
Sailing Alone
A Surprising History of Isolation and Survival at Sea
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Narrated by:
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William Hope
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By:
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Richard J. King
About this listen
“A masterfully curated collection...You don’t have to be a sailor to be blown away by this fascinating, bighearted book.”
—Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea, Travels with George, and Second Wind
A story as vast and exhilarating as the open ocean itself, SAILING ALONE chronicles the daring, disastrous, and often absurd history of those who chose to sail across the ocean, in very small boats, alone.
Sailing by yourself, out of sight of land, can be invigorating and terrifying, compelling and tedious - and sometimes all of the above in one morning. But it is also a wide expanse of time in which to think. Sailing Alone tells the story of some of the remarkable people who, over the last four centuries, have spent weeks and months, moving slowly over the world's largest laboratory: a capricious and startling place in which to observe oneself, the weather, the stars, and countless sea creatures, from the tiniest to the most massive and threatening.
Richard J. King profiles characters famous, diverse, international, and obscure, from Joshua Slocum of 1898 to modern teenagers daring to take the challenge. They see strange hallucinations, lie to us (and themselves) on their travel logs, encounter sharks, befriend birds, and experience ESP, all part of the unnerving reality of extended isolation. And some disappear altogether. Sailing Alone also recounts the author's own nearly catastrophic solo crossing of the Atlantic, and the mystery of his inexplicable survival one sunny afternoon.
An enormously engaging new book for skippers and armchair voyagers alike.©2024 Richard J. King (P)2024 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews
“Sailing Alone is a beacon, a lighthouse of luminance for the experienced and inexperienced alike. Richard King’s insightful reflections on the stories of lone voyagers make this required reading for all who dream fervently of such voyages. A nuanced study in aspiration, endurance, terror, and triumph, it’s a treasure.”—Jon Wilson, Founder, WoodenBoat
"Richard King is a superb and gifted writer, and Sailing Alone is an exceptional book. Into his account of his own singlehanded ocean crossing, he has woven a rare and compelling history of the real explorers, the extraordinary ‘ordinary’ people—men, women, and even children—who took off alone, in tiny, often crude boats, and found what we are all searching for. Here is the real story of what it’s like to be alone at sea. A real achievement that will provide inexhaustible re-reading, Sailing Alone belongs on the very small shelf of the true classics of the sea."—Peter Nichols, author of Sea Change and A Voyage for Madmen
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Overtime
- Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football
- By: John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past year, John U. Bacon has received unprecedented access to Jim Harbaugh’s University of Michigan football team: coaches, players, and staffers, in closed-door meetings, locker rooms, meals, and classes. Overtime captures this storied program at the crossroads, as the sport’s winningest team battles to reclaim its former glory. But what if the price of success today comes at the cost of your soul? Do you pay it, or compete without compromising?
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Good story.... but
- By Amazon Customer on 10-07-19
By: John U. Bacon
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A Wilder Shore
- The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson
- By: Camille Peri
- Narrated by: Jeanette Illidge
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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He was an ambitious but drifting writer from a prominent Scottish family. She was a tough Nevada silver miner’s wife, with children, when they met. Who could have predicted that Fanny Van de Grift and Robert Louis Stevenson would go on to create one of history’s great literary marriages? From their first encounter in France in 1876, Fanny and Louis’s partnership transcended societal expectations to become a literary union that was progressive, eccentric, and tempestuous, but always animated by a profound mutual respect
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Fairly interesting
- By Luke on 10-25-24
By: Camille Peri
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Leave Only Footprints
- My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park
- By: Conor Knighton
- Narrated by: Conor Knighton
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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When Conor Knighton set off to explore America's "best idea", he worried the whole thing could end up being his worst idea. A broken engagement and a broken heart had left him longing for a change of scenery, but the plan he'd cooked up in response had gone a bit overboard in that department: Over the course of a single year, Knighton would visit every national park in the country, from Acadia to Zion.
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25% National Parks, 75% Author’s history
- By Ronald Hoye on 05-22-20
By: Conor Knighton
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Running Man
- A Memoir
- By: Charlie Engle
- Narrated by: Charlie Engle
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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After a decade-long addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol, Charlie Engle hit bottom with a near-fatal six-day binge that ended in a hail of bullets. As Engle got sober, he turned to running, which became his lifeline, his pastime, and his salvation. He began with marathons, and when marathons weren't far enough he began to take on ultramarathons, races that went for 35, 50, and sometimes hundreds of miles, traveling to some of the most unforgiving places on earth to race.
