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There is something for anyone with a pet in this paperback, from which are the best seagoing pets to, yes, toilet training a cat to use the head instead of a litter box. Boarding ramps and dinghy access are well covered, as is first aid and even life jackets, harnesses or booties for paws on board.

Taking pets to foreign ports can be a tricky proposition and Jessie includes useful chapters on quarantine regulations and finding veterinary care abroad. And if you've ever wondered how you would handle your precious pooch or kitty in either a pet-overboard or abandon-ship situation, read on for some excellent advice.

As the chapters in this reference underscore, bringing a pet with you on a seagoing voyage involves as many important considerations as if you were bringing another person along. Their essential needs must be met for food, medicine, a place to sleep, grooming and safety--plenty to think about and plan for.

The Founding Fish By John McPhee Farrar, Straus and Giroux

In his undergraduate years at Princeton in the 1950s, John McPhee became a regular contestant on the radio and TV quiz program, "Twenty Questions" where he developed the natural curiosity about all things "animal, mineral and vegetable" that has become his trademark during 40-plus years of writing reams of magazine articles and 26 non-fiction books.

McPhee is possibly best known for his explorations in earth history and geology which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for Annals of the Former World. Yet he's also delved into topics ranging from nuclear energy to, simply, oranges, as a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1965.

Whatever the subject, McPhee examines the "animal" category within it--the people and, in this case, the fish--via a brand of prose portraiture that is all his own. The Founding Fish is no exception. Here McPhee weaves the natural history of the American shad around its human past as a staple of the early colonies--hence the book's title. He intersperses interviews, often on fishing trips, with the biologists, fishery managers and anglers he's come to know though his own obsession with shad fishing and the species itself.

The American shad is a species of herring found in the Atlantic from Florida to Labrador. It's an anadromous fish that returns by the millions each spring to freshwater rivers to spawn. A bony, oily and relatively small fish--a roe-laden female over four pounds is a whopper--the shad is nonetheless a traditional delicacy for the table as well as coveted quarry for a certain breed of sport angler.

One biologist McPhee profiles calls the shad "the Olympic fish" and indeed, in the De]aware River watershed, spawners have been found as much as 400 miles from the sea. The book operas on the Delaware with McPhee and two friends fishing the run in a boat near Lambertville, NJ, one April day, enduring an epic two-and-a-half-hour battle with a large female.

Two earlier McPhee books that should appeal to . Magazine readers include The Survival of the Bark Canoe (1975) and Looking for a Ship (1990).

The Ship By Simon Baker Hydra Publishing

Fans of the popular History Channel series by the same name will want to savor a copy of this companion book, which is more than a handsome "coffee table" volume, but just as beautiful. The Ship refers to Endeavor and both the TV series and this book follow two intriguing journeys, one in this century and the other in 1770. In 2001, an exact replica of Capt. James Cook's famous square-rigger was launched with a modern crew to retrace the most perilous leg of his historic voyage of discovery from Australia to Indonesia. A film crew documented the new Endeavor's trip for the television series.

This book, authored by the show's producer, Baker, who crewed on the ship its well, actually goes a step further and includes 130 color photographs, plus historical maps, charts, drawings and diary excerpts of the trip that opened up the South Pacific to European interests and put Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia and New Zealand on the map, literally. Cook essentially began his trip as an expedition to observe an eclipse and ended up searching for the elusive Great Southern Continent. In three epic voyages, Cook charted the most unknown part of the world, the Pacific, one-fourth of the Earth's surface, a nautical feat perhaps unmatched by anyone.

There is an interesting dual perspective in reading the shipboard diaries of the 21st century crew, compared with the original crew diaries and those of Cook himself as they were sailing into the unknown. Talk about time travel.

Wayward Sailor By Anthony Dalton McGraw Hill

Anyone who's read any of the 16 enormously entertaining--and allegedly autobiographical-books by Tristan Jones and wondered who is this crazy, salty character and how can one sailor's life encompass so many extraordinary, off the charts adventures, must read this biography. Bottom line: Tristan Jones, whose tall tales told of dragging a sailboat over the Andes to setting nine sailing records, was not who we thought he was.

Jones, who died in 1995, lived large and clearly on the edge, but was wildly entertaining even as his legions of loyal readers doubted he could have done hall the things he claimed aboard the famous little sloop Sea Dart, and later aboard other boats. But Dalton's detective work does not diminish his mystique. In fact, by virtue of examining all of the flamboyant stories Jones told about himself, the author brings us closer to the real man: born Arthur Jones in Liverpool, deflating the self-propagated myth of being bona aboard a British freighter off the remote island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, he is just as fascinating. Dalton painstakingly documents his transformation into Tristan, a renowned author, adventurer and raconteur, who offered his fans escapism. But three years of interviews and fact checking for this book show that Tristan Jones was the one doing the escaping.

Treacherous Waters: Stories of Sailors in the Clutch of the Sea By Tom Lochhaas International Marine

What reading list would be complete without white-knuckle tales of mariners battling for their lives against the tortuous forces of Nature? Collected from the best wanting of this kind over the last 40 years, Lochhaas gathers up maritime adventures on polar ice caps to tropical hurricanes, Cape Hora and tragedy-laced sailboat races.

