Recommended Reading for Seafarers and Those Wishing to Know More About the Sea

After a very successful career in the Navy, in retirement Admiral Stavridis has become a successful author, commentator, and educator. In The Sailor’s Bookshelf, he has selected 50 books that offer valuable insights into the sea, maritime life, and naval history, grouped into four broad categories: “The Oceans”, “Explorers”, “Sailors in Fiction”, and “Sailors in Non-Fiction.”

A few titles will give the reader some idea of the breadth of his selection: Atlas of Remote Islands, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Sea Power: A Naval History, Watch Officer’s Guide, Captain Cook: Master of the Seas, Kon-Tiki, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Moby Dick, The Cruel Sea, Empires of the Sea, The Battle of Salamis, Two Years Before the Mast, and many more.

For each book, Stavridis includes a very brief summary, often woven with reminiscences of his time in the Navy, to help the reader understand why he chose the work, and what lessons can be learned from it. He also almost always mentions one or two additional books on a similar theme, for further reading.

One may quibble with Stavridis’ selections; why not include The Sand Pebbles, certainly a great novel of sailors and ships. But overall, his choices are excellent, and The Sailor’s Bookshelf, a volume in the Naval Institute’s “Blue & Gold Professional Library”, is a valuable resource for the layman or the sailor who wants to know more about the ways of the sea.

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Note: The Sailor’s Book Shelf is also available in several e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

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