Customer Reviews

Following Seas, Sailing the Globe, Sounding a Life

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If this book came with a money back guarentee, I would ask for my money. The wonderful cover design, the excellent paper and fancy graphics made me fell that the publishers thought this story was really worth promoting. But any cruising story that states several times that cruising is fixing your boat in a series of exotic places, is definitely dumb. I would not want my cruising partner to read this, it makes the whole thing sound boring. Not one real personal encounter with local people - socializing in this book is just with other sailors from the same social and financial rank. Could have met these same folks at my marina. I though going out to see the world meant really mingling - but then if you have to spend so much time fixing a boat, who has time for anything else? Too bad the writer - who is very concise and clear, did not have more romance in her soul, or more time to get away from her boat.

Beth Leonard, takes the reader in a new direction with her book Following Seas: Sailing the Globe, Sounding a Life. It is her real life story of a real average person, who by chance and opportunity took an incredible juorney. Her ability to communicate her thoughts and feelings is remarkable; especially considering this is her first book. I meet Beth Leonard at a presentation of her story and she is not only intelligent but very down to earth. She signed my copy "Follow your dreams, live your passion" She did this. What I really found most enjoyable about her book was it is the first book I have ever read which express the feeling behind sailing. This book is not about sailing, rather the emotions it generates; highs and lows. Enjoy the adventure.

Recently I heard a fascinating public radio interview with Beth Leonard and ran out to get her new book. A more enjoyable read I can't imagine! She's lived an interesting life, having achieved a high degree of success in the corporate world only to leave it all behind to sail around the world for three years. She writes of her adventures at sea and on land, amid different peoples and cultures, with great intelligence, insight, style, and personality. While I'm sure sailors will enjoy this book, it's about so much more than sailing. It's about the importance of having a dream and not being afraid to live it. I highly recommend this book. It's had a profound influence on me and helped me re-think and re-order my priorities.

Beth Leonard's creative writing is at once insightful, interesting and informative. This can-not-put-it-down book is a tribute to wonder, adventure, and historic information about the earth, its ocean, and the human spirit. Leonard's search for a life that is meaningful and challenging, is a gift of expression that is gripping, factual, humorous, and biographical, it is a truly wonderful read.

There's something very disturbing about this book that reveals itself in the first several pages. Beth Leonard is certainly to be commended for deciding to sail around the world, but she seems to want us to believe that she has discovered the art of dropping out. "She sure was rich and powerful," we are expected to say, "and if she gave all that up, why can't we give up our measly jobs that don't even take us to five-star restaurants?"

She quotes from the logs of Columbus and Cook, in whose wake she is supposed to follow - Beth Leonard, however, is a different kind of sailor. She is not an adventurer, she is a tourist. There's nothing wrong with being a tourist, but there is something inherently offensive about not recognizing it.

She fails to point out, for example, that it is her career, and her companion's, that have allowed her the freedom and capital to purchase and outfit a boat. She talks about saving money to contribute to the boat fund by living on an expense account, but never makes the connection that only by being a consultant could she afford to cut her ties to the world. She has sailed a contemporary version of the grand tour, and is painting it like a long, strange trip. Yet she would be an evangelist to those who don't have the resources of an ex-consultant, to those for whom the choice is not so simple.

What did this book set out to accomplish? They didn't sail anywhere particularly exotic, at least by the standards of other, better, sailing books, nor did they do it in a particularly novel way. "Following Seas," from its descriptions of the Azores and explanations of sailing terms, is clearly written for an audience unfamiliar with world cruising literature.

Anyone with no experience, however, would be much better advised to read any number of better works (for example anything by Lynn and Larry Pardey), that concentrate less on the self (this is how I changed) and more on the craft and the world around it (this is how you do it, this is what I found).

Leonard's prose is tortured and overwrought; she cannot get through a sentence without three modifiers or images, and I cannot get through a paragraph without grunting in annoyance. I got this book as a gift, and I still feel cheated.

I have read the gauntlet of "I cruised around the world and here's my story" books -- and this one is different. It is a beautiful book. At first glance, it's the book itself that catches your eye... illustrations and photography throughout give you glimpses into the real life voyage. They are artfully done and a joy to look at. But this is the ONE cruising book I have read that is actually beautifully written. Beth Leonard's descriptions of both the internal journey and the external scenery transcend the usual log book drivel that make up most cruising books out there. She is a truly talented writer and story teller. I lapped up each chapter and dog eared many beautiful passages worth saving and passing on to others. If you want to learn about sailing and how it can change your life, this is for you. But the beautiful writing, captivating story telling, and effective pictures make this a fabulous read for sailors and non-sailors alike.

I enjoyed this book, it had a little of everything. If you have ever thought of sailing around the world it gives you a good idea what to expect. They saw the world and got out of the horrible world of the working man. If ever you thought that it is something you would want to do read this book.