If ever a book would make you happy not to be an 18th-century sailor, this is it. Starvation, scurvy, terrifying seas and storms, terrifying fellow sailors. It doesn’t sound great. The book, however, is great. It’s a rollicking work of narrative non-fiction, and the story seems too incredible to be true. As one bad thing happens after another, you think “things can’t possible get worse”—and then they do. The end of the story also doesn’t go where you expect it to, so it’s an exciting read from start to finish.

Further reading…