 |  
Rating:  -
Don't buy this book if you want to learn more about Joel White and his "last" boat - the W-Class (W-76 specifically) yachts. At most there is probably less than 7 pages of text devoted to the creation of the W-Class boats.
The W-Class racing yacht is not even mentioned in the book until page around page 100. The whole W-76 story is a very small sideline to the whole. Probably five pages of text out of the whole book are dedicated to the W-76. What a missed story! I asked for the book specifically because I wanted to learn more about the W-76. There is more about the W-76 in the five page WoodenBoat issue #150, Sept/Oct '99 than in this entire book!
There was so much not said here. The vision for the W-Class boats is never discussed. Donald Tofias who commissioned the design of the boat is only given one or two lines of text in the whole book. How did Joel envision the W-class boats, did he view the design as his final masterpiece? Did he want to design the other boats in the series? Etc, etc...
In fact, if you want to know more about Joel White you will not find it in this book.
The best way to summarize this book is that you are sitting at a table for dinner with some very interesting, nice but humble people while at the table beside you sits a very famous person that you have always wanted to meet. You try to listen to the conversation coming from the next table but unfortunately, you do not want to be rude, and the people at your table demand your attention so you only hear a few bits and pieces from the other table.
That is how I felt about this book. The book follows the Brooklin Boat yard employees work lives during the last year of Joel White's life. (Nice people, nice story, but I wanted to learn about Joel) As far as boats are concerned, the book is really about the Center Harbor 31 series of boats. The book begins with the launching of the first two - Grace and Linda and follows the construction of the third and forth Pudding and The Mantlepiece. One last grip. The Center Harbor 31 is discussed in detail in the book, but no pictures or drawings of the boat are provided. Ever read a book about architecture or art without a picture? Well that is what you get here!
All in all, a frustrating and disappointing book. Joel White and the W-76 deserved better.
Rating:  -
It is hard for me to imagine how Douglas Whynott was able to so skillfully capture the subtleties of the lives of the people he met in Brooklin, Maine. Without overly romanticizing his subjects, he shows these boatbuilders and boat owners as they are. At times the structure of the book seems to imitate the way life is approached Down East: things wander off sometimes, but eventually whatever is supposed to happen, does happen. I envy that Whynott got to go sailing on some of the most beautiful boats sailing those waters. Good job, Doug.
Rating: -
This book combines information about designing and building wooden sailboats in Brooklin, Maine, with the story of three generations of the White family: E.B. White, the writer who sailed in his spare time; Joel White, the boat designer and builder who wrote about boats in his spare time; and Steve White, who expanded and runs the boatyard his father started. The book appeals to readers on many levels but had too much detail and too many technical terms about boat building for a lay person like me. As the story of the comeback of wooden sailing boats in the 1990's and a peek into the life of the White family in Maine, it succeeds very well. Readers who liked this book might also enjoy "The Survival of the Bark Canoe" by John McPhee.
Rating:  -
Douglas Whynott has a knack for relating the details -- in this case, of the workings of a boatyard and its people -- and letting them amass into whatever bigger picture they may. And the bigger picture is a true one, I am confident; it is most certainly true to the workings and essence of this part of the world and of the vessels being constructed during the key year and of the past. I can only believe the images of the Whites to be as true.
I would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in boat building or Joel White, or E.B. White, for that matter.
Rating: -
I picked up "A Unit of Water, A Unit of Time" hoping to find a great combination of literature and boating, and was not disappointed. Using a yard that builds wood boats as his setting, Whynott has produced real literature of his own. In doing so, he has woven a literary legend, E. B. White, father of the boat yard owner, into his story in a fashion that shows real respect for the elder White and avoids exploiting his work. The owners and the men who work in the Brooklin (Maine) Boat Yard develop gradually and consistently to become truly multidimensional, technicolor, and human. Meanwhile, the storyteller keeps himself skillfully in the background, well behind his subject. In addition to the inspiring humanity that is clearly evident (albeit with characteristically "down-home" understatement), the lessons for people who operate businesses are extensive and meaningful. Those authors who pedantically shout the lessons of organizational behavior from their unsubtle and all too shallow "how-to" books for business operators would do well to read "A Unit". They could find every one of their lessons demonstrated in ways that respect the reader's ability to draw his or her own generalities from a proper selection of real events honestly described.
| | 
Boat Design.Net
Design Award
Top Rated Sites
Most Popular Sites
What's New
 Boat
Plans
Books
Designers
Boatbuilders
Materials
Powerboats
Catamarans
Propulsion
Sailboats
Multihulls
Software
Resources
Random
Site
My Links
Gallery
Forums
Search
|
