The Sailor's Bookshelf

The Sailor's Bookshelf

Author: James Stavridis

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2021-12-15

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1682477169

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Admiral Stavridis, a leader in military, international affairs, and national security circles, shares his love of the sea and some of the sources of that affection. The Sailor's Bookshelf offers synopses of fifty books that illustrate the history, importance, lore, and lifestyle of the oceans and of those who “go down to the sea in ships.” Stavridis colors those descriptions with glimpses of his own service—“sea stories” in popular parlance—that not only clarify his choices but show why he is held in such high esteem among his fellow sailors. ​Divided into four main categories—The Oceans, Explorers, Sailors in Fiction, and Sailors in Non-Fiction—Admiral Stavridis’ choices will appeal to “old salts” and to those who have never known the sights of the ever-changing seascape nor breathed the tonic of an ocean breeze. The result is a navigational aid that guides readers through the realm of sea literature, covering a spectrum of topics that range from science to aesthetics, from history to modernity, from solo sailing to great battles. ​Among these eclectic choices are guides to shiphandling and navigation, classic fiction that pits man against the sea, ecological and strategic challenges, celebrations of great achievements and the lessons that come with failure, economic competition and its stepbrother combat, explorations of the deep, and poetry that beats with the pulse of the wave. Some of the included titles are familiar to many, while others, are likely less well-known but are welcome additions to this encompassing collection. Admiral Stavridis has chosen some books that are relatively recent, and he recommends other works which have been around much longer and deserve recognition. ​


Destroyer Captain

Destroyer Captain

Author: James Stavridis

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1612510256

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This memoir of James Stavridis' two years in command of the destroyer USS Barry reveals the human side of what it is like to be in charge of a warship—for the first time and in the midst of international crisis. From Haiti to the Balkans to the Arabian GulfBarry was involved in operations throughout the world during his 1993–1995 tour. Drawing on daily journals he kept for the entire period, the author reveals the complex nature of those deployments in a "real time" context and describes life on board the Barry and liberty ashore for sailors and officers alike. With all the joy, doubt, self-examination, hope, and fear of a first command, he offers an honest examination of his experience from the bridge to help readers grasp the true nature of command at sea. The window he provides into the personal lives of the crew illuminates not only their hard work in a ship that spent more than 70 percent of its time underway, but also the sacrifices of their families ashore. Stavridis credits his able crew for the many awards the Barry won while he was captain, including the Battenberg Cup for top ship in the Atlantic Fleet. Naval aficionados who like seagoing fiction will be attracted to the book, as will those fascinated by life at sea. Officers from all the services, especially surface warfare naval officers aspiring to command, will find these lessons of a first command by one of the Navy's most respected admirals both entertaining and instructive.


The Sailor's Bookshelf

The Sailor's Bookshelf

Author: James Stavridis

Publisher:

Published: 2021-12-15

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9781682476987

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Admiral Stavridis, a leader in military, international affairs, and national security circles, shares his love of the sea and some of the sources of that affection. The Sailor's Bookshelf offers synopses of fifty books that illustrate the history, importance, lore, and lifestyle of the oceans and of those who "go down to the sea in ships." Stavridis colors those descriptions with glimpses of his own service--"sea stories" in popular parlance--that not only clarify his choices but show why he is held in such high esteem among his fellow sailors. Divided into four main categories--The Oceans, Explorers, Sailors in Fiction, and Sailors in Non-Fiction--Admiral Stavridis' choices will appeal to "old salts" and to those who have never known the sights of the ever-changing seascape nor breathed the tonic of an ocean breeze. The result is a navigational aid that guides readers through the realm of sea literature, covering a spectrum of topics that range from science to aesthetics, from history to modernity, from solo sailing to great battles. Among these eclectic choices are guides to shiphandling and navigation, classic fiction that pits man against the sea, ecological and strategic challenges, celebrations of great achievements and the lessons that come with failure, economic competition and its stepbrother combat, explorations of the deep, and poetry that beats with the pulse of the wave. Some of the included titles are familiar to many, while others, are likely less well-known but are welcome additions to this encompassing collection. Admiral Stavridis has chosen some books that are relatively recent, and he recommends other works which have been around much longer and deserve recognition.


To Risk It All

To Risk It All

Author: Admiral James Stavridis, USN

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-05-24

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0593297741

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From one of the great naval leaders of our time, a master class in decision-making under pressure through the stories of nine famous acts of leadership in battle, drawn from the history of the United States Navy, with outcomes both glorious and notorious At the heart of Admiral James Stavridis’s training as a naval officer was the preparation to lead sailors in combat, to face the decisive moment in battle whenever it might arise. In To Risk it All, he offers up nine of the most useful and enthralling stories from the US Navy’s nearly 250-year history, and draws from them a set of insights that we can all put to use when confronted with fateful choices. Conflict. Crisis. Risk. These words have a distinct meaning in a military context that we hope will never apply identically in our own lives. But at the same time, as Admiral Stavridis shows with great clarity, many lessons are universal. To Risk it All is filled with thrilling and heroic exploits, but it is anything but a shallow exercise in myth burnishing. Every leader in this book has real flaws, as all humans do, and the stories of failure, or at least the decisions that have been defined as such, are as crucial as the stories of success. In the end, when this master class is concluded, we will be better armed for hard decisions both expected and not.


