The task was not only difficult, but almost impossible: nominating the most important books about sailing. But now it's done. Volker Christmann, the literary pope from Wiesbaden, has chosen his favourites after weeks of searching and presents them to you in a separate booklet.
The problem with determining the 100 most important books is the lack of an objective criterion. One person favours a travel story by Wilfried Erdmann, the next gets lost in an illustrated book by Beken of Cowes, the third only picks up the book when he is looking for practical technical tips - the dilemma lies in comparing the incomparable. However, expert Christmann has done this brilliantly.
The man has the largest sailing library in Europe ( www.yachtsportarchiv.de/bibliografie.htm ) with over 10,000 copies. He developed a guiding criterion for his selection: What has the book done for sailing or the sailor, what has it achieved? And he limited himself to one work per author and dispensed with designer biographies and travelogues. He then set about presenting the top 100 in short form. The result is an unprecedented book, a unique review of the most important works of sailing literature.
Christmann presents colossal albums about yacht construction that are almost impossible to lift. Others are as light as a feather and no bigger than some stamps. These include bestsellers as well as exotic 50-edition books that were once printed for private use. 2-euro books and 7,500-euro treasures. In short: reading about books is just as exciting as the books themselves.
