Reddit reviews The Complete Sailing Manual, Third Edition

Every sailboat is rigged differently, although there are many common basic features. So, there's no way for anyone to provide much of a response to an overly broad question. But, if you are just getting going, there's plenty you can do to get a bit more know-how.

When I began, before I started taking some lessons, I read a lot. My brother got me this for Christmas and I read it through and through:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sailing-Manual-Third-Edition/dp/0756689694

That should get you going. The next step is to find instruction and get on the water.

Things you can do while you figure out how to get on the water:

• practice bowline and hitch knots, you use them every sail basically so get good
  
• get your gear together: knife, PFD, shoes, wet gear
  
• watch some videos
  
  But, there is no substitute for getting out on the water. What city are you in?

I have enjoyed these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756689694/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071350993/

Edit 1 to add: Also, for entertaining reading, Joshua Slocum's book and Voyage for Madmen

The Complete Sailor, by Seidman & Mulford.

I'm reading the second edition of the Slight / DK manual at present, and IMO it's quite poor. It features an incorrect theory of aerofoils [more], and the layout is a bit cluttered, but most importantly it's badly written. Sentences are poorly phrased, with repeated and redundant words, whole descriptions are a messy clusterfuck, and the author uses nautical words which it doesn't explain or define (and I'm sure at least once wasn't in the index).

I was impressed by The Complete Sailor when I read it, my first sailing book, but having read two more in the intervening weeks, my opinion has only hardened.

It is a beautifully and elegantly constructed work, and I say that not just because of Mulford's illustrations - he does deserve as much credit as Seidman - but also for the layout and the way topics are handled. Each page or pair of facing pages covers a single topic, and there's something particularly impressive in how it's explained in a way that the reader can understand - the book starts by talking about the wind, and thereafter every term or concept that is used to explain the current topic is one that has been explained already, previously in the book.

I really think that the authors deserve a lot of credit for how they lay a foundation of information and then build upon it - they make everything simple and logical, and any time you think "what does that mean?" you know that it's already been covered, and it's easy to flip back to the right section. The authors have taken a lot of information about a complicated subject, and made it really accessible.

The Complete Sailor also focuses more on the core concepts of sailing and seamanship than the other books do - they make more digressions about types of life preserver, wood vs GRP, details of yacht vs dinghy, and key dates in yachting history.

I haven't read Sailing for Dummies, but Herreshoff's Sailor's Handbook is pretty good, and I'd recommend anyone pick up a secondhand or remaindered copy to set alongside Complete Sailor. There's probably some stuff in the former that the latter skips.

The Dorling Kindersley book, though, just feels a bit like marketing-orientated writing - it's a thick book, full of high quality glossy photos and clean modern illustrations; it probably looks commanding in the store, and it'll probably be bought as a present by mothers and grandmas for teenagers who have developed an interest in the sport. Nevertheless, it's cluttered, hard to read and factually wrong.

I know that I could have expressed this comparison with more clarity, but it's late here, so I can only apologise.

I've also read almost all the way through this book and found it very helpful:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sailing-Manual-Third-Edition/dp/0756689694/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380854523&sr=8-1&keywords=the+new+complete+sailing+manual