40 Sailing Books for Holiday Giving

[@aqueousmoments]

When Christian speaks I listen. He is wise and a treasure.

[@CleetoMange]

I will turn 70 this spring and have started, in part due to your videos, to come up with new adventures I can look forward to, instead of despairing over the mounting indignities of old age. Thank you. Anchors away.

[@huntsail3727]

Glad to see you ARE still with us. Great music in the background. A continuing inspiration. Fair winds!

[@AA828]

I’m glad you’re still with us! Lol. Have a wonderful holiday. And please make more of your wonderful videos of the following year. You’re a special person.

[@MarkCartret]

Of course he’s still with us. Old sailors never go away, they only go on. Great to see you back! Merry Christmas sir!

[@sao9995]

My Christmas wish came true; Christian came back to us! We love you! Merry Christmas!!!

[@zuni1919]

Great recomendations, but better yet, great to see you post again!

[@10summoners]

I love that you mentioned Curve of Time. I discovered that book while on my first bareboat charter in the San Juan Islands. It was part of the boat's library. A great read.

[@NakaNakaDerkaDerka]

Glad to see you back Christian. I do enjoy your videos very much and hope to see many more.

[@johnbarron4713]

IMO, your audiobooks are the greatest!

[@duffyjas1]

Greetings from Frankfurt, Germany. I have followed you on your journeys of discovery to Hawaii and also sympathise with your love of jazz (I, however, am more of a John Coltrane fan, although, Thelonius Monk doesn't hurt my ears). My first book on sailing was Auther Beiser's, "The Proper Yacht". I am originally from Colorado and knew nothing about sailing but this book introduced me to the world of beautiful sailboats from which I never recovered. I keep a classic wooden sailboat in the Netherlands very much like the one described in "The Riddle of the Sands" and often sail the Frisian Islands. Some of the islands are essentially car free and their old world charm is magic. Fröhe Weinachten.

[@admir_]

Just friendly observation here. Monk is a category of his own. Check out Coltrane before- and after playing with Monk at The Five Spot Cafe, with Monk.

[@WildRoverSailing]

I'm looking forward to seeing or reading whatever it is you do next. I've enjoyed my audio books of "Alone Together" and "Philosophy of Sailing" at least twice each and just going for a 3rd time. Cheers

[@Land_an_sea]

I sure did enjoy this books review...thank you

[@waynegunter-teel3341]

Still one of my favorite videos is watching you playing jeopardy with yourself from Ca to Hawaii. Please let us know when your book is completed. Glad to hear you’re doing well. Merry Christmas!

[@Aheitchoo]

Its very good to hear about a new book, and other books as well.

[@kevingardner1658]

just finished on audio philosophy of sailing it is now my absolute favourite

[@gertgratlos]

Thanks Christian for these reviews and the fact that you are still with us. Stay stable and healthy!

[@jeremydow1432]

I READ " Riddle of the Sands " and also " The Strange Voyage of Donald Crowhurst " every few years . Merry Xmas .

[@StevieB_Slowbart]

Thanks so much for all of those insights Christian and it is heart warming to know that you are still ‘with us’. A lifetime of reading and thinking is such a valuable thing to share. Thanks also for including those moments where you were deeply moved and we could see how your loving father had nurtured your love of the sea. It was nice to see the way in which you caressed some of your favourites (leather bound Moby Dick) and hurled aside but not overboard some of the dross.

[@PabloRovalo]

such a delight, Christian

[@buddyyaussy5772]

Thanks Christian for another installment. When I see your name pop up in my notifications, I know I'm in for a treat, and that my day will be much better than I was owed. You're a treasure.

[@Brgnalf81]

Great to see you again. Happy holidays!!

[@carlcarlamos9055]

Thank you for the video and the recommendations. Take care.

[@blueskymut]

Merry Christmas, Christian. Good to hear from you again.

[@colin.denker]

Awesome list. Thanks for the ideas. Great to see James Baldwin get a shoutout!

[@jesusbeiro6113]

Great to hear from you Christian ... Always a pleasure to listen to your recommendations . All the best to you, best Xmas and so on ... and big cheers from Muros !!!

[@Seacraft-n1t]

Dear Sailing Santa thanks for your list. I've just forwarded it to my children with a giant "Hint." One suggestion for your list, We the Drowned by Carsten Jensen.

[@jonelliott9553]

I love all your videos. Really inspiring for my own adventures.

[@alexkalish8288]

A fine selection of real quality books - you have superb taste in everything.

[@walterjanzen4715]

I’ve enjoyed all your books and videos. Absolute legend.. happy holidays to you and yours.. cheers from your friends in Canada 🇨🇦.

[@NickVennlig]

Great recommendations Christian. 28 now and completed sailing classes this summer because of you. I'll be picking up a couple of these books soon. Cheers.

[@sproket168]

Wow I was talking about you the other day .😂 Glad to see you mate.

[@Jolie_sailor]

Super. Thank you for these recommendations.

[@edwardfinn4141]

Good job Christian.

