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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: grumbler on December 26, 2013, 02:43:08 PM

Title: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: grumbler on December 26, 2013, 02:43:08 PM
I got a copy of John Trimmer's How to Avoid Huge Ships for Christmas (see http://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/dp/0870334336/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top (http://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/dp/0870334336/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)).  At first, I was astonished; why would my girlfriend give this to me for Christmas?  Then I realized that she must have thought it said "huge shits" because we had an incident a few months ago... well, anyway, it doesn't matter.

You'd think to yourself that there is no way a paperback book is worth $253.38 ($129.06 if you are willing to accept a used copy in fair condition, but I don't recommend that), but you'd be wrong.  Just read the readers' reviews for this magnificent book and you'll see why.  Five stars from me.

Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: garbon on December 26, 2013, 02:46:30 PM
Spam? :unsure:
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: grumbler on December 26, 2013, 02:49:08 PM
Quote from: garbon on December 26, 2013, 02:46:30 PM
Spam? :unsure:
You don't know whether your Christmas present is Spam?  I'd say you have more issues than I do.
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: derspiess on December 26, 2013, 03:02:59 PM
No Kindle version??  Anyway it's good to know you can get over $6 out of it if you decide to trade it in.
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: Berkut on December 26, 2013, 03:53:38 PM
One of the best of its kind, it really set the standard for these kinds of "How To" narratives.


Could one learn how to avoid Huge Ships for less? Probably, but why would you want to?
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: Jacob on December 26, 2013, 09:14:47 PM
945 reviews.

This one convinced me that there might be something to it:
QuoteThis book really is one of the best huge ship avoidance references I've come across, not just for the effective methods it teaches as to avoiding huge ships, but also for exploding some of the huge ship avoidance myths that many of us take for granted.

For example:
- Do not charge the huge ship at full speed in an attempt to scare it off. This may work with coyotes, but it is less effective with huge ships.
- Similarly, do not roll your boat over and play dead. Unless the huge ship is captained by a grizzly bear, this will not work.
- Do not attempt to go under the huge ship. This is typically not successful.
- Do not attempt to jump over the huge ship.

Captain Trimmer presents a rather novel technique for avoiding huge ships - move your boat out of the path of the huge ship. I know what you're thinking, this goes against conventional wisdom, but Trimmer presents significant empirical evidence to support his theory. Indeed, over the long run, moving out of the way will dramatically decrease the number of huge ship collisions you will have to endure in your daily life.
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: Monoriu on December 27, 2013, 01:10:44 AM
I lean toward the theory that this is a joke. 
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: alfred russel on December 27, 2013, 11:03:30 AM
JFK never read this book.
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: Ed Anger on December 27, 2013, 11:11:55 AM
Quote from: alfred russel on December 27, 2013, 11:03:30 AM
JFK never read this book.

:lol:
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: DGuller on December 27, 2013, 11:29:01 AM
Quote from: alfred russel on December 27, 2013, 11:03:30 AM
JFK never read this book.
:XD:
Title: Re: Expensive, but worth it!
Post by: merithyn on December 27, 2013, 11:51:15 AM
You people are cruel! :mad:

QuoteLarge beamed, please!
By Altair Voyager on January 6, 2011
Format: Paperback

I am a huge ship. Imagine having an entire book devoted toward actively avoiding you and your kind. I have always been bigger than other ships - and yes, I have endured years of being moared in the distance, never being able to enter the shallower bays, requiring tugs to guide me in - but now THIS! Mr. Trimmer, you sir, should be ashamed! Please do not be swayed by his drivel. I ask that you judge me not by the size of my cargo hatch but rather the content of my wheelhouse.