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George,

it is a coffee-table book, of course. The title  describes it
accurately as a "history of seafaring" and not a history of
navigation. There is an emphasis on navigation rather than on
shipbuilding which shows in separate texts on methods, problems and
instruments of navigation. The layout is rather unsteady which seems
to be a trademark of Conway books these last years. The text will not
tell you anything that you don't know yet, but the authors seem to
have taken care in writing. They recount a few things which have been
refuted by serious research like the Viking "Sun compass", but there
they are in good company - the NMM also presents this fable as a
fact.

The authors are not unknown: Donald Johnson has written "Phantom
Islands of the Atlantic" and "Charting the Sea of Darkness"; Juha
Nurminen is chairman of the Board of a logistics company and has
established his own foundation which, I suppose, deals with the
history of seafaring and navigation. He is also co-author of "The
routes of the sea: sea chart from the 16th century to present
times"(Helsinki 1988) and "Mare Balticum" (Helsinki 1995).

The illustrations are excellent, many of the objects are from the
Nurminen collection, but also from the Biblioth�que Nationale, LoC,
BL, NMM etc. There is a useful bibliography which has been edited
carefully (in stark contrast to the bibliographies in books by John
Blake published by Conway).

Altogether it is not a "must have" but "nice to have". I picked it up
at the Frankfurt book fair this fall at a "Messe" discount.

Wolfgang

On 26 Nov., 14:55, "George Huxtable" 
wrote:
> Conway Books have published much interesting maritime stuff in the past. In
> their new list has appeared "A History of Seafaring", by Donald Johnson and
> Juha Nurminen. That sounds of great interest to me, and maybe to other
> navlist  members, but I have read no reviews, as yet.
>
> The blurb describes it as "A fascinating and inspiring history of navigation
> and exploration in an elegant large-format volume that is beautifully
> illustrated with manuscripts, sea-charts, ship's instruments and artefacts.
> Covers astronomy, navigation, seamanship, ship building and instrumentation,
> and includes material from some of the world's leading museums and
> libraries". Conway also quotes a recommendation from Dava Sobel, but an
> endorsement from her is rather an off-put to me!
>
> I haven't come across either of its authors before, which is a bit of a
> surprise  Perhaps that indicates nothing more than what a sheltered life I
> have led... Are they familiar names on the other side of the Atlantic,
> perhaps? Have any Navlist members come across works, or papers, under their
> names?
>
> I am thinking about investing that �40, but before doing so I want to be
> sure about the text. I don't want to spend it on yet another elaborate
> picture-book, put together by specialists in graphic-arts, and nothing else.
> Can anyone help?
>
> George.
>
> contact George Huxtable at geo...@huxtable.u-net.com
> or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
> or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
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