[@jackiekyger1968]

While this is a wonderful list, and I will take advantage of it, please, everyone, do not forget my very favorite by our host today (briefly mentioned at 31:46): Philosophy of Sailing: Offshore in Search of the Universe by Christian Williams. I read it in October (2024) and here is the book review I left on the Good Reads website: Loved the book. Williams writes as if you are accompanying him on his trip from California to Hawaii. A master Sailor and Storyteller. I have been following his adventures on KZbin, and I recommend that you do, too. I very much enjoyed how he combined solo sailing (being alone for a great many days) and the works of many great philosophers. Truly a wonderful read. I have ordered more of his books.

[@paulvr3158]

You're back!

[@FlameHaze285]

A Merry Christmas to you too.

[@makingwaves68]

Woohooo he’s back! Happy holidays Christian. Thank you for the recommendations on good imaginative books.

[@parkerssafes]

Merry Christmas Christian! May God bless you and yours.

[@douglasthorpe234]

Wishing you and all a Happy New Year. Thank you for another wonderful post. Bravo Zulu on the sail cover and glad you included Alone Together in your book list! Great commentary about the importance of a personal belief system and philosophy. Can't agree more! Wonderful observations and good suggestions. Thank you and Happy Landings! _/)

[@SlowlySailing-lc1cs]

Thanks for the heads-up about Victor Slocum's book. I have many doubts about some of Joshua's tales...but man, could he write about sailing and the sea! Some really beautiful, evocative turns of phrase.

[@bartrainer3916]

Thank you very much. I will recommend a beloved Chilean book. "The last cabin boy of the Baquedano" 1941 from Francisco Coloane. A classic Patagonian novel every Chilean knows, a must-read for all primary school students here. I highly recommend it. Regards from southern Chile.

[@jasonm4695]

Ah you are making sails. Soon to make way. FYI: Another nice addition to the Aubrey-Maturin series, Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels. I have an occasional gathering with those who have finished the entire series, I prepare meals from the cookbook, toast Patty O’Brian with Pusser’s, and finish with spotted Dick. Then the main course, watching “Master and Commander” over really good speakers and a big OLED screen. Especially good show with a few rounds of Pusser’s.

[@markfisher1215]

Happy holidays good to hear from you again and as I sail up in Georgian Bay Canada I’m always looking for a good book recommendation during the winter months. Your channel and books are fantastic thanks for the work.

[@tomwaite4594]

SONG OF THE SIRENS Earnest K Gann

[@Rottingboards]

"Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine" A crummy commercial..... "Be sure to buy my book." A crummy commercial.🤣😂 Wonderful to have you back!

[@Erndog67]

Always look forward to your videos. The Godforsaken Sea by Derek Lundy to keep things in perspective when it all goes wrong. And The Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi, a true story about murder in Palmyra.

[@michaellaughton-smith6850]

The Coral Island, by R M Ballantyne. A ripping yarn.

[@pattifeatheringill7600]

Christian, please share your sewing machine details! Much love from the MS Gulf Coast ⛵️🏝️💚🎄

[@johnsmith1474]

You gonna play jazz, play it nice and loud.

[@lecaton5973]

Thanks, always enjoy your videos. Ever read “Trekka Around the World” by John Guzzwell? Interesting story and John was on the Seaton yacht when she pitch poled. He filmed the experience. An interesting film, I believe, available on KZbin. John is not with us anymore but his boat was on my dock for a few years. SV Brooklyn Salish Sea.

[@ezmn9663]

Sterling Hayden? Was thinking about Wanderer...

[@bgmail6858]

A very interesting read. And Voyage, too, is a page turner.

[@mmcartwright]

Thank you for this excellent bibliography, and shopping list! Ever read Coot Club, a delightful novel of children’s sailing adventures on England’s Norfolk rivers, by Arthur Ransome? I read it as a boy, 50 years ago, as I was learning to sail.

[@jeremydow1432]

SWALLOWS & AMAZONS FOREVER !

[@mhub3576]

James Baldwin has a really great KZbin channel himself, Atom Voyager, where he showcases his wonderful skills in refitting and modifying various sailboats. The boat he circumnavigated on, Atom, he still has. A Pearson Triton.

[@rayl2111]

He is such a handsome man!!!

[@jesusbeiro6113]

forgot .. Sailing Alone , a History by Richard J King is also a great read !! Cheers

[@andrewwilliams9419]

Time travel 32:00 Thelonious I ?

[@ChristianWilliamsYachting]

:)

[@SuperChriscunningham]

When are you sailing to Hawaii again?

[@DDixon3121]

Christian.....please allow me to recommend a possibly unknown-to-you book that is guaranteed to satisfy your nautical literary thirst. Published first in 1940, HURRICAN'S WAKE, a true story by Ray Kauffman, is such a thirst quencher. In the 1930s, Mr. Kauffman and a companion traveled from the midwest down to a sleeply coastal town in Mississippi called Pascagoula. They were in search of a boatbuilder who could build a ketch in which they could sail the world. They indeed contracted with a crafty old boatbuilder by the name of Sidoine Krebs, whose family had been building boats along the bayou for more than a hundred years. The boat is built, provisioned for the voyage, and off they go around the globe. It's a ascinating story, one I believe you will thoroughly enjoy. Seventy-one years ago I was born in Pascagoula and for the past thirty-five years have docked my forty-two sailboat in the city harbor. Sincerely, I hope you'll look this book up and "take if for a sail...."