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Fantastic, But One Tiiiiny Thing--
- By Gillian on 11-09-16
By: Charlie Engle
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Into the Storm
- Two Ships, a Deadly Hurricane, and an Epic Battle for Survival
- By: Tristram Korten
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In late September 2015, Hurricane Joaquin swept past the Bahamas and swallowed a pair of cargo vessels in its destructive path: El Faro, a 790-foot American behemoth with a crew of 33, and the Minouche, a 230-foot freighter with a dozen sailors aboard. From the parallel stories of these ships and their final journeys, Tristram Korten weaves a remarkable tale of two veteran sea captains from very different worlds, the harrowing ordeals of their desperate crews, and the Coast Guard’s extraordinary battle against a storm that defied prediction.
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Just average
- By Rickmeister on 03-13-20
By: Tristram Korten
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My Roman History
- A Memoir
- By: Alizah Holstein
- Narrated by: Alizah Holstein
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From the time she first felt called to its gates as a high school student fascinated by Dante and Italian thanks to a life-changing teacher, Rome has been a fixed star around which Alizah Holstein’s life has rotated—despite the fact that she bears no Italian heritage, and has never lived there long enough to call it home. In this kaleidoscopic yet intimate memoir, her shifting relationship to a vibrant city layered with human history becomes a lens on why we look to the past, on the mysteries of affinity and desire, and on what it means to grow up.
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The long road to finding your calling
- By Cath on 12-15-24
By: Alizah Holstein
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The Emerald Mile
- The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon
- By: Kevin Fedarko
- Narrated by: Kevin Fedarko
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spring of 1983, massive flooding along the length of the Colorado River confronted a team of engineers at the Glen Canyon Dam with an unprecedented emergency that may have resulted in the most catastrophic dam failure in history. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named “The Emerald Mile” at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd, but downright suicidal.
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How is this not a hit thriller film?!
- By Theo, Asheville NC on 07-07-24
By: Kevin Fedarko
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Twilight Man
- Love and Ruin in the Shadows of Hollywood and the Clark Empire
- By: Liz Brown
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Liz Brown
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The unbelievable true story of Harrison Post - the enigmatic lover of one of the richest men in 1920s Hollywood - and the battle for a family fortune.
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Butte amateur historian
- By Josh M. Peck on 09-30-21
By: Liz Brown
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Lee Miller
- A Life
- By: Carolyn Burke
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Carolyn Burke reveals Miller as a multifaceted woman: both model and photographer, muse and reporter, sexual adventurer and mother, and, in later years, gourmet cook - the last of the many dramatic transformations she underwent during her lifetime. A sleek blond bombshell, Miller was part of a glamorous circle in New York and Paris in the 1920s and 1930s as a leading Vogue model, close to Edward Steichen, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Cocteau, and Pablo Picasso. Then, during World War II, she became a war correspondent - one of the first women to do so.
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A Unique and Beautiful Person
- By Cindy A. Ossias on 03-21-24
By: Carolyn Burke
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It Starts with One
- The Legend and Legacy of Linkin Park
- By: Jason Lipshutz
- Narrated by: Jason Lipshutz, James Fouhey, Helen Laser
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Linkin Park is one of the 21st Century’s biggest, and most important, rock bands. All it takes is one quick glance at the numbers—11 Top 40 hits on the Hot 100 and six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, over a dozen massive tours, 27 major award wins, 100+ million records sold worldwide, over 30 million monthly Spotify listeners—to realize that when it comes to the metrics of music consumption and fandom, there’s no bigger group in recent memory. And yet, despite their enduring legacy within rock, there’s never been a full, comprehensive biography of Linkin Park—until now.
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Enjoyed hearing Linkin Parks Story
- By Daniel Pappalardo on 10-03-24
By: Jason Lipshutz
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Lab Girl
- A Memoir
- By: Hope Jahren
- Narrated by: Hope Jahren
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she's studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book might have been a revelatory treatise on plant life. Lab Girl is that, but it is also so much more. Because in it, Jahren also shares with us her inspiring life story, in prose that takes your breath away.
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A paradigm-shifting perspective on plant life
- By Elizabeth on 05-20-16
By: Hope Jahren
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Nothing's Bad Luck
- The Lives of Warren Zevon
- By: C. M. Kushins
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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As is the case with so many musicians, the life of Warren Zevon was blessed with talent and opportunity yet also beset by tragedy and setbacks. Raised mostly by his mother with an occasional cameo from his gangster father, Warren had an affinity and talent for music at an early age. After an impromptu performance in the right place at the right time, a record deal landed on the lap of a teenager who was eager to set out on his own and make a name for himself. But of course, where fame is concerned, things are never quite so simple.
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Great Content ......but
- By Art Lover on 06-26-19
By: C. M. Kushins
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The Man from the Future
- The Visionary Life of John von Neumann
- By: Ananyo Bhattacharya
- Narrated by: Nicholas Camm
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Nuclear weapons and self-replicating spacecrafts. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable, yet largely overlooked, man: John von Neumann.
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Good book, very odd narration
- By Ben Wiener on 04-10-22
Excellent book and narration
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A synopsis of several better books perhaps.
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Enjoyable and informative
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