Written from the point of view of a grown man looking back on his childhood, and reflecting on what the experience of learning to sail taught him about the lessons of life, First You Have to Row a Little Boat has the makings of an inspirational classic. With each brief chapter telling the story of a young man's initiation to adulthood, the bay on which he sails becomes a universe of sorts, teaching him new lessons about making choices, adapting to change, and becoming his own person with every journey he takes.
Filled with the spiritual wisdom and thought-provoking discoveries that marked such books as Walden, The Prophet, and the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, First You Have to Row a Little Boat is a wondrous and magical book that will enchant both sailors and non-sailors alike, but most of all, anyone who seeks large truths in small things.
"It is not only remindful of those joys of childhood that are part of all our memories, but it is evocative of those serious thoughts we carried with us and that were so essential a part of what we each became. For a sailor, of course, it is pure joy, bubbling forth from every page."
WALTER CRONKITE "A thought-provoking book that is a delight to read and share with friends."
CHATTANOOGA NEWS-FREE PRESS
"Illuminating."
SAILING MAGAZINE
"Inspirational... Bode uses his great love of sailing as a metaphor for the tides of life."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"It is not often that a book comes along with the insight that causes one to stop and contemplate his own substance.... Bode has done with the sailboat what Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance does with the motorcycle.... He has given us his insights of life."
COMMONWEALTH JOURNAL
