| | Narrow Boat |  | Author: L.t.c. Rolt
Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £6.95
Buy Used: £5.99
You Save: £0.96 (14%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 839638
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 214
ISBN: 0413220001
EAN: 9780413220004
ASIN: 0413220001
Publication Date: December 1944
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: 1978 reprint. Hardback with unclipped D/J. Minor edge wear to D/J. Water stain to page side edges, the text pages however remain very clean. Dispatch next working day.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Classic that improves with age June 23, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This wonderful book, beautifully written, has been an inspiration to many with an interest in canals. The author, Tom Rolt, captured the imagination of the public when it was first published in 1944 and without this book and its influence, it may be that much more of our canal system, which was facing dereliction at that time, would have been lost forever. Tom takes us on a four hundred mile canal trip and brings to us a whole way of life of the commercial boaters that was about to die. It is beautifully written and now, over 60 years after first publication, has attained the status of an historic classic. Tom was a brave pioneer in choosing to start his married life on the canals with his young bride, Angela, at the outbreak of World War 2. Read the book and tell me if it does not inspire your interest in our canal legacy. First editions now fetch around 100, so treat yourself to a bargain! Tom, who died in 1974, aged 64, had strong views about how modern life was damaging our heritage, and some of his opinions are raised in this book. Nevertheless, it was that concern which was in a large part his inspiration to make his journey and a life on the canals. Without that we would not have been rewarded with this masterpiece, which amazingly was his first published work.
 A fascinating, if dated, portrait of times gone by May 10, 2002
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
A unique first-hand account of a journey through some of Britain's countryside and towns by canal at the end of the 1930's, painting a vivid picture of a bygone world in a thought-provoking way. The writing style and Rolt's strongly voiced opinions will be a problem for some - remember this was Rolt's first book. Even he describes it as "maybe too nostalgic" in his splendid autobiography, The Landscape Trilogy, which shows Rolt's observant eye and mature prose style at their very best.
A book that changed the world. March 6, 2002
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
It really is a classic. If you are looking for a history of British canals, this is not the book for you. But as an elegy for a world we have lost (the book was written in the summer and autumn of 1939) it cannot be beaten. It should be read in the same spirit as 'Lark Rise to Candleford'. On publication, after the war, it was greeted with huge enthusiasm, as people remembered what tey had been fighting for. As a consequence of it's publication, the Inland Waterways Association was formed, which has managed to transform British canals. If you enjoy the canals, as boater, walker or historian, this is the book that more than any other stopped them from being filled in the sixties. And it is at least arguable that Rolt's writings were highly influential on the early days of the self sufficiency movement, and so, ultimately, Green politics. And it is beautifully written.
One mans passion - pleasure for millions September 22, 1999
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Considered by many to be a "classic" its prose does not perhaps justify the title. The author and the tale he tells in this book however do!The tales he tells are of course dated, but if you have a soul and have cruised the same waterways as he does aboard "Cressy" you cannot help but find yourself aboard with him! Anyone who enjoys the canals today owes a debt of gratitude to Rolt, whatever may have transpired in latter years when the IWA became a hive of politics. Without him (and yes, more like him who have perhaps gone unsung) our canals would not be here today.
 Over-rated and out of date with no historical significance August 22, 1999
5 out of 28 found this review helpful
I purchased this book to enable me to appreciate the people and machines that worked our inland waterways. The book is well written for its time but sadly needs updating, not simply by its information but edited to remove the author's opinions. It is a good read though compared to the amateurish attempts to write anything on a our canal heritage which exists at present. This book should be purchased on the understanding that: 1. The narrow boat press seems to embrace it as the "bible of all information on teh waterways"..which it is NOT. 2. No one else has written a more up to date version!This book reminds me very much of the old chap we meet in the pub who insists on telling you of his exploits "in the war"...Very much a book for someone who enjoys the ramblings and moans of a time lost long ago.
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