This book scared me at first. The preface to the second edition offers a moralistic lecture on balancing the federal budget and ending deficit spending as an analogy to relying on modern navigation electronics.
Having purchased it without paying attention to the publication date, the first thing I thought was - "Oh brother, a teabagger. Now I'm going to have to wade through the Glenn Beck innuendos from one chapter to the next."
About halfway through the book though, I became aware of the fact that many of the author's references were somewhat dated. It was only then that I went to the first pages to realize that it was last published in the early `90s. This means that Cmdr. Bauer was not complaining about Obama deficit spending but Reagan/Papa Bush profligacy. In other words - "He's one of us! In which case, he was damned proper to make this analogy!"
In any event, this was the limit of the author's economic insights. The book goes on to being one of the best treatises on the subject of marine sextants that I have come across in my 20 years of dabbling in celestial navigation. I can honestly say that I either recalled something I had forgotten or learned something entirely new with the reading of each and every page.
Not until I read a few one star reviews (only after finishing the book) in which the writers complained that the author failed to explain how to actually read a sextant, did I come to realize that they were quite correct. Very little is offered on this most important subject, including how to interpret the vernier scale, which is fundamental to any sextant. I can only imagine that Bauer is kicking himself for this oversight. It's just one of those things that are so obviously taken for granted, that it's easy to forget.
For the fact that most sextants are sold with a booklet explaining how to read a sextant, I will forgive the author and give him the stars he deserves for a job well done.
Ron DiGiovanni
Easton, PA
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R. Fenton
practical and a good read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 16, 2011mike protheroe
Mine of information
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 2, 2015
