Online Only

For The Time Being: A Boatbuilder

Sunday, May 5
5:00pm — 6:00pm

On the heels of our wonderful Winter Ango, join the Village Zendo Book Club on May 5th at 5 pm to discuss Douglas Whynott’s poignant book A Unit of Water, A Unit of Time.

Andy Bonton of Abe Books wrote: “Joel White was a man of few words who tended to downplay his accomplishments, but they shine through in A Unit of Water, A Unit of Time. One Brooklin boat builder, describing the ‘soul’ of boats, could have been describing White: ‘Boats are live. They talk. The more poorly made boats talk more. The best-made boats don’t talk as much. They’re quiet–quiet soldiers, they call them.’ ”

According to Publisher’s Weekly: “Even readers with no special interest in boats are likely to be caught up in this elegant homage to Maine boatbuilder Joel White (son of E.B. White, and the “test pilot” for his father’s character Stuart Little), who pursued his obsession with the time-honored craft of designing wooden boats while battling cancer. Author Douglas Whynott made 17 trips to the Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine, where the meticulous Joel, his son Steve and a yard crew spent two years designing and building the W-76, a grand and graceful racing yacht. While Steve runs the yard, Joel–with a section of his lung removed and walking on crutches after a bone graft–undergoes chemotherapy and learns to walk again, enduring metastatic lung cancer with stoic fortitude.”

The VZ Book Club will meet online via the regular Village Zendo online link on Sunday, May 5 at 5 pm. All are welcome to attend.

For questions contact Doshin: chad.dechant@columbia.edu or ChoGaku: marjoriesmccoy@gmail.com.

The book is available in print and E-book. 320 pages

Join Online

Connect with Us

Join Village Zendo's newsletter to receive updates on events, workshops and retreats, and our monthly bulletin.

Thank you for subscribing!