Watching the film 'Shadowlands', or seeing the play of the same name, gives you the impression that Lewis was remote and awkward around people.

Reading this fine youth biography shows you that underneath he had an innate sense of wonder that was stifled by his upbringing and work. It found an outlet in his books for children and camaraderie with the 'Inkspots'.

This is a revealing biography because it is written for young people. A suitable vehicle for finding out about the author of the Narnia Chronicles! I found it much less precious than other books on Lewis - probably because this was written by a fellow native Northern Irishman, rather than a fan.

It also wrecks several pompous academic careers by including a letter from Lewis to a young girl, explaining what each of the Narnia books is about.

Moving, heartwarming and fun.

This book is written by an academic. I don't necessarily mean this in a negative sense. The author has done a very thorough research on the topic and presented his findings. The effect is a book that can be called a comprehensive treatment as far as it can be done given that the practictioners are disappearing fast.
The downside is that it can send you to sleep as the author systematically compares how the navigational techniques are practiced in the various island groups.

The strength of the book is not only its thoroughness but also the fact that the author is a skilled sailor who has gone on trips using these techniques. This makes the material so much more authentic, because the reader can relate how effective these skills are and yet how much practice they require.

The author provides commentary on many practices and relates them to our modern day knowledge. An example was their ability to recognize the impact of sub surface currents, something that is today a rather specialist piece of knowledge not available to the everyday sailor.

Incredible book - how did people get to Hawaii, Tonga, and other pacific islands that are thousands of miles apart? Did they get lost? Did they get blown there by storms? Nooooooo - they could navigate over open ocean for thousands of miles by using art passed down from generation to generation. This book tells you how.

David Lewis has zig-zaged the Pacific in modern yachts and traditional canoes. His broad experience and long resarch, using his own and many schoolars data, has made this a good analysis and documentation of the extremly impressing and interesting phenomenon of ancient and present voyaging in the Pacific. Others, specially anthropologists fieldworking in the Central Carolines of Micronesia, had written about the presently used Micronesian voyaging system, others less throughly about the forgotten polynesian,but Lewis mangage to give a synthesis of the technologies and some of the social aspects of traditional voyaging in the Pacific