[@obiwanfisher537]

You have such a good point there, when you talk about how everything is true adventure, first person account stories. I love sailing, but I get a little bored by all the "realism" of the sailors on youtube. As a consumer, sometimes it's just more interesting to have a story wrapped around the experience than just the barebone experience itself. The older books combined the imagination with reality and bridged that. I'd rather read moby dick or the seawolf than "Down Channel".

[@jasonandrewismail2029]

HOW IS YOU DAUGHTER APPRENTICE SKIPPER ? LOVE YOUR CHANNEL

[@timgelder4263]

13:18 Sorry to disagree but the ship in 2 yrs before the mast transported cow hides not seal skins to be made into shoes on the east coast

[@ChristianWilliamsYachting]

Thanks. Memory fades, good correction.

[@kyleziemer3145]

Hello, have you read the book SEA OF GLORY? The U.S. Exploration Expedition if 1838-1842. Written by Nathaniel Philbrick. The same author of In the heart of the sea.

[@rozinant1237]

Moby Dick by the Easton Press was offered at the introductory price of $1.99 or some other ridiculous number. People would get this and promptly cancel their subscription. This explains the surfeit of them online. Beautiful volume, you can probably find it for less than a new paperback.

[@Jolleseileren]

Bare en kommentar; jeg liker illustrasjonene i boka «North by east» by Kent. Kanskje er den å finne på det lokale biblioteket? Men når ble den skrevet og når ble den utgitt første gang? Disse illustrasjonene har et eget grafisk og dramatisk uttrykk - sort og hvitt!?

[@HakanSjo]

Just a reminder, it’s 2024 (very soon 2025) and we’re still reading them.

[@marcderveeuw]

Thank You for sharing. Have you tried : The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann. With possibly a movie in the making by Martin Scorsese with Leonardo Di Caprio. Yet it's currently unclear when the movie will be released, with no concrete debut date confirmed as of yet. Merry Christmas

[@jeremydow1432]

I BOUGHT it thinking it was a novel .

[@jamesmaguire3973]

👍

[@lastmanstanding1954]

WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE 14 YEAR OLD GIRL WHO SAILED AROUND THE WORLD ??? MET HER FATHER AT THE MARINA DEL REY THE RUMOR WAS THAT PEOPLE AT THE MARINA WAS MAD AT HIM FOR LETTING HIS DAUGHTER GO OUT SAILING ALONE ACROSS THE WORLD. PS MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

[@Kit2Canada]

@lastman…. Do you mean Laura Dekker, a Dutch sailor, made history in 2012 when she broke Jessica Watson's record and became the youngest person to sail solo around the world?

[@Kit2Canada]

PS Just a world on net etiquette “netiquette”, capital letters are use to create EMPHASIS. Using them in comments could be misinterpreted.

[@throckmorton3705]

Have you ever read Voyage: a novel of 1896, by the great actor Sterling Hayden (General Ripper in Dr. Strangelove and the corrupt cop in Godfather I)? Most readers of sailing books have read his non-fiction book Wanderer but his novel Voyage just might be a masterpiece … Also, I don’t think you’ve mentioned Cruise of the Snark by Jack London. What about A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes? C.S. Forester’s Hornblower novels and his African Queen? Sorry if you’re an atheist or a communist (you did say you live in Southern California) but what about the four sailing books by William F. Buckley-Airborne, Atlantic High, Racing Through Paradise and Windfall? I won’t bother to mention Dove by Robin Graham. His excerpts in National Geographic were unbelievably inspiring to a generation of kids in the 60s but his own account in Dove was a bit too much of a reality check.

[@ChristianWilliamsYachting]

Not a Communist. Good recommendations. Buckley is the most accident-prone sportsman in history, but entirely entertaining. His Blackford Oaks novels, too. Yes, I recall young Robin Graham brought to his knees by the Indian Ocean. Sterling Hayden, well, perhaps an acquired taste.

[@donaldvanvliet9039]

I also think that most youtube-vlogs miss something…the sense of adventure…the best adventure vlog was delos back when they were in the indian ocean…that had the feeling of an adventure…most other vlogs are diy or tourist vlogs…i’m rediscovering a lot of blogs i used to read before the vlogs on youtube became popular…some cruisers have a great pen (svbubbles…asmallnest…svmercator…). I think the story of bubbles wouldn’t be half as inspiring if it was filmed on daily vlogs…but the blogs make me dream !

[@jasonm4695]

Ah you are making sails. Soon to make way. FYI: Another nice addition to the Aubrey-Maturin series, Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels. I have an occasional gathering with those who have finished the entire series, I prepare meals from the cookbook, toast Patty O’Brian with Pusser’s, and finish with spotted Dick. Then the main course, watching “Master and Commander” over really good speakers and a big OLED screen. Especially good show with a few rounds of Pusser’s.