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Rating: 
Summary: Amazing Adventure
Review: A well-told extraordinary personal sailing saga in an impossibly small craft and a coming of age metaphore for the adventurous life.
Rating: 
Summary: Sophomoric Sex and Booze Journal
Review: I have read most sailing travelogues out there, and this is without a doubt the most annoying, self indulgent blather I have encountered yet. The most amazing thing about this journey is that the author survived at all. Where does bravery end and stupidity begin? Its like reading a badly written diary. Women will be offended by the authors sophmoric accounts of his "romances," others will just find it tedious. For a much better read of a similar topic, try A J Mackinnon's "The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow."
Rating: 
Summary: self indugent blather
Review: I have read most sailing travelogues out there, and this is without a doubt the most annoying, self indulgent blather I have encountered yet. The most amazing thing about this journey is that the author survived at all. Where does bravery end and stupidity begin? Its like reading a badly written diary. Women will be offended by the authors sophmoric accounts of his "romances," others will just find it tedious. For a much better read of a similar topic, try A J Mackinnon's "The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow."
Rating:
Summary: This is a classic on real travel and individualism
Review: I highly recommend this book. This is a fascinating story. One that makes you feel you are right there with Stephen Ladd on his journey to experience a part of the world in his personally constructed boat "Squeek." Not only did I take this trip with him while reading this book, I also became envious, knowing that I lack the creativity, stamina, and courage to ever do what he accomplished. A traveler who is individualistic, well-read, and an exceptional writer, his journey is a must read for all. I think many Americans caught up in their current lifestyles today could gain insight from this book. I hope that Stephen Ladd sets out on a journey like this again someday. How about it Steve?
Rating:
Summary: This is a classic on real travel and individualism
Review: I highly recommend this book. This is a fascinating story. One that makes you feel you are right there with Stephen Ladd on his journey to experience a part of the world in his personally constructed boat "Squeek." Not only did I take this trip with him while reading this book, I also became envious, knowing that I lack the creativity, stamina, and courage to ever do what he accomplished. A traveler who is individualistic, well-read, and an exceptional writer, his journey is a must read for all. I think many Americans caught up in their current lifestyles today could gain insight from this book. I hope that Stephen Ladd sets out on a journey like this again someday. How about it Steve?
Rating:
Summary: Wish I was there!
Review: If you have read Don Starkell & sons' famous book "Paddle to the Amazon", you'll love this one.Here, Stephen Ladd builds his own boat and then spends a few years exploring around the Earth in it! The book is well written. Appropriate balance of humor, story telling & introspection. Readers are definitely left with ideas of boat designs and adventures floating around in their own heads after reading Ladd's account! If you enjoy reading about people enjoying life - this is a must!
Rating:
Summary: Wish I was there!
Review: If you have read Don Starkell & sons' famous book "Paddle to the Amazon", you'll love this one. Here, Stephen Ladd builds his own boat and then spends a few years exploring around the Earth in it! The book is well written. Appropriate balance of humor, story telling & introspection. Readers are definitely left with ideas of boat designs and adventures floating around in their own heads after reading Ladd's account! If you enjoy reading about people enjoying life - this is a must!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent adventure!
Review: Three Years in a 12 Foot Boat starts out with the author designing and building his own design wooden rowing/sail boat. His travels down through the Missouri and Mississippi rivers are only the beginning. His journey along the Pacific coast of Panama and Columbia have him fighting large waves in a boat he was just starting to realize its limits. His capsize off the coast of Columbia has him laying on the top of the upside down "Squeak", wondering if he would survive. His travels across South America are dangerous and humorous at times. He describes his driving trip as a companion across Columbia at night where traffic comes to a halt and everyone just goes to sleep in their cars, still sleeping long after traffic cleared, leaving him to try to awake the drivers ahead. His writings about the people he meets and his motivations to continue on with his trip provides insight into his reasons for embarking the on three year trip. Highly recommeded.
Rating:
Summary: Sophomoric Sex and Booze Journal
Review: Very little about sailing, and most of what is there displays the author's lack, not command of skill and judgment. It is hard to fathom that anyone would think that average readers are more interested in details of his copulation with a prostitute than they are with the construction and operation of the boat, but apparently, Steve Ladd thought those were the important details to include. A previous reviewer got it right: It's "Dear Diary" with a catchy title. I could not finish it. I skipped around, trying to find some part that wasn't saturated with the author's ego and libido, but finally gave up. If there were some good illustrations on the details of the boat, it would rate 2 stars, but the few line drawings of the boat were all two-dimensional and lacking detail. Part of the appeal of the travelogue is experiencing the trip vicariously. If you want to experience loose women, prostitutes, drugs, vagrancy and the seamy side of just about everything related to cruising, this is your book.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: What an incredibly brave thing to do! Have a few thousand saved up, build a tiny row/sailboat on your apartment patio, quit your job, tell everyone, "Later!" and go forth unto the world, with only the simplest of directions on how to proceed. This book captures true adventuring in our times by a man who know what he's looking at, and how to show it to the reader. Combining a concise text with lots of detail, a neat trick if you can pull it off, Mr. Ladd takes on a tough three year tour of the Americas, and lives to tell us about it. I recommend this account of the simple traveling life to anyone who has ever had a desire for escapism. Wow.
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