Rowable Classics: Wooden Single Sculling Boats and Oars Hardcover – November 1, 2008

This book is recommended for anybody that appreciates the fine craftsmanship involved in classic single wooden sculls. A very interesting read featuring several beautiful sculls built, the background behind them and complemented by great photographs. If you are looking for detailed plans to build your own this is not the right book, but it will give you ideas and inspiration that can be implemented. As I designed and built a recreational scull from scratch, I truly enjoyed studying the fine photographs throughout the book and it will definitely help me in dreaming up my next project.

very good read as to what different boat builders do by country throughout the world. Only wish that it had some lines drawings and more construction details for garage guys like me who want to try build a classic.

If you love wooden skiffs, this book is for you. I appreciate the fact that the author provides first some information on the main boat (and scull) builders, and also the owners' point of view on their skiffs.As I am living in France I would have welcomed some additional chapters on boat builders located in continental Europe. Of course you can find Stämpfli, Empacher, Donoratico and Pirsch, but some builders like Salani and Dossunet would have deserved to be mentioned.Anyway, this is a marvellous book.

I ordered this book after purchasing a pair or sculling oars. In my research about the oars, I had to great pleasure to correspond with Dr. Strickler. In a follow up, I purchased this book. The images and information are wonderful. I hope to someday be able to purchase a Sculling boat of my own. For now, I'll just have to live vicariously though this book.

Arrived quickly and as described.

My wife started rowing & I wanted to get her something to show my support and interest. This was one of two books I got for her and she was very pleased. Beautiful photography & nice historical stories. Excellent choice and it makes a very classy coffee table book.

I did not have opportunity to see inside book. But I decide to by and see. I was expecting a book dealing with boat plans.

In some ways this volume is a bookend to Benjamin Ivry's, "Regatta", but where Ivry's visually attractive book was primarily about oarsmen, this book is more tightly focused upon the boats, their builders and their owners. Because the author's appealingly casual narrative blends his technical knowledge with the human stories behind this tradition in a manner which makes both all the more credible, the book is a joy to read and re-read. His familiarity with the subject is as deep as it is comprehensive, but it is the little rhetorical asides, scattered here and there like riffs upon a glassy lake, that add color and humanity. "Rowable Classics" is an anthropology of the boat builder's trade and culture. It describes significant technical traditions and choices without oversimplifying or divorcing the nautical architecture from the needs and desires of oarsmen. But at the same time, the book is intensely personal and it is this which keeps it from becoming a merely forensic portrait of a disappearing craft. A celebration of the marriage of craftsmanship, art, reverence and love, it is a homage, not a requiem. As such, I hope it becomes not a memorial, but a catalyst for further preservation of these beautiful shells, an encouragement to present-day builders, and an inspiration to ROW WOOD!

This is a beautiful book. It is well written, full of information and the photos illustrate the text very well. This is a good read whether sculls float your boat or not!. It is the sort of book you want to leave on view because it is such a rich source of pleasure. I warmly recommend this wonderful classic.

Realmente um livro inspirador para quem gosta desse belo esporte e a sua históriaVale muito a pena, um investimento real em um conhecimento difícil de achar