Sea Power

Sea Power

Author: Admiral James Stavridis, USN

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2018-06-05

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0735220611

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From one of the most admired admirals of his generation—and the only admiral to serve as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO—comes a remarkable voyage through all of the world’s most important bodies of water, providing the story of naval power as a driver of human history and a crucial element in our current geopolitical path. From the time of the Greeks and the Persians clashing in the Mediterranean, sea power has determined world power. To an extent that is often underappreciated, it still does. No one understands this better than Admiral Jim Stavridis. In Sea Power, Admiral Stavridis takes us with him on a tour of the world’s oceans from the admiral’s chair, showing us how the geography of the oceans has shaped the destiny of nations, and how naval power has in a real sense made the world we live in today, and will shape the world we live in tomorrow. Not least, Sea Power is marvelous naval history, giving us fresh insight into great naval engagements from the battles of Salamis and Lepanto through to Trafalgar, the Battle of the Atlantic, and submarine conflicts of the Cold War. It is also a keen-eyed reckoning with the likely sites of our next major naval conflicts, particularly the Arctic Ocean, Eastern Mediterranean, and the South China Sea. Finally, Sea Power steps back to take a holistic view of the plagues to our oceans that are best seen that way, from piracy to pollution. When most of us look at a globe, we focus on the shape of the of the seven continents. Admiral Stavridis sees the shapes of the seven seas. After reading Sea Power, you will too. Not since Alfred Thayer Mahan’s legendary The Influence of Sea Power upon History have we had such a powerful reckoning with this vital subject.


The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats

The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats

Author: Steve Henkel

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2010-01-15

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0071736948

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For the first time ever, a comparative survey of 95 percent of the fiberglass pocketcruising sailboats ever built Author Steve Henkel has researched hundreds of cruising sailboats less than 26 feet long--pocket cruisers--to create this definitive gallery and handbook of the small cruising sailboats built in the last 45 years. With detailed plans, specifications, performance indexes, and commentary for every model the author could find (360 in all!), The Sailor’s Book of Small Cruising Sailboats is your ideal core reference for the used and new boats you see on the water.


Sailing True North

Sailing True North

Author: Admiral James Stavridis, USN

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2020-10-13

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0525559957

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From one of the most distinguished admirals of our time and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, a meditation on leadership and character refracted through the lives of ten of the most illustrious naval commanders in history In Sailing True North, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character from the lives and careers of history's most significant naval commanders. He also brings a lifetime of reflection to bear on the subjects of his study--naval history, the vocation of the admiral, and global geopolitics. Above all, this is a book that will help you navigate your own life's voyage: the voyage of leadership of course, but more important, the voyage of character. Sailing True North helps us find the right course to chart. Simply as epic lives, the tales of these ten admirals offer up a collection of the greatest imaginable sea stories. Moreover, spanning 2,500 years from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century, Sailing True North is a book that offers a history of the world through the prism of our greatest naval leaders. None of the admirals in this volume were perfect, and some were deeply flawed. But from Themistocles, Drake, and Nelson to Nimitz, Rickover, and Hopper, important themes emerge, not least that serving your reputation is a poor substitute for serving your character; and that taking time to read and reflect is not a luxury, it's a necessity. By putting us on personal terms with historic leaders in the maritime sphere he knows so well, James Stavridis gives us a compass that can help us navigate the story of our own lives, wherever that voyage takes us.


Pirates, Ships, and Sailors

Pirates, Ships, and Sailors

Author: Kathryn Jackson

Publisher: Golden Books

Published: 2012-06-27

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 0307983188

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Ahoy! First published in 1950, Golden Books is pleased to reissue this delightful hardcover collection of 24 stories and poems, including Pirate’s Cove, The Little Lost Island, and The Careful, Cheerful Sailor by Kathyrn and Byron Jackson. All sea-loving children—and their parents—will be wowed by Gustaf Tenggren’s beautiful illustrations.


The Lost Sailors

The Lost Sailors

Author: Jean-Claude Izzo

Publisher: Europa Editions UK

Published: 2013-03-01

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1609451716

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From one of France's best-known authors comes this evocative meditation on the human comedy. A freighter is impounded in the port of Marseilles when its owners declare bankruptcy. On board, the men are divided: wait for the money owed them—money that might never come—or accept their fate and abandon ship? This may be Captain Abdul Aziz's last commission and he is determined to save his charge and stand by his men. Diamantis, his second-in-command, is in search of a woman he has never stopped loving and who may now be living in Marseilles. In these close quarters charged with physical and emotional tension, each of these marooned sailors' life stories begins to resemble a chapter in the complex, colorful, and tragic story of the Mediterranean Sea itself—rich with romance, legend, passion and drama. The Lost Sailors is a richly textured and bittersweet tribute to Mediterranean life. It is the novel in which Jean-Claude Izzo most completely expresses his vision of human history and how it has been played out on the shores of this sea since the beginnings of time. This is a novel for anyone who loves the sea, for anyone who is attracted to the dark passions it can provoke, for anyone who feels drawn to the rich blend of races, religions and individual stories to be found in port cities the world over. It is, at the same time, a story of the prodigious forces at play in all human destiny.


The Sailor's Wife

The Sailor's Wife

Author: Helen Benedict

Publisher: Zoland Books, Incorporated

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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Joyce finds herself living the merciless life of a Greek peasant woman, at the command of people steeped in religion, misogyny, superstition, and their experience of war.".