First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living [Paperback]

Richard Bode (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

Now with a brand new foreword from New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Zaslow.

FIRST YOU HAVE TO ROW A LITTLE BOAT first hit shelves in the mid 1990s and has been inspiring readers ever since. Written by a grown man looking back on his childhood, it reflects on what learning to sail taught him about life: making choices, adapting to change, and becoming his own person. The book is filled with the spiritual wisdom and thought-provoking discoveries that marked such books as Walden, The Prophet, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. For nearly twenty years, it has enchanted and endeared sailors and non-sailors alike, but foremost, anyone who seeks large truths in small things. This refurbished edition will find a place in the hearts of a whole new generation of readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bode ( Blue Sloop at Dawn ) uses his great love of sailing as a metaphor for the tides of life. Describing his own introduction to sailing at age 12, he stresses the importance of mastering the simple, small things before attempting more complicated actions. Later the author purchases a blue sloop, matures and, as a grown man with children, decides to sell the sloop and sail into new, uncharted waters, assuming he will never forget the many important lessons the boat taught him. Other themes include complacency ("Going with the Wind"), confusion ("Fogbound"), forgiveness ("A Forgiving Boat"), and violence ("A Lazy Sailor at Heart"). Determinedly inspirational, this book will appeal to admirers of Robert Fulghum et al.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Good-natured parables in which the lessons learned from sailing are translated into lessons about living. Bode (Blue Sloop at Dawn, 1979) looks back across a half century to his boyhood years on Long Island Sound, where he fell in love with boats and learned to sail. In the title piece, the author, as a 12-year-old eager to sail, is first made to row a small boat, and from the experience comes to understand the importance of mastery not over the boat or the elements but over himself. Sailing with a favorable wind teaches him the dangers of complacency and, from a frightening collision, he learns to handle his fears about the unpredictable. Even sailors' knots become metaphors as Bode likens a sturdy square knot to a good marriage and an improperly tied granny knot to a mismatched couple who ``scrape and chafe against each other.'' Getting lost in fog teaches him not to thrash about wildly in confusion but to wait calmly for ``the one constant in the swirling mist that would set me on my rightful course''--a lesson that serves him well in midlife when his private life collapses and he's lost in a different kind of fog. Sailing also teaches him to attend to details, for, as he puts it, ``everything significant is small and slow.'' A frequent contributor to Reader's Digest, Bode is adept at pulling messages out of ordinary experiences. The images he creates are simple and clear, and so are the lessons he derives from them. A warm, fuzzy read for those who like to curl up with cozy philosophizing. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446670030
• ISBN-13: 978-0446670036
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming and thoughtful, June 11, 2000

By 

Joan Mazza "Author, speaker, poet" (Mineral, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living (Paperback)

From Joan Mazza, author of DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF, DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE, FROM DREAMS TO DISCOVERY and THINGS THAT TICK ME OFF.

Richard Bode has given us a beautiful book to savor and ponder. I read this straight through in one day-a rare event for me, since I always read several very different books at a time. FIRST YOU HAVE TO ROW A LITTLE BOAT had me totally engaged and I kept marking paragraphs and writing WOW in the margins. On page 145 he says, "If every man and woman were to take the meaning of their life and pursue it passionately, they would alter the social landscape overnight. In fact, that's how lasting revolutions are made-not by the raised arm of the masses, not by the military seizure of power, not by the political coup d'état, but by individuals asserting who they are one at a time." WOW.

His use of sailing as metaphor worked beautifully for me, even though I don't sail. His comments (page 32) about listening to the wind instead of holding tightly to dogma and rigidity were eloquent bordering on poetry. Very inspiring.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a good book., February 24, 2000

By 

Jeff (MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living (Paperback)

This is just a good book. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in love with the water. First you have to Row a Little Boat by Richard Bode is a wonderful book about reflection on life and living. I can truthfully say that this book is the best book I have ever read. R. Bode uses his young life as a sailor to show philosophical views on life, and what views they are! I feel a connection to Mr. Bode's childhood. I too have a little blue boat that I love so much and sail during the summer. In this book I have learned that the fastest way to a certain spot is not a strait line, but a zig zagging one. Just simple sailing lessons like this one can relate to everyday life and help a person through it. If you are a sailor too you will easily relate to this book in that same way as I have. The wonderful way that Richard Bode writes this book is that everyone, who is a sailor, can relate, but in his/her own ways. Everyone draws from his/her own experiences but gets the same result, understanding life. I really enjoyed reading this book. It brought up ideas in my mind that I would have never though of otherwise. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes sailing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The metaphors in this book are well understood by sailors, November 8, 2003

By 

Bud (Geneva, Geneva Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living (Paperback)

I was a bit skeptical when first starting to read this book, however the author has made many astute observations using sailing metaphors. I have done a fair bit of sailing throughout my life, and I can relate to the observations made. It is a very well written book with quite a bit of substance, and a fast read.

There were sections in the book that made me laugh and then cry as the points made were so on the mark.

I recommend this book.