DO DOLPHINS EVER SLEEP?
Adlard Coles Nautical, RRP £9.99
How many times have you come across a fascinating fact, and said to yourself: “Well, I never knew that”.
Some people are naturally curious about the world around them. If you were crossing the Atlantic, with many weeks at sea, you might find yourself not only appreciating your surroundings, but also wondering about things you hadn’t really considered before: Why don’t rope strands untwist? Why Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is also called Zulu Time? Why is the sky blue? Why did sailors wear bell-bottom trousers?
Pierre-Yves Bely was on a sailing trip when he started to consider such questions, and on his return, started on a quest to find the answers, to more than two hundred questions about ships, the sea and the sky. Encompassing science, history, nautical matters – navigation, meteorology, yachting, life onboard and in the sea – plus ships, ancient and modern, this is a wonderful book for dipping into. It’s presented in an easy-to-follow style, with pictures and diagrams on virtually every page (so it doesn’t read like a reference book) and from the very first question “How did the first seas form?” you could while away hours…
Just published in the UK, having been translated by the author’s wife, this would make a great gift for a nautically-minded friend – or even yourself.