Simon Winchester's six favorite books about sailing

Simon Winchester is the author of Krakatoa and The Map That Changed the World. His new book is Atlantic, a history of the world’s second-largest ocean.

At The Week magazine he named his six favorite books about sailing. One title on the list:

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum

Slocum took a worn-out, 36-foot sloop named Spray, rebuilt it, and set out from Massachusetts in 1895. Three years later, he returned, having logged 46,000 sea miles while sailing solo around the planet. Any boy who does not like Slocum’s book, declared children’s author Arthur Ransome, should be “drowned at once.”

Read about another book on the list.

Sailing Alone Around the World is on Naval historian David Cordingly's critic's chart of ship books.

Also see Robin Knox-Johnson's five best books about sailing.

--Marshal Zeringue