've seen. Unfortunately, the book's emphasis on modeling with NURBS, when most people have switched to using subdivisions, makes it kind of outdated and impractical.

First I got to say this book has lot of bugs, and I wouldnt model any character the way they learn... On the other side there are some good Chapters that I like, FE: "Creating Story concepts" , "Designing Character" and " Designing story boards.. This is one of most important thing in creating animation and lot of people ignore this part. When you are going to spend hours on modeling and animating its good idea to design good characters and interesting story board first... For me this chapter is great... I like chapters about character and face animation too, there are some bugs but I think they got lot of usefull info and for me is quite easy to folow them...

Ok so what is the ressult? I like about 40% of this book a lot, the other part is quite confusing and not very professional in my eyes....

I would recomend " Mastering Maya complete" series and "Art of Maya" from AW. First one is great for learning, the second one is beautifull overview of maya functions with lot of nice pictures and examples how to use them ....

Fine --- the writers are "experts" of Character Animation, but before you release a book, I think that you should have placed a little more emphasis on the make up of the book and the quality of the information provided. After spending hours upon hours going through some of the exercises, it dawned on me that their procedures were way undereffective (is this even a word!) and outdated. Be warned -- this is a complete waste of valuable money. There are many other resources for building realistic characters out there.

I do however praise the authors for coming out with a book dedicated to modeling characters. A great step forward, but with careless steps.

Okay, this book does have a lot to go for it. The first few chapters are completely dedicated to helping animators create a solid story for their demo reels. Invaluable information right there!

Then the author moves on to modeling. This book teaches ONLY nurbs techniques, so if you're not interested in learning nurbs or already know how, I really recommend that you purchase Maya Illuminated: Games!, it will teach you how to use polygons instead. The good thing about this book teaching you only nurbs is that it really goes in depth instead of skimming through valuable techniques.

This book will of course teach you how to apply textures to your nurbs models, so that's a nice plus.

Then it will teach you everything you need to know about rigging your models for animation. This is probably one of the best parts of the book, simply because there are VERY few tutorials out there for Maya on how to rig anything...

The flaws to this book.

It tries to teach lighting... if you want to learn how to properly light your scenes, buy the now very popular Digital Lighting and Rendering. It will teach you the PROPER way to light your scenes. You can tell from this Maya 2 character animation book that lighting wasn't the author's specialty. Either that or he didn't feel like making it worth much. The scenes the author shows as lighting examples are very badly lit.

Another thing is that it's hard to read this book. I don't spend hours on end reading this cause there's a lot of theory and explaining.

Otherwise, great book. I would recommend this book if you need to learn how to really learn how to model with nurbs, how to rig your models and how to create solid stories for animation.

Bill Fleming always says that modeling with polygons is better than nurbs. Why is this I didn't know, until I read this book. The fact is you learn a lot of good modeling, but the hard way. Sure the book has great info, but impractical if you want to get in the business of 3d. You can't waste your time modeling like it teaches you while you know you can do a good job in a lot less time with another technique. Be practical.

Be forewarned: This book does NOT contain the LYRICS to Bob Marley songs. Okay, it doesn't SAY that it does, but you'd think a book about Bob Marley songs would include the songs themselves -- which is the reason I (regretably) bought this book. Astoundingly, it does not have the lyrics to ANY Bob Marley song. The commentary seems gossipy (as another reviewer put it), not historic and there is no sense, in fact, that any of the information in this book couldn't have been picked up by the author just by reading magazines. I am amazed that none of the other reviews here emphasize this fact.

I think this is a pretty good book for Bob Marley fans. If you want a lot of detailed biographical and political background, then Catch A Fire is a pretty good biography that I recommend, but this book makes a great supplement as there is plenty of material about the history of the music, who composed what, and the story of all the albums.

The book appears to be based largely on a number of interviews with people who were important in Marley's life, such as Cindy Breakspeare, Chris Blackwell, manager Don Taylor, and record producer Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd and others, so their viewpoints (which may be self serving) tend to prevail.

There is at least a paragraph or two about every song, as well as sections that explain the personal and political background to the lyrics of the songs. There are also lots of pictures. On the other hand, there is not a very detailed explanation of the lyrics. For example I learned what 'a government yard in Trenchtown' (from No Woman No Cry) meant from Catch A Fire, and not from this book.

Definitely a mass market book, and not terribly deep, but I think this book will delight most Bob Marley fans and probably help them get deeper into his music.

