Paddle Your Own Canoe: An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Canoeing

This is a spectacular book. I bought it to help my partner learn canoeing more quickly, and to refresh my own knowledge. The book logically but in a flowing way covers all the bases, richly supplemented by 600 some pictures all in color. The authors kindly provided sequences of 4-6 pictures, sometimes more, depicting their actually doing what the words are saying. It makes it much easier to envision just what it is they are trying communicate by way of canoeing skills. Then, many of the photos are simply beautiful taken at many times of day, all clearly showing the reader just WHY it is such a joy to canoe. The primary author appears to be the woman of this couple. In any case, the writing is flowing, is clear and concise, but also covers all the canoeing terminology. I've found it hard to put down, and have learned quite a bit. And their pictures of canoeing in Ontario has me in awe of the crystal clear green water they are on. My own highest recommendation both as a how-to book on canoeing, but also as a picture boat of canoeing. I'm just regret that I'll never learn of the two authors' adventures in their highly adventurous 20-some years as a couple.

I should probably start off by saying that this is in no way Amazon nor the people I bought it from’s fault, just mine. That being said, it seems I bought the wrong book. Having meant to buy Paddle your own Canoe by Nick Offerman, I was understandably shocked when this book arrived instead. For the canoer, I would suspect this book would be very interesting and helpful, but to me it makes me remember my mistakes. I am going to give it five stars purely because someone went through the trouble writing an illustrated guide that is 200+ pages long solely on “The Art of Canoeing”. I understand I could have returned it but instead I found a better thing to do. Since im not a canoer, I find a lot of this hilarious, like the dedication “To the canoe, for the places it takes us and the joy it brings.”, so I will read it and make notes of what I think deserves to be in a book of its own. Nonetheless, if you like canoeing, get this book, it is in depth and I have never seen a more detailed guide to how to paddle a canoe.

This is a good instructive book with good text and how to regarding canoeing. In some aspects it can get a little wordy but that is the authors' style of prose and many folks like that, so that's fine. I was looking more for, and got the impression this book, was more about solo paddling, and while this book addresses that topic, there is very little regarding it. Wish the title and description would have been more accurate. Still, it's a good book, instructive and enjoyable to read.

Person who received it as gift said it had more details and clearer instructions than other books he has read. Was veryhappy with it.

Loads of information for every level of paddled. Well written and easy for a novice to understand. Deep enough for a level 4 paddled to gain some knowledge from. Even has some knit tying and use information

Great photos and very well done.

This book has tons and tons of gold information. Well written to keep it interesting.

Having always considered "The Path of the Paddle" as the last word in canoeing books, I was too cheap to buy Gary and Joannie's book as I considered it to be superfluous at best. Having received it as a Christmas gift this year, I can humbly say I was wrong. There is no book that will get you safely on the water and having fun faster than this one. Every aspect of recreational paddling is covered, right down to outfitting your whitewater playboat. The photos are clear and the angles and sequences leave you nothing to want for, save time spent on the water (although the photos of Gary and Joannie look just a little bit too happy, eh?) The only thing I can say in the minus category is that I am not a personal fan of the leaned forward, aggressive style of modern paddling and that is obviously where they are coming from. It's good to know how to lean forward and plant your paddle while using your body to draw the boat hard to the placement. When I need to accelerate rapidly, that is the best way. But for me, canoeing is more about relaxing and getting there with style and grace, and for that purpose, nothing says it like old-fashioned Canadian freestyle (i.e. Bill Mason and Omer Stringer). That difference aside, I think this book is a stellar achievement and deserves a place alongside "The Path of the Paddle" on the bookshelf.

Nice book with lots of nice photos and clear instructions on technique. The book makes clear that to learn to use a canoe, practice, and not just theory, is needed. Very glad I got this book prior to buying a canoe, and although I have experience of canoeing over the years, some techniques described in this book are new to me, and give me a different way of looking at paddling.Just need to put the theory into practice now!! Good book, especially for novice or relatively new paddlers.

Nice pictures and explanations of the various canoeing strikes and manoeuvres. Bargain price for second hand book in good condition. Worth getting.

An impressive (both visually and in terms of textual content) exposition to the subject.Easy to follow but also full of detail and explanations. Highly recommended.

Great Canoing book

Just full of great techniques!