- Hardcover: 325 pages
- Publisher: Viking Books (May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0670888125
- ISBN-13: 978-0670888122
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 2.8 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,488,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #42 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Water Sports > Boating > Boat Building
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
A finely crafted book
17 Oct 2003
Format:Hardcover
"Wooden Boats" reminded me of similar extended narratives by Tracy Kidder (think of "House" or "Soul of a New Machine"). Quite well done, with a strong sense of a story being told.
Ruhlman comes to the topic with no experience in boat construction, or even boating for that matter, but gets to the heart of why some people become obsessed with these projects. (This is a book about wooden boats, but this kind of obsession is certainly not limited to nautical pastimes. Read Rebuilding the Indian for a similar story involving two wheels instead of a hull.)
Although the characters in this book spend an awful lot of time denigrating "plastic" boats, their enthusiasm for boat construction and traditional methods is hard to resist. What these throwback builders are creating are "plank on frame" craft, vessels sculpted out of traditional materials with every part unique and handmade, boats that will (according to their proponents and backed up by history) far outlive their builders.
As a sailor I found this book inspiring. Maybe someday.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Wooden Boats
10 Jan 2003
Format:Hardcover
As a wooden boat enthusiast and long time woodworker, I read Michael Ruhlman's book with enthusiasm. I found it to be a wonderful piece of work that portrays woodworking, and boat building in particular, as dying arts that are not art for arts sake, but an art with an end result in mind. The boatyard in question is the Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway of Martha's Vineyard. This yard has been doing excellent work for quite some time and has aided in the renaissance of wooden boats that has largely been inspired by WoodenBoat magazine. Mr. Ruhlman does an excellent job of portraying the daily life of a boatyard, as well as a thorough history of G&B. The main thrust of the book however, is the now unconvential perspective that G&B has on their work and the world, which is to build something beautiful that will last for generations, and is ultimately perfectly suited for its task. In the end, I found myself wanting to quit my job and hire on with G&B. I'm still not sure I won't do that.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Enter the world of the prefiberglas boatwright
30 Jan 2001
Format:Hardcover
The subtitle,"In Pursuit of the Perfect Craft at an American Boatyard" sums it up. It's the lifestyle of the boatwrights at this small boatyard on Martha's Vineyard that stand out.They build 60' plank on frame schooners w/ century old techniques. The two owners of the yard learned boatbuilding by sailing around the world in their youth and being allowed to work on their own boats at various boatyards in exchange for their labor on boatwork in progress at the yard. The writing is elegant and clear, a series of profiles about people living what they believe. How the rich and famous are humbled in the prescence of those who design and build boats that will outlast everyone involved.
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