There is not much critical evaluation of his music, and if you are looking to find out which albums are the best the book won't help you. But I will! Just save yourself the trouble and buy all the Island/Tuff Gong albums first, then if you still want more you might look into the earlier stuff. If you already have everything, there is a new Live at the Roxy double CD that
has great remastering and really rocks.

Given that CD covers don't provide as good a platform for rolling spliffs as the old LP covers, this book, which is in a coffee table book size paperback might be a useful purchase in more ways than one.

I am a huge reggae fan, for reggae is more about a message than any particular stylistic of music. Bob Marley was, and still is, the king of reggae. And despite all of his personal faults and flings with the 'women of Babylon' and such, his message is what will forever be remembered.

I originally bought this book thinking it would better assist me in penetrating deeper into Bob Marley's lyrics, which are sometimes difficult to decipher for someone who is not a rasta and lives outside of Jamaica. However this book reads more like a gossip column rather than delving more seriously into issues that Bob Marley stood for and the context he found himself within. The later is why people in the Carribean and Africa on the annaversary of Bob's death, not the former. Yeah, sure, Bob was not perfect--JUST LIKE THE REST OF US-- but at least he got off his butt and did something positive for his people. And he did this by speaking the truth to the wealthy and the wicked.

This is why people love Bob Marley, and this is his message; yet our author spends most of her time recounting all the gossip floating around the reggae industry rather than fully embracing Bob's lyrics. Well, perhaps this is expected when our author is a former reggae columnist for Bilboard Magazine, which means she is probably college educated and from a middle to upper-class background. Perhaps this can explain why she is oblivious to much of what is going on in Marley's lyrics.

Case in point. Commenting on one of Bob Marley's most political songs, "So Much Trouble", she states:

"The word "illusion" appears more than once in the lyrics of Survival's songs. This...indicate[s] a deep inner struggle with the widening gap between reality and the fantasy that the decadence of the Studio 54 scenes of the Seventies...A "Million miles from reality", Marley muses" (103).

OK, this is a good interpretation for someone writing from her studio in NYC. But common! Just listen to the lyrics of Marly:

"...Men sailing on their ego trip...Blasting off on thier space ships...million miles from reality...no care for you no care for me...[chorus]So much trouble in the world"

This is social commentary on the fact that the US and USSR were literally blowing billions of dollars on blasting monkeys and human beings into space while billions of people on the face of this earth were starving. Comments like this are why the CIA wanted Bob Marley and other reggae musicians dead. I only wish that our author would take his lyrics more seriously. But no, catering towards a low-brow audience sells more books.

Ill just stick to listening to Bob Marley himself.

Of all the books published to date on Bob Marley, this one, in my humble opinion, stands out as offering an honest and in-depth portrayal of the man and the music he created. Someone told me that Junior Marvin of The Wailers said that this is the best book written on Marley and I concur. It is obvious that the author is knowledgeable about both her subject and the country he came from. A good addition to any reggae fan's library, or the library of anyone interested in the inner-workings of Jamaica.

I had chosen Bob Marley for a paper I was doing at college. Many of the books that I read gave a little insight into the man and his reality but the most important thing about him, i.e. the music, many times is overlooked in the stories of many. To understand the man's music, what he wrote and what it means, to me, is what we are left with. This book not only allows you to understand his headspace but explains all the little things we may not really understand at first glance...Thankyou for giving me that insight...

I was a bit disappointed in this book - the stories were a bit mundane - the type any sailor would have. I want to read about things more exciting than the norm!

Jim Moore has a fine sense of humor and his book is a good mix of travel narrative and sailing tips. The writing is good and fluid. I rate it as high as Trekka, Flirting With Mermaids, or Fatal Storm.

The author has a comfortable and fluid writing style. He has a pleasant sense of humor. This book could have been longer as it skips too much of their voyage. The sequel is also excellent with the same gripe. Both have a lot of sailing terms, but those without the background can just ignore them.

BY WAY OF THE WIND is readable, but author Jim Moore seems too busy trying to end every sentence with a witticism to bother telling us the complete story of the circumnavigation undertaken by himself and his wife on their boat "Swan."

Typical of Moore's strained humor is his constant reference to Molly as "the Mate." At first endearing it soon becomes condescending through repetition. Yet it's clear that Molly had so much more to do with "Swan" and with their adoption of the sailing life than Moore tells us.

For example, he and Molly built "Swan" but the building process (which took years) is tossed off in a brief couple of pages. It seems to me that "Swan" deserves more respect as the centerpiece of the story. Every sailor knows that building a boat is rife with all sorts of interesting snafus, some of which might have added to this story.

