Small Craft Advisory: A Book About the Building of a Boat [Paperback]

Rubin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 18, 1994

Anyone who has ever bought and owned a boat — or wondered why people are obsessed by them — will love this amusing, evocative, beautifully crafted memoir by an inveterate boat-owner.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Even readers who deem themselves confirmed landlubbers will warm to this charming memoir. Rubin, founder of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, author and professor of English, has had an affinity for boats all his life. He doesn't require long voyages; like Kenneth Grahame's Water Rat, he enjoys "simply messing about in boats." Rubin built his first boat when he was 13, to ply the creeks and marshes around Charleston, S.C.; since then he has owned a succession of sail- and powerboats, most of which have given him trouble. In his mid-60s, he made the decision to have a small wooden cabin cruiser built to his specifications. As he watches the boat take shape, Rubin reflects on his life. When the Algonquin was finished--trials run, adjustments made--Rubin drove 150 miles just to assure himself that she was there, a reaction that most other boat owners can recognize. In addition, Rubin offers the fine local color of coastal North Carolina.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rubin ( The Mockingbird in the Gum Tree: A Literary Gallimaufry , LJ 9/1/91) is a retired distinguished professor of literature, founder of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, and the author of numerous articles and 40 books. He also loves boats, especially unpretentious workboats, and has owned a dozen of them in his 67 years. He built a boat when he was 13, owned many used ones, and finally in 1990 had a new wooden 24-foot boat hand built for him. From his childhood boat to his latest one, the experience of boating has been an act of liberation, an elemental freedom which provides a theme for this memoir. His affection for old or old-style boats provides a noncompetitive counter to the stress and ambition of academic and business life. In describing the building of his boat he is describing the building of his life, reasserting the shaping value of memory and imagination. This gracefully written contemplation should be welcomed even in public libraries far from the sea.
- Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (January 18, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871135337
• ISBN-13: 978-0871135339
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A rambling memoir of the pains and perils of owning a boat, July 29, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Craft Advisory: A Book About the Building of a Boat (Paperback)

I picked up Rubin's little classic at a remainder table, thinking to peruse it when I ran out of other reading material. Shame on me. This is an intensly personal and delightful little book. Not for the non nautical, neither is it for the practical. If I could I would drop Mr. Rubin a short note with one word. "Thanks."

J.A.Schroeder Seattle, WA

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and inspiring tale, September 25, 2007

By 

johhnyx "johhnyx" (rochester, ny United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Craft Advisory: A Book About the Building of a Boat (Paperback)

It's easy to love this book, whether you're even a casual boater or a landlubber. Mr. Rubin gives some great insights into his life and the reasons why one makes the choices they make. I read the opening about him building the small boat as a child to my wife, who absolutely was entranced by the images. Even though I live near one of the Great Lakes instead of the Atlantic Ocean, "messing about in boats" is one of the greatest joys in life, which the author has aptly demonstrated in this book.