Among the stories is one from . member Marlin Bree, a former editor with the Minneapolis Star, who survived a "perfect storm" in 1999 on the Great Lakes and published his own book in 2001, Wake of the Green Storm; A Survivor's Tale. Bree was caught in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area storm on Lake Superior in his 20-foot sailboat Persistence where winds reached 115 mph. His wooden boat suffered rips, gashes and leaks during the ordeal, called the "green storm" because of the eerie color of the sky.

For those who want a taste of disaster in small bites, this anthology also includes excerpts from Rob Mundle's Fatal Storm, Jim Carrier's The Ship and the Storm, Tami Oldham Ashcroft's Red Sky in Mourning and Webb Chiles' The Open Boat, plus 15 others. You can read them in the safety of your easy chair but you may want to wear a life jacket.

Dead Men Tapping: The End of the Heather Lynne II By Kate Yeomans Publishing House

Modern day disasters continue to fascinate us and former Offshore magazine writer Kate Yeomans--herself an integral pan of the Newburyport, MA, fishing community--spent six years researching this bizarre accident off the coast of Cape Ann, MA, in September 1996. A tugboat towing a 272-foot barge ran down the fishing vessel Heather Lynne II. Although an air pocket in the hull kept the wreckage afloat for some 90 minutes and the three fishermen trapped inside continuously shouted and tapped from within in a desperate effort to be rescued, ii carne too late.

Jumping ahead four years, the story shifts to a federal lawsuit filed by the victims' families and weaves together witness testimony on the tragedy and conflicting accounts as to why the men were not saved. Commercial flashing is one of the most dangerous lines of work in the . and this story of ordinary people going about their jobs gives the reader a unique insight into a dangerous world where accidents do happen but don't always need to end in loss of life.

Scuba Diver's Travel Companion By Jeremy Agnew The Globe Pequot Press

For scuba divers heading co an exotic foreign island to explore an unfamiliar coral reef, what should they know before arriving to make the trip hassle-free and safe? What's your "divability"? Are the dive site and local facilities appropriate to your skill and experience level?

In such a technical and equipment-intensive sport such as scuba diving, these are important considerations, especially when you consider the cost of booking a dive vacation. This extremely handy paperback is more than a scuba diving handbook or a travel guide--it combines both.

While scuba diving used to be just for the hardiest of souls, tremendous advances in the quality and safety of the breathing apparatus has opened up diving to just about anyone who takes the time for formal training and certification. A big part of the allure is the chance to travel to dive sites around the world.

Based on his 18 years of dive and travel experience, Agnew sets out to help divers match the best diving destinations to their skill level, including sites in the Great Lakes, Florida, Central America, the Caribbean, Indian and Pacific oceans. Rather than relying on travel ads of brochures, it's helpful to read the recommendations of one who's "been there and done that." Equally important is what equipment to bring and how to pack it, as well as airlines rips, particularly now with baggage and security restrictions. When spending thousands of dollars for your dream vacation--a land-based resort package or a livaboard dive boat--you sure don't want to be out of your depth.

Also Recommended:

Cathedral of the World By Myron Arras The Globe Pequot Press

Myron Arms' by-line should be familiar to readers of Sail, Cruising World and the many other boating publications in which he has chronicled his experiences as a small boat sailor as well as his observations on the sailing life.

Now, in this slim collection of essays, which he subtitles "Sailing Notes for a Blue Planet" Arms offers up deeper reflections gleaned more than 40 years and well over 100,000 miles under sail.

CHAPMAN Piloting & Seamanship 64th edition By Elbert "Mack" Maloney Hearst Books/Sterling

Written by our own . National Advisory Council Chairman Emeritus, the boating world's most respected reference is completely updated with new charts, photographs and illustrations. This essential guide for both power and sailboaters is 272 pages longer than the previous edition and designed to be more user friendly. This is the must have book that has it all.

Galley .. Cookbook By Corinne C. Kanter Sailco Press

A veteran cruiser shares her 25 years of galley secrets, her "Keep It Simple System" for provisioning, stowing, preserving and of course, cooking all types of foods on board, from sourdough bread to mango chutney. This is a newly updated edition, with 645 recipes, of one of the most popular cruising cookbooks afloat. And you thought you couldn't use a pressure cooker ...

Fantastic Discounts & Deals for Anyone Over 50 By Janet Groene Cold Spring Press

Longtime boating writers and cruisers Janet and Gordon Groene have figured out how to save money se just about anything by taking advantage of "senior" discounts--but you have to Know who offers them and how to ask for them For those over the big 5-0, hundreds of discounts can be had for everything from airfares, hotels, restaurants and parks to banking, sports and classes.

For Kids:

Imagine You're a Pirate By Meg and Lucy Clibbon Annick Press

Fun for ages 3-6 with lots of funny and entertaining information about the wicked world or pirates, and activities from creating treasure maps to putting messages in bottles.

Henry The Sailor Cat By Mary Calhoun, illustrated by Erick Ingraham Mulberry Books

A sure-pawed and curious Siamese eat sneaks aboard for a day sail and ends up saving the day when a storm comes up. Beautifully illustrated.