Christian Williamsvideo
40 Sailing Books for Holiday Giving
December 15, 2024 · 42 min · 18K views
What this video covers
Christian Williams reviews approximately 40 sailing books recommended as holiday gifts, covering fiction, nonfiction, seamanship manuals, and general literature with nautical themes. Joseph Conrad's *Typhoon*, Erskine Childers' *The Riddle of the Sands*, Rudyard Kipling's *Captain's Courageous*, and Richard Henry Dana Jr.'s *Two Years Before the Mast* lead the historical fiction and early nonfiction section. Rockwell Kent's *North by East* (a Greenland voyage account) and *The Boy, Me and the Cat* appear as overlooked classics. Jimmy Cornell's *World Cruising Routes* gets a half-joking warning that it triggers dangerous wanderlust. Nigel Calder's *Boat Owner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual* is called indispensable for anyone who owns a boat. The Bounty Trilogy by Nordhoff and Hall, Miles and Beryl Smeeton's *Once Is Enough* (Cape Horn), Joshua Slocum's *Sailing Alone Around the World*, Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin novels, and Adlard Coles' *Heavy Weather Sailing* all receive recommendations. Bernard Moitessier, Francis Chichester's *Alone Across the Atlantic*, Vito Dumas' *Alone Through the Roaring Forties*, and James Baldwin's *Across Islands and Oceans* round out the sailing titles. Williams also recommends Plutarch's *Lives*, Darwin's writings, and the Easton Press leather-bound *Moby Dick*. The framing context: Williams is sewing new canvas for his Ericson 38 after eight years and is working on a new book project.
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