According to one of the most popular reviews for the subject book, the most interesting thing about it is the fact that it will take only a couple of hours for the attentive reader to assemble his or her own Uqbar boat and get her prepared to be glued – of course, provided that all instructions given by the author, have been duly followed.

Actually, one can get armed with a pencil and drill plus just some very basic tools, to be able to start making a boat. Apart from the valuable instructions and practical tips, the publication is full of the informative images and explanations of the various construction methods to the beginner boatbuilder’s benefit.

Another interesting thing is that the author managed to prove the effectiveness of the stitch-and-glue technique when applied to the construction of this particular boat type, and the Uqbar is definitely among the popular ones. These boats have been in wide use by the people for a long time, either as the yacht tenders or even primary craft.

All the basic steps have been details and made easy to follow even for the newcomers, so one can start reading the book in the morning and commence his own boat building project same evening. Make a try and you will succeed.

Geologists now obtain close estimates of the age of rocks by measuring their radioactivity. Naturally occurring radioactive elements, such as uranium, change at a measurable rate into other elements, such as lead. By measuring the proportions of different forms of lead, scientists can tell about how much time has passed since a rock was formed. Using such methods, geologists have radically changed our ideas about the age of the planet.

Even the ten million years that it took to carve the Grand Canyon is but the most recent moment of geologic history. The earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago when frozen particles and gases circling a new yellow star were brought together by mutual gravitational attraction. Heated by compression and radioactivity, this material formed a molten sphere.

The heaviest components, mostly iron and nickel, sank to the center and became the earth's core. Lighter minerals formed a thick, molten mantle, while minerals rich in aluminum, silicon, magnesium, and other light elements cooled and solidified into a thin, rocky crust./span>

The surface of the young planet was an inhospitable place. Molten rock (magma) erupted everywhere through fissures and volcanoes, expelling the gases and water vapor that formed the early, oxygen less atmosphere. As the surface cooled, rain condensed and fell in torrents, and the first oceans began to form.

The earth was devoid of life for perhaps its first billion years. Eventually, out of a mixture of complex carbon-chain chemicals, the first self-replicating molecules appeared in the ocean, perhaps in the muck of some shallow lagoon. Over millions of years these primitive organisms grew more complex and varied, first as single-celled bacteria like forms, later as microscopic protozoa and algae. Some grew in the form of colonies, which over further millions of years evolved into more complex organisms. As photosynthetic single-celled plants, which used carbon dioxide and gave off oxygen, became more abundant, their waste oxygen became a major constituent of the atmosphere.

Few traces of this early life survive, however. Although plant remains and impressions of primitive organisms can be found, it was about 4 billion years before animal life became abundant enough (and developed body parts durable enough) to leave significant numbers of fossils. This early, fossil-poor period, comprising most of the time since the earth formed, is commonly known as the Precambrian era.

The last 600 million years of earth's history comprise the time of abundant life. The first fish appeared about 500 million years ago in the early Palaeozoic era, followed by the first land plants, amphibians, and reptiles. The Mesozoic (220 to 65 million years ago) was the era of the dinosaurs, early mammals, and primitive birds. And the Cenozoic era embraces the time from the extinction of dinosaurs through the recent ice ages to the present.

Here on the right you can see a cross section of Earth illustrating the core; mantle and crust. The enlarged position shows the relationship between the lithosphere, composed of the continental crust, oceanic crust and upper mantle and the underlying asthenosphere and lower mantle.

And on the left, have a look at the cross section of Earth showing the various layers and their average density. The crust is divided into a continental and oceanic portion. Continental crust is 20 to 70 km thick, oceanic crust is 5 to 10 km thick.

The content of the present publication is mainly aimed at the professionals of the shipbuilding industry, including ship designers, who are willing to improve their knowledge of the subject and to know more about one of the most critical problems of shipbuilding, namely corrosion of the ship hull metal when submerged into the sea water.

The decades of the practical experience found their reflection in this excellent volume encompassing the major areas concerned. For the easier understanding of the material, same is arranged in eight sections, first one being introductory and containing general information. Among the metal materials covered by the authors there are steels, including iron, carbon and stainless steels, and alloys, including copper, nickel, aluminum and titanium alloys.

The closing section of the publication is entirely devoted to the problem of galvanic corrosion which definitely deserves attention – here you will find the useful information that will help you to avoid this sort of corrosion. The title belongs to the series of EFC, standing for the European Federation of Corrosion, publications and the texts shall be read by anyone in the business of shipbuilding.

This is quite a rare publication – the very first release of the Alain Colas’ story of the voyage around the planed he undertook back in 1978 on board his seventy-foot craft by the name of Minerva, a trimaran one. The text of the volume is truly fascinating as the author is sharing his own experience and his thoughts in the pages of this brilliant volume.

There are numerous images that have been included by the author to supplement the narrative part of his book. Note that the author is the winner of the world famous and traditional Transatlantic Race which he had won back in 1972 before making preparations for this voyage. It is not only about the victory – he also set a world record! Straight after that, the decision was made to undertake a thirty-thousand mile passage with the only stop in the Sydney city of Australia.

