Two Years Before the Mast

Not quite the naval adventure I was expecting. The first part was actually interesting, and then we get mired in California and have to listen to a bunch of period-specific factoids about Californian people that I could do without. Dropped.

Mizzen! Jib! Top'sl! Stay'sl! Focsle! Reef'sl! Gallant'sl! Expect to hear those words over and over and over. The most valuable part of this book is historical, especially California in the 1840s, a completely alien place.

Fascinating view into life on a ship in 1830's, as well as a portrait of early California that anyone with a connection to the state would appreciate. This was my first book about sailing, not counting some Jules Verne stuff I read as a child, so I enjoyed learning about long-distance travel in the age of sail. Descriptions of life in the young coastal towns that Dana visited – San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey – were illuminating and, taking into account attitudes of the time, probably as balanced as one can expect.