Moore skims over most of his anecdotes the same way. BY WAY OF THE WIND is written in a very passive voice and does not engage the reader dynamically. There seems to be little passion expressed by the Moores, who, after all, left a typical suburban lifestyle to go a-sailing. Why? And who are they?

BY WAY OF THE WIND reads as if you are listening to a book on tape. It probably would make a pretty fair one. But I've read many better sailing narratives. I would have enjoyed this much more if I'd gotten to know Jim and Molly and "Swan" quite a bit better.

The book tries to cover too much territory. Over four years of life is crammed into just over 200 pages. That does not allow for much detail. While there are some nice anecdotes hiding in the pages, it is mostly "went here, saw this, did that, went on to the next place".

The book is written by a sailor for sailors. If you don't know a jib from a rode, or why broaching is a bad thing, or any number of other nautical terms, you will be lost and confused. I'm interested in sailing, but not a sailor so most of the jargon went right over my head. After a while some of it started to sink in, but the author assumes the audience is familiar with nautical terms and sailing techniques. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but limits the audience the book will appeal to.

While the author starts out as an inexperienced sailor, he seems to have forgotten that by the time the book was written. We are not part of this learning curve from sailing neophyte to salty dog.

With all the inspirational accounts of people achieving their dreams why should we be compelled to read a book about someone who comes close and then gives up? Never more than a few miles offshore, a little uncomfortable, and homesick - the author throws in the towel. This book does not belong on the same shelf with Tinkerbelle or some of the other classic small boat adventures.

I found this to be a great read. It is a well written, and humorous story with just enough commentary to really see what was going on in the authors head. I highly recommend the book, and although I am a small boat Sailor, I see this as something that would be very entertaining to non-Sailors as well.

It's refreshing to see that books are now being published about dinghy cruising. Throughout his trip Lee was very good at regularly updating the Canadian Wayfarer website about to his exciting trip and I had anticipated a really good book to be the end result. This was not the case though as I found his book to be of little merit from a "sailor's point of view" and falters to nothing more than a glorified log-book by a rookie sailor who quite frankly is lucky his inexperience on such an ambitious trip didn't kill him.

This book is defintely NOT to be used as a reference guide for dinghy cruisers.

wish i hadnt bought the book it will end up being donated somewhere. The valuable information is that for beginners they should start with a small boat, preferably a dinghy and learn the craft. The author bought his boat fully equipped for crusing from frank dye whose books are well worth buying.
Although the writing style is readable, I am convinced that the author really doesnt like sailing or the sea. There is a mechanical approach to getting from a to b and if it means breaking out the credit card or asking for a tow so be it. The final nail in the coffin is the authors cutting short the trip because?

An interesting yarn, but not much technical or even practical info on solo sailing of small boats. I enjoyed the scathing criticism of the uptight Florida Marina Communities, but would have liked to see more details about his experiences in the Northeast Final leg of the voyage. If you're contemplating a long small boat voyage, don't bother reading this. Given the inexperience and naivite' of the author, it's a miracle he didn't get in more trouble or drown.

An excellent book about mutihulls, practical, for people who want to sail. Not for people who sail one week a year and have $200,000 holes in the water or people who want air conditioning and tv in their boats. If you want to experience sailing and the ocean, this is the book for you. This book will tell you what you need, what works and doesn't, and how to be safe, written by a man who has done some hard thinking on the subject. Entertaining and enjoyable reading. I wish he would write more books. Highly recommended.

The sad thing about most books on specialized subjects is that they are written by people who may respected in their chosen field, but are terrible writers. Tom Jones is the rare exception. His writing may be spartan (as another reviewer noted), but that's because his diction is concise, his words aptly chosen.

Of the couple of hundred books I've read on nautical subjects this is one I return to regularly. The clarity of thinking and expression is exceptional.

It's about economical, practical voyaging on 2 or 3 hulls. Rather than an exhaustive list of production multihulls and their features, it is about voyaging, what to bring along, what not to, heavy and fine weather sailing, and multihull design.

I find it far better than other books on multihulls.

Jones has crossed the Atlantic ocean numerous times in multihulls of his own design. He is cheap to a fault, so if your dream is a 2 million dollar catamaran then this probably isn't the book for you. Jones is a small time boat builder of generally simple boats, and his thoughts run to those subjects. I find his ideas relevant, particularly to those who still build their own boats. Sure there are many more sophisticated boats available from other designers, and I probably wouldn't build a Jones boat. But his ideas are a useful reference to what is really needed to get out there.

Jones has figured out how to cheaply do a very expensive thing - take-off to go sailing for months at a time. His ideas are structured around that activity. Many of the expensive multihull features he dislikes (like folding systems) actualy make the occasional sailor's life easier and less expensive. But it's still the case these systems ad cost without doing much to asist your transat.

