WHETHER WE’RE OUT on the water or nestled in our homes, we enjoy dreaming about great getaway places and planning our next voyages. The Summer Book Club 2020 is officially titled “Adventures from your Couch,” because you can kick back in your living room, curl up with these eight gorgeous coffee table books and let your imagination soar. Each one is filled with spectacular photos that will inspire you to explore the wonders of the world.
World’s Best Sailboats
By Ferenc Máté
The boat of your dreams will likely be found in this iconic book about sailboats. It delivers more than 400 dazzling photos of those graceful vessels, taken by highly regarded nautical photographers. A veritable encyclopedia of sailing, it highlights the boats’ design and construction through interviews with those who create and build them, and hail from Finland and California and places in between.
Beaches
By Gray Malin
Imagine experiencing the height of summer from the air, with photographs of the world’s most beautiful beaches taken from helicopters without doors. Malin flew over 20 cities on six continents to capture the essence of beaches from East Hampton, NY, to Sydney, Australia. He blends his adventurer lifestyle with travel tips, so you know when to go and the best ways to get there.
The Last Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan
A collaboration between The Day and Mystic Seaport
In 2014, the Mystic Seaport Museum scored a maritime coup when it took the last remaining wooden whaleship in the world back to sea. The restoration lasted five years and resulted in the Charles W. Morgan sailing her 38th voyage to ports throughout New England. Its mission was to raise awareness of our nation’s maritime heritage and promote ocean conservation. This book chronicles her incredible journey.
Les Dîners de Cala
Illustrated and compiled by Salvador and Gala Dali
At the turn of the 20th century, Salvador Dali and his wife Gala were known for legendary dinner parties, and in 1935 they compiled 136 of their favorite recipes from famous Paris restaurants into a cookbook. The book is replete with exotic flavors and even has a section on aphrodisia. Better yet, Dali’s drawings illustrate it.
National Geographic’s 100 Dives of a Lifetime: The World’s Ultimate Underwater Destinations
By Carrie Miller
Strap on your flippers and take the plunge into a comprehensive guide to the planet’s spectacular bodies of water. Whether you’re certified to scuba or simply enjoy beautiful destinations beneath the waves, the book’s 100 locations are showcased with 350 stunning photographs that take you on an underwater journey from Mexican cenotes to Micronesian shipwrecks and icebergs in Antarctica.
Tales from the Captain’s Log
From the National Archives
If you could turn back time, what would you want to learn? How about maritime history through the eyes of those who made it. This book contains logs, diaries and letters from ship captains including Captain James Cook’s notes on finding the South Pacific and Australia to navy officers fighting piracy in the Caribbean or engaging in sea battles such as Trafalgar and the Battle of the Nile.
World’s Best Travel Experiences
By National Geographic
Hundreds of exquisite, oversized, full-color images display destinations from exotic countries and mountaintop villages to pristine lakes and ancient wonders. This love child of National Geographic’s globe-trotting contributors presents more than 400 destinations, including suggestions by the rich and famous such as Gore Vidal, Pico Iyer and Anna Quindlen, an award-winning author for the New York Times.
The Curious Map Book
By Ashley Baynton-Williams
For centuries, maps have brought order to the seeming chaos of the natural world. From the first time a human drew a line from point A to point B to today’s reliance on sophisticated GPS systems that help navigate our boats, cartography has guided our travels. This fascinating and colorful collection chronicles the history of maps used for discovering new lands, communicating political and religious agendas, and making strategic decisions during war.
