Do Dolphins Ever Sleep? by Pierre-Yves and Sally Bely, Adlard Coles Nautical, £9.99
Why is the sea salty? Why don't rope strands untwist? Why do barnacles attach themselves to boats?
Who hasn't, on a long passage with little to do, found their mind wandering to ponder such mysteries of the sea?
Pierre-Yves Bely is an engineer who has worked with NASA and the Paris Observatory, and clearly has a mind which is never still. A passionate cruiser, he has made many crossings of both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and has used the time not just asking all these questions, but finding answers to them as well.
In fact there are 211 “questions and answers about ships, the sea and the sky” in this enthralling book: one of those ideal bunkside companions you can pick up and dip into anywhere - but be warned, you may find it hard to put down again.
The author's scientific background is evident in some of the answers, which delve more deeply than you might expect in a “miscellany” collection such as this. That will either be seen as a strength or a weakness, depending on the reader's point of view!
The author's wife Sally gets a joint credit because it was she who translated and adapted the book.
So do dolphins sleep? Why not read the book and find out? Once you've absorbed all the information between these covers, you'll find being at sea even more fascinating than before.