I agree with others who like Chris W's book (you might as well buy both). I recently coresponded with Chris about one of the cheaper of his cruising designs, featured in that book, the E-34. Sorry, no longer available, he suggests his 44' trimaran instead. When I find $2-300 000 I'll get right on that. It's like anything else there is room for all kinds of budgets.

If you thinking about buying this book for tips on cruising in a multihull it will be extremely disappointed. If your thinking about buying and cruising in a multihull it will give some food for thought about what you need for a boat.

It's an average book that reads more into design instead of what the title leads you to believe and some of the information is out of date for the faster designs by K. Hughes, J. Shuttleworth, D. Newick. Chris White has a book (amazon has it for sale) which is far better and suggested reading by most Multihull fanatics.

The word aptly describes the authors cruising style, and unfortunately his writing style. Chris White's "The Cruising Multihull" covers all of the same subjects in much greater detail, providing information which will let the reader make his/her own intelligent choices.

Tania Aebi caused a world sensation when she sailed around the world solo as an 18yr old, the youngest person ever to do so. She told her story in the excellent 1989 "Maiden Voyage" book. Many years later (2005), Aebi returns with this book.

In "I've Been Around" (230 pages). the author (now in her 40s) brings a collection of sailing-related and other stories, some of which work, some of which don't. One of the better one is "Close Call", in which she recalls being scared in her trip around the world at one point, when she seeks the help of two Sri Lankan guys to tow her into the harbor and wonders about their intent (being a young girl, alone), only many years later to reconnect with one of them, and feeling ashamed about her apprehension then. Most of the stories in this book are 3-4 pages long, and bring the author's recollections of various sailing experiences, now and then. It is not what I expected, to be honest. I had hoped for a more personal book, as in: how her relationship with Olivier (started in her 'maiden voyage') developed and then fell apart (we know they married, had 2 kids, and eventually divorced).

In all, "I've Been Around" doesn't measure up at all to the pleasure that was "Maiden Voyage". This book is not a sequel to it. It's a non-personal book with observations about sailing, nothing more.

If you read the wonderful book writen by Tania Aebi titled, Maiden Voyage and enjoyed it, then these stories that are inspired from that specific trip, then you will enjoy the inspiration these have to offer. I reread them from time to time enjoying them each and every read.

When I was a freshman in high school, I read Tania Aebi's first book, Maiden Voyage, about her solo circumnavigation of the globe at the age of 18. That book was a huge inspiration to me, and I was thrilled to find out she had a new book out. I've Been Around is a collection of essays that will update Aebi's fans as to her life after her trip. More than that, this new book evokes the same sense of wonder and inspiration as Maiden Voyage. In fact, when I first purchased I've Been Around, I was so excited that I began reading it on my walk from the bookstore to my car. I parked far enough away that I was able to finish the first essay I had turned to: "Close Call". Immediately, this essay put me back in that state of mind which Maiden Voyage evoked; a sense of the amazing potential we all have. "Close Call" is about the story Aebi tells people when they ask if she ever felt in danger from anyone she met on her voyage. Aebi relays a story of meeting some fishermen off the coast of Sri Lanka. Ultimately, the story is not of the danger she was in, but of how helpful the fishermen were. In fact, she finds out years later just how safe she really was, and how sincere these men were in their concern and helpfulness towards this young woman alone at sea. I think tales of the inherent goodness of people are more necessary now than ever. "Close Call" will be the essay I share with the many people who tell me that they are scared to travel overseas. The fact that I was nearly run-over by a Honda Element while reading this essay, however, taught me I need to be more careful while close to home.

I've Been Around is written with the same humble, down to earth tone as Maiden Voyage. While there are plenty of sailing stories from trips she has taken since her solo voyage, what appeals to me about Aebi's writing is how she applies the lessons learned from her trips to real life. I've personally never been on a sail boat. The writing in this book is less about sailing and more about how to be resourceful and inventive in order to survive the many day-to-day and extraordinary challenges we all face. I loved reading I've Been Around and I highly recommend it to all sailors and non-sailors out there.

This book is a compilation of short stories Tania wrote for a magazine. I did not find it as informative or interesting as her first book Maiden Voyage. Sadly, if you are looking to learn something about sailing, there is not a lot of meat in this book....however, her first book is terriffic.

When I read Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi, I thought it was one of the best, well written accounts on the market...a truly amazing story. I was disappointed in this one however in that it lacked Tania's excellent and detailed story telling, and much of it was just a summary of accounts in her previous book.