The subject voyage took him almost one hundred and seventy days, each of them being interesting enough to be told about in a book. Should you have some free time, have a sit with this book, read it and enjoy. The publication is aimed at anyone in love for the sea and sailing, adventures and bravery – you will find enough of that in this book so do not delay and start tonight – you will like it.

Let us have some talk about the offshore exploration of the hydrocarbons, i.e. oil and gas, in general. We are so happy to introduce the series of articles shedding some light on this interesting subject.

The readers will get to know so much more about the basic geology for a start, and after that we will start diving deeper and deeper in the drilling equipment and technology, from the very beginnings and up to such modern types as directional drilling. All systems and machinery pieces on board rigs will be explained in detailed, with the supporting images and videos, whenever required.

Spend some time reading these articles and make sure you have checked all of them, and we promise that you will see that your knowledge and understanding of the drilling technology and associated equipment and techniques has sufficiently expanded.

In the petroleum industry, which finds and recovers oil and gas from deep within the earth's crust, geology is fundamental. Petroleum occurs mostly in isolated, hard-to-find accumulations. The scientific study of the earth's history and its life, especially as recorded in the rocks of the crust, reduces the risk of drilling dry holes and lowers the cost of production by helping determine the most efficient way of drilling a well.

Knowledge of geology increases the total supply of petroleum by helping recover more of the resource in place. Petroleum geologists are most concerned with rocks formed in the earth's surface by processes closely associated with both climate and life. The way these rocks are created and changed, as well as how oil and gas form and accumulate in them, are the principal concern of the petroleum geologist. For a thorough understanding of these processes, it is necessary to look back in time-first, to the beginning of the modern science of geology; then, to the beginning of the earth itself.

Ancient geologists believed that the earth had been created all at once, complete with all its mountains, canyons, and oceans, in a single great cataclysm. In the 1700s, though, scientists began to understand that familiar natural processes, such as the accumulation and erosion of sediment, and "minor" cataclysms, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, could account for all the features of the earth's crust-given enough time. Thus the doctrine of catastrophism was eventually supplanted by the theory of gradualism or uniformitarianism meaning, as Scottish geologist James Hutton put it two centuries ago, that "the present is the key to the past."

This concept of gradual change is central to modern geology. Today's geologists know that the Grand Canyon is the work of a powerful erosive agent, the Colorado River, over some ten million years, as you can see on the picture; that the Himalayas and the Sierra Nevada are growing loftier by a fraction of an inch each year, and have been doing so for millions of years; that Africa and America are moving away from each other about as fast as a fingernail grows.

The main idea and intention of the authors of this brilliant title was to set out all necessary knowledge as well as the established methods and most workable techniques to be applied by the mariners willing to avoid getting in the risky situations with their anchor handling tug ships, or AHTS for short, when performing their day to day activities.

The forces acting on the ship hull during the routine operations have been analyzed, and capabilities of the vessels discussed in detail together with the relevant shipboard equipment. There are worked real life case studies included by the author in order to better illustrate the hazards experienced in the course of the anchor handling and towing operations.

Mainly aimed at the masters of the AHTS vessels and their crew members, the volume will be equally useful for the rig movers, tow masters and other specialists, including even the shore support personnel. The information is presented in a professional way, very understandable and concise, and the contents will be easily understandable for the mariners at all levels of skill and experience. It is definitely a must read book for all those intending to participate in the anchor handling and/or towing activities.

For any lover of sea and sailing there can be nothing better and more pleasant on a nice and sunny summer day to sit watching the sailing boats passing by. This always creates a sort of enthusiasm in such people, making them feel engaged and even willing to undertake a voyage on a sailboat.

The author of this volume adopted a perfectly understandable and detailed step-by-step approach to presenting the material in order to make same easier to follow by the readers. Go through the contents of the publication carefully and you will get to know everything you need to know about the essential principles of sailing, and note that the material covers all types and sizes of boats.

Virtually all important aspects of boat sailing have been addressed including the rigging and mooring the boat, how to launch you boat, how to handle the spinnaker. Some necessary information about the buoyage system has been provided. The narrative part is richly supplemented with the data diagrams all prepared by the well experienced master, and they are presented in such a simple manner that understanding will not be a problem for any boater. We do recommend this title to all boat sailors not matter where the future voyages are planned to take place.

This volume would be recommended to the people with deep interest in designing yachts and boats. It should not actually be looked at as the technical manual or textbook. The publication rather contains the nautical autobiography written by the very experienced and professional designer of the yachts.

It is a sort of easy reading for the people whose life is somehow connected with the design of the ships, boats, and yachts. They will definitely appreciate the content of this volume since it provides not only the technical details and information that can be found in the other similar titles, but also the personal experience shared by the author, and this is something very difficult to find. The practical experience of the author covers different kinds of cruising boats.

He also addresses the main reasons for selecting the particular boat design and gives numerous valuable suggestions and tips that would be interesting to both the beginner and the professional ship and boat designer. Moreover, there are so many informative sketches and photographs which, together with the other technical information, will make this title a perfect choice for all those following the traditional design of the yachts.