Customer Reviews

Taking on the World : A Sailor's Extraordinary Solo Race Around the Globe

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was an eagerly awaited book for fans of Ellen Macarthur. She is a paradigm for what a person can achieve who follows her dream. Her tenacious determination and courage are an inspiration to anyone of any sex. That she achieved what she has achieved as a young woman 5'3" tall and "only nine stone" is extraordinary. This 350 page autobiographical book lays out her childhood and sailing career culminating in her second place finish in the 2001 Vendee Globe singlehanded yachting race. Unfortunately, the book was obviously rushed to publication and Rowland White , her editor has done a terrible job with her manuscript. Ironically some of the best and most thrilling writing in the book are the unedited emails sent by Ellen from her various races . The book is replete with excessive use of strident histrionic superlatives and by the end of the book the reader is exhausted from beaten over the head with the likes of "Incredible!" and "Fantastic!".The book is laden with unnecessary and pointless details that just bore the reader and clog the narrative. Ellen Macarthur stated early in the book that she has always wanted to write and by the end of the book the reader is convinced that this is a woman who could do anything she put her mind to achieve. Her flashes of brilliant narration demonstrate real talent but this jejeune book does not do justice to her as yet unrealized potential. The book is well illustrated and the last quarter of the book dealing with the Vendee Globe race is hard to put down. I along with other reviewers would have preferred a more thoughtful book evincing insight into the life of this doughty Derbyshire lass.

A good story, and a good read, but seeming to lack in the richly woven details that would make this more than a somewhat flat recounting of the course of events. There are certainly dramatic moments, but it seems they are told in a way that cruises right past the tension, drama, or emotion of the moment. Compare with Lundy's "Godforsaken Sea": he will leave a sailor clinging to the overturned hull of a half-sunk boat in the stormy, near-frozen Southern Ocean for most of a book. He will trap you *inside* such a boat. The difference is not just the particular situations. MacArthur was certainly in plenty of peril at various points, but there's a difference between mentioning that one got quite bruised on the last page and being put into a situation where you're hanging from a thin rope in 40 knots winds 80 feet off the deck and actually feeling the pain of getting each one of those bruises. Often she will set up a situation which contains a bit of tension or drama and then almost matter-of-factly tell you how it turned out, deflating the anticipation of an absorbing anecdote. Telling the reader that something was difficult or that she was tired doesn't communicate what it was like to be there. Saying that something was frustrating isn't the same as getting the reader to feel that frustration. That's what a good writer does, and that's what is missing here. Where Lundy puts you there, MacArthur tells you that, yes, she was there. It's almost as if, having finished the book, I feel I've read the back cover and am ready to dive into what sounds like it ought to be a riveting story.

Often I was left wanting more (technical) details about the learning, sailing, and promotion she was doing, how she actually did what she did, not the mere fact that she did it or that it happened. Then, at one of the most dramatic points in the story, it isn't perhaps made *quite* clear enough why MacArthur is doing what she is (How will this messing around solve the problem? What *is* the problem?), and what she is doing is full of fine detail that makes too little sense without a good picture or, perish the thought, an engineering diagram. The diagram that *is* present in the book, and could have made the gist of things plain, were it just a tiny bit more complete, doesn't. By the time I figure it out, the dramatic potential is wasted. Argh.

Worth reading for those with an interest in sailing or MacArthur, and surely inspirational for many readers, but be prepared to use your imagination to fill in the gaps that ought not to be there.

I read the recent article in National Geographic Adventure magazine and then I needed the book to get the full story. I thought the book was very good. It really showed the drive and dedication required, and the path a person needs to take to achieve something in her mid twenties that most pro sailers are lucky to do at the top of their game. Inspirational! My only wish was that more of the inter-personal side was revealed.

I've always been a big fan of sailing and when my dad told me that Ellen MacArthur had just broken the record for around the world alone I was amazed. And when later on I learned that she was one of two people to do this in a multihull, that's right out of the five people that have attempted to circumnavigate the world in a multihull only two have actually succeeded. The most recent one of them being a five foot two, twenty something, British girl. All these tidbits made me hungry to learn more about this intrepid woman. Two days later I was immersed in her autobiography.
Immediately I found Ellen's story to be every thing I thought it would be, and more. It's amazing how dedicated she has been to sailing throughout her life even though she was born in a tiny landlocked town. I myself have always been a sailor. I didn't save for my first boat like Ellen did but still, it's a passion that is shared by most of my family so they've been very supportive, much like Ellen's mom and dad. Still I felt like I cold sort of relate to her, which is one of the reasons why I loved this book so much. Even if you don't really like or know a lot about sailing, like my sister, you would still like it. It's truly amazing that at the age of twenty-four she not only finished the Vendee Globe (race around the world alone) but finished in second place on her first attempt. I reffer to her completing the race as an accomplishment because in that one race, out of the twenty-four entrants a mere fifteen finished the race, and aside from this year on average one person has died each race. Her perseverance has made an enormous difference in the way that I look at life. I"ve read and reread her book and have become hooked. In my spare time I'd check up on what she was doing. Ellen MacArthur Has become my hero, because of her book I know that it is possible for a five foot two, twenty something British girl to become a knight and one of the worlds most renown sailors. Her book is an inspiring tale with all the ups, downs and plot twists that accompany any good book. Taking on the World is a real live fairy tale, one in which Cinderella goes by the name of Ellen MacArthur.

Very interesting story about the author's background and ultimate success at a world class solo event. I couldn't put it down. That to me, is always the test of a good book.

The remarkable autobiography of an exceptional woman. Ellen MacArthur's obsessive drive to sail led her to become one of the best sailors of all-time is quite a story. As other reviewers have said it is not a great book but a good book about a great woman. No one can become an expert at sailing without going through often times horrendous physical and stressful mental situations and Ellen M. went through much of that at an early age. If any woman deserved the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire it would be Ellen MacArthur. Worth reading.

Ellen MacArthur was still an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) before being awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a very high honor indeed for somebody only in her thirties. She breathes and lives sailing. This book is a first rate publication with colored photographs and a tale of a girl who grew up to sail the dangerous oceans in a man's world and break records.

I've finally gotten this as a gift this past Christmas and read it straight away! I've been a big fan of Ellen for several years, getting to know her briefly during the Vendee Globe and then watching obsessively as she made her way around the world on B&Q "Mobi" in her "Race Against Time". This book provides great insight into this determined and passionate woman and the birth and growth of her life of sailing. It's not a "great" book, but it's a great read. She's an inspiration for thousands of sailors like me and millions of people who dare only to dream of the adventures and adversity she's faced.

The author starts by recounting her life story, and how she came to love sailing and the nature of the sea. She beautifully narrates how she chose her sailing boats, of races she's done, and of the wild life at sea. I very much enjoyed her encounters with whales and dolphins. I was also mesmerized by her journeys alone in the middle of the ocean, and her relentless ferocity in pursuing her dreams.

The book ends with the Vendee-Globe, a nonstop, 26,000-mile race that she completed alone in 94 days in 2001. She was only 24-year-old and came in second place. This was her first attempt. Quite an astonishing feat!
This book was a very inspirational reading; a witness to what can be achieved when one follows his or her dreams. I now want to buy a sailing boat and go sailing around the world! And fly around the world too!