Is this an entertaining book? The Practical Mariner's Book of Knowledge is either the most useful boating book ever designed to entertain or the most entertaining book ever designed to be useful. In its alphabetical organization that juxtaposes wildly disparate entries, you can read about the derivation of figureheads where you turned to for recommended thicknesses of fiberglass hulls. In between the whimsy, however, is the essence of centuries of seafaring experience distilled into a concise reference for sailors and power boaters. There may be no substitute for a lifetime of experience, but this book is the next best thing. It should be kept at the navigation station and on every boat. Inside you will find information that is otherwise scattered through dozens of volumes. If you can't find what you want quickly from the table of contents, there's an exhaustive subject index. If you need more precise data than a rule of thumb can provide, you may very well find it among the 16 appendix tables, which are also indexed. You'll find rules of thumb for: changing a boat's name; towing the safest way; burial at sea; preventing wood rot; hull thickness; anchoring rights; jib size; curing mast vibration; time taken for boat tasks; survival rations; and a lot more: open it up and get lost in the sage advice and witty wisdom that will make you long for the sea. ''The perfect, practical gift to give or receive.'' (The Ensign). ''...reads like a lively conversation with a friendly, seasoned pro.'' (Lakeland Boating).