Book Review: A short history of seafaring by Brian Lavery

This book does what it says on the tin: give a short history of seafaring. It's broken down into age, such as:

1. The first ocean sailors
2. The age of exploration
3. etc.

and then within each section are a couple of pages of topics within that age, such as (for the first):

• Exploring the Pacific
• Seafaring in the Mediterranean
• etc.

I'd be surprised if you know all about all these topics - I certainly learnt a lot. The bite sized approach means its a good book to dip into and put down. Sometimes it was frustrating that the page limit per topic resulted in missed details or limited the description to that from a single observer. Also, the maps  / charts for each ocean were slotted into specific ages but contained events from all ages which was a bit distracting.

But overall enjoyed it and would be happy to recommend it.