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A Voyage For Madmen

A Voyage For Madmen

List Price: $26.00
Your Price: $17.68
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beyond The Ordinary
Review: More than just a book, this is a chance to experience, to some degree, second hand, what the first single handed around-the-world sailors experienced. Peter Nichols writes brilliantly about a sailing race, one of the greatest ever really. I knew parts of the story, but this book puts it together and in prospective. Nichols is a gifted writer and is writing about something that he obviously feels passionate about, a perfect combination. There is a bio of each of the racers, good descriptions of the boats and notes from their logs. The story unfolds as the race progresses and has many shocking surprises in the end. Most importantly, you learn about the psychology and philosophy of the very different characters as they wrestle with the turbulent sea and the huge mental challenge they face. You don't have to be a sailor to understand or love this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: True drama on the high seas
Review: Nichols lures the reader from the start by offering careful descriptions of the nine men who will attempt to sail nonstop around the world alone. By the middle, you'll find yourself engaged and trying to guess how it will all turn out. By the end, it became a gripping page turner that I could not put down.

This is more than a sailing story; it's a story of people and personalities. Nichols has thoroughly assembled all the pieces but he's coy about not giving away the ending. Indeed, there are some jolting surprises along the way.

The one quibble I have concerns the use of sailing terminology and I give Nichols half-credit on this. Some authors of sailing books and articles bury the reader in so much yachting jargon that it can be incomprehensible to the average person.
Nichols does slightly better. At some points, he stops the narrative to carefully explain sailing principles. But at other times he's not as vigilant and the reader can get lost amid sailing phrases and terms.

Still, you can easily work you way through that, and follow the race as it develops. Even if you're not a sailor, you'll feel like you're along for this highly engaging ride.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Reading Nichols
Review: Once you're done reading about this incredible voyage, go back to the store and read Peter's account of his own journey across the Atlantic in a wooden boat, entitled "Sea Change." This man is a vivid, sensitive storyteller. His prose is capable of touching you at the very heart. Nichols is on his way to becoming one the best writers of our time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A non-sailor's view
Review: One day I heard a couple of book reviewers on the radio rattle off a list of good books, and I jotted this title down. When I got the book, I was uncertain as to whether I would enjoy it. The only sailing I had ever done was out in SF Bay as a passenger whose assigned job was to stay out of the way.

But after reading the book, my view of sailing has changed. This book utterly grabbed me. I couldn't put it down and I relished every word.

While the book is a true story, it isn't just a documentary. It is full of stories and portraits of people who are more fantastic than fiction. I think that not knowing anything about the Golden Globe race kept me in greater suspense. This was a page-turner 'til the very end.

I applaud Peter Nichols and his writing style. I read Perfect Storm and found it sterile and unemotional. This book was just the opposite. It was invigorating, enriching and human.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 3 Cheers for Knox-Johnson, Tetley, Crowhurst, Montessier...
Review: Peter Nichol's has become a favorite author because he knows how to make a story come alive. This is an amazing book about amazing people. It is very hard to put down. Although it is about solo navigation around the world, the introduction to the people that fill the pages is fascinating and compelling. These people, from various walks of life and with different temperaments, embarked upon an unforgetable and haunting journey. This book prompted reading the various accounts of this race. Outstanding read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Madmen Across the Water
Review: There have been an amazing number of books about sailing adventures released over the past several years. Peter Nichols's "A Voyage for Madmen" is one of the better ones. Given that solo sailing circumnavigations are a yearly ritual today, we tend to forget that as recently as a generation ago it was practically unheard of. In 1968, nine sailors, mostly independently of one another, decided to try and become the first to sail around the world alone without stopping. This was in an era before satelite weather radar or advanced communication equipment. Basically, for their whole voyage, the competitors faced the ravages of the sea alone. The feat became a contest to see who could finish first and who could finish the fastest. That seperate distinction became moot, when only one sailor was able to complete the journey.

Nichols expertly introduces each of the competetors and describes the unbelievable difficulties they faced. An ardent sailor himself, he writes with much authority, but with also much drama. The only drawback is that at times he is too technical for the non-sailor to follow, but thies hardly dulls the book's excitement. In fact if you go in unfamiliar (as I was) with the actual event, this book reads like a novel with surprise twists and turns along the way. And the eventual winner of the race is the type of hero, though we may question his sanity, that anyone can admire.

Overall, this a great book for sailing enthusiasts that can also be enjoyed by anyone else who like a good nautical story.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Grabbed my attention
Review: This booked reeled me in from the start. Peter Nichols writing style is great. I will look for more of his books. I had already read quite a bit about this race so the story was not suspenseful to me but in a way it was because of Nichols.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Glory days of solo, non-stop circumnavigation
Review: This is a great story that skillfully profiles the several "disappointingly sane" (not really) individuals that raced around the world in 1968, the dawning of solo, non-stop circumnavigation. This adventure, before the use of GPS, faxes and other modern-day sailing "necessities", starkly contrasts with the multi-million dollar sailing challenges of today. Through this juxtoposition, the story is able to reveal what likely is a much truer description of the circumnavigation challenge than is portrayed 20/30 years later. The descriptions of the inspirationally competent and the painfully incompetent participants show how this global race was a compilation of individual quests, instead of a man against man race. A quick read, you'll burn through the pages as you contemplate what sort of character might be driven to try such a challenge. And at what cost...?


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