Jonathan Gornall is an award-winning freelance journalist, formerly with The Times, who has lived and worked in the Middle East and is now based in the UK. He has twice attempted to row across the Atlantic. On the first occasion he almost lost his mind, on the second his life, and now he's done with all that. His next adventure will be a four-mile circumnavigation of Horsey Island in the Walton Backwaters, which he will attempt with his daughter, Phoebe, when she turns five.
`Refreshingly down-to-earth...one can't help admiring the
combination of craftsmanship and ambition' * Times Literary
Supplement *
'This book tells the inspiring story of how even the least skilled
of us can make something wonderful if we invest enough time and
love.' * Daily Mail *
'Both the book, and place, are magical.' * Sunday Telegraph *
'When Jonathan Gornall decided to build a boat for his daughter, he
had no experience and no practical skills. What followed was a very
real labour of love.' * The Scotsman *
'In an age of instant everything, this is a charming book about
handcrafting something that does not arrive in a cardboard box and
snap together. It is a story about taming impatience, facing fears,
and softening skepticism. With love as a motivation, each of us may
undertake things that seem impossible.' -- Tori Murden McClure,
author of A Pearl in the Storm, President of Spalding University,
and the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean
'There are few sailing books that a sailor could recommend to
anyone, but How to Build a Boat is one of them, a
first-person narrative about boatbuilding and fatherhood...moving,
funny and perceptive...it is Gornall's biggest achievement to turn
a detailed description of building a timber dinghy into a real
page-turner.' * Classic Boat *
'The inspiring story of how even the least skilled of us can make
something wonderful if we invest enough time and love.' * Irish
Daily Mail *
'Beautifully documents the year [journalist Jonathan Gornall] spent
building a wooden boat for his young daughter...Owning almost no
tools and having no woodworking skills, Gornall, living on
England's eastern coast, gave himself a crash course...[His] prose
is amusing, personal, and informative...[He] acknowledges he has
`created a vessel of a father's love, a gift to inspire his
daughter.' The very same can be said of his book, a testament to
hard work and a soft heart.' * Publishers Weekly *
'An utterly captivating, richly poetic account of building a
traditional wooden boat for the first time - and a paean to the
awesome responsibility and reward of fatherhood.' -- Matthew P.
Murphy, Editor * WoodenBoat magazine *
'This rich, beautifully crafted book is funny, heart-warming and
stuffed to the gunwales with fascinating information. Jonathan
Gornall's quest to build a sailing boat navigates the crosscurrents
of his life story - the challenges of fatherhood, his difficult
relationship with his mother, his lifelong love of the sea. It's a
compelling narrative that sweeps us along as Gornall battles his
demons while simultaneously tackling the tough physical challenges
of building a vessel from scratch.' -- Benedict Tufnell, Editor *
Row360 magazine *
'Being a parent, a sailor and an occasional DIYer, I know that boat
building, like fatherhood, is not for the faint of heart. Packed
with details, both historical and personal, How to Build a
Boat wonderfully captures the tensions, the tightrope walk
between reward and dismay. In the end, I wanted to cheer: the boat
floats and a daughter's adventures can begin.' -- Mark Pillsbury,
Editor * Cruising World *
'Engrossing...Gornall's prose is buoyant and watertight and his
book shipshape.' * Kirkus Reviews *
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