If you're looking for a comprehensive book on boating, both power and sail, you need look no further than John Vigor's The Practical Encyclopedia of Boating. Vigor, a professional writer and long-time boater with more than 15,000 hours of ocean voyages under his belt, knows whereof he speaks.

Topics run the gamut, from seamanship to boat handling, navigation, boat maintenance and design. Maybe you want to learn how to recover a man overboard, determine the seaworthiness of a boat, select anti-fouling paint or read the sky. It's here. So, too, are sections on albatrosses, castaways, bosun's chairs and cooking afloat. In other words, if you have a question, the answer is probably somewhere in its nearly 400 pages.

The Practical Encyclopedia of Boating, published by International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, was released in paperback in July 2007 and is available at Amazon.com or through your local bookstore.

- Linda Hoff