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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 623.82
EAN: 9780070063761
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0070063761
Label: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Manufacturer: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: September 01, 1994
Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
Studio: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Here are 75 novel and wonderful boats--some strange, some beautiful, all of them paragons of Philip Bolger's form-follows-function design philosophy. A planing microtrawler; a glass-galleried, beachable birdwatching boat; a fully enclosed ocean-cruising rowboat; cruising sailboats that take the ground at low tide; power, sail, and rowing boats from 6 to 95 feet--these are boats as only Bolger's unfettered imagination does them. This is the first collection of Bolger's work in almost 15 years. It is long overdue.
"Bolger is an eloquent writer and his comments run the gamut from hilarious to profound."--The Ensign
"Bolger brings a kind of youthful feeling to yacht design--he would rather make precedent than follow it."--WoodenBoat
"Bolger has a way of seducing even the lay reader into thinking about and beginning to understand boat design."--Cruising World
"Boat lovers who are used to designers who conceive the same boat over and over, camouflaged with a face-lifting here and there, will be amazed at Phil Bolger's diversity."--Boatbuilder
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
When I first showed my copy of Boats with an
Open Mind to a friend with a custom-built, gold
plater 28' ketch, he said 'you paid money to
look at somebody's catalog....they're not even boats
you could get excited about'
In a sense, he's right. This really is a catalog
of boat plans by Phil Bolger and yes, I just bought
a big advertising brochure. His second comment is
more devastating. There are those of us who buy boat
books to drool over the pictures (I have a file
on my computer called 'boat porn') and these boats
are more often homely than pretty. Some few are so
ugly that you need not only an open mind but a great
sense of humor.
So why am I giving this book four stars? Because it's
written in a friendly, down-to-earth style that explains
the reasoning behind each boat. In the course of the
explanation, a reader develops a useful understanding of
the compromises that are involved in boat design. Bolger
is very frank about the trade-offs involved and very
clear in his explanations of them.
Finally, there are a few designs-the munroe-inspired
sharpies, the rowing boats sweet pea and spur and the schooners that have
an eccentric eye-appeal. Of course to learn the most and
enjoy the most of this book, it helps to have an open
mind.
--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the novel bang BANG. ISBN 9781601640005
Rating: -
The book is a good primer on different boat designs. Don't buy it expecting to build any of the boats enclosed straight from the book as it's not a "how to" book. There is a resource section in the back of the book that gives information on how to get building plans. It will shed light on the thinking that went into the designs, and from that standpoint, it will get your "creative juices flowing". Overall a good read that will open your mind to many design possibilties.
Rating:  -
This guy's boats go from traditional to... wacky, I guess you'd say. This might be his only book still in print. Too bad. I think he's got more that 600 designs and I want to see more.
Rating:  -
I have to agree with the reviewers that find Bolger refreshing and candid as well as knowledgeable to a fault. This book is eminently readable and rereadable. There is no doubt that there are many thought provoking ideas here. There are some handsome boats here as well but frankly many are aesthetic eyesores. I have an interest in a build-it-yourself cruising sailboat in the 25-35' range and the most attractive boats here from a practical usable/buildable sense are really pretty hard to look at. On one hand Bolger complains about concessions to style suggesting that to make them you admit that you are ashamed of the boat - on another page he suggests painting a mural on the slab side of one of the larger sharpies - a concession to their huge billboard bland shape. This book is practically an icon of good sense/ideas but as a guide to a boat building/aquisition it leaves one a bit frustrated. As for the plans they are of course hard to read - like every designer the author is entitled to sell his designs (not that that is the point of the book). A failing is that the book does not give any guidance to where plans could be purchased. Even it they don't please this readers eye the bigger sharpies have to be considered!
Rating: -
OK, I admit it, I am enthralled with the genius of this boat designer, Phil Bolger. He has designed more boats than any person alive, 750+. This book reveals his thought process giving a window into his remarkably creative mind.
I especially enjoy how he chooses to draw upon the vast tradition and the history of boats designed throughout history, and then updates and synthesizes these boat designs to reflect modern materials and his new ideas. Bolger reveals that in many cases; the modern school of boat design is a 'The King has No Clothes' proposition. Bolger repeatedly questions the conventional wisdom, much in a similar way to how Buckminster Fuller questioned 20th Century architectural and industrial design ideas.
I simply can't wait for the next book by Phil Bolger! In the mean time I will re-read this one, and read his frequent articles in the magazine _Messing About In Boats_.
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