Peter Nichols has put together a great little book on the 1969 Golden Globe race to be the first man to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe without stopping in any ports along the way. "A Voyage for Madmen" gives a great overview of the race and varying personalities involved -- from professional maritime men to vagabond sailors to one contestant who didn't even learn to sail until he was on his way. Only one person completed the race.

I've read other accounts of the race (including the excellent "The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst" and Moitessier's "The Long Way") which are fantastic accounts themselves and perhaps slightly more enjoyable.

Nichols' book excels in by providing a good description of everyone in the race. He is more interested in the technical differences between the competitors' boats and their tactics for dealing with the Roaring Forties than providing particularly deep character studies. However, it's a nice overview of the race and the people involved and makes for a compelling read.

Nichols' A Voyage for Madmen chronicles a 1968 journey around the world by boat. Nine men depart from England but only one succeeds. Putting aside the general adventure of a race like this one, I was particularly intrigued by the motivations of these men. For the most part, they have nothing more than an uncontrollable impulse to go. But once they start sailing down the Atlantic, the reality of their decision--the danger and the loneliness--hits each sailor differently. They are left with themselves. I worry that this is how we make many decisions.

The recent film ‘The Mercy’, about Donald Crowhurst and the act of deception in the 1968 Golden Globe race that drove him to madness, encouraged me to seek out this book. Though Nichols is obviously fascinated by Crowhurst’s story - the chapter on Crowhurst’s final hours is as emotionally shattering as anything I’ve read - he is assiduous in his account of the other eight competitors. Writing with a lifetime’s experience of sailing behind him, he conjures the hardships and the elements vividly; his ability to explicate nautical technicalities for the non-seaman is commendable. ‘A Voyage for Madmen’ is vigorously researched, shot through with an intuitive psychological understanding of its protagonists (some of them heroic, some tragic, some quixotic), and told with the pace and urgency of a thriller.

A brilliant and beguiling story. A colourful cast, and an introduction into the intrepid world of southern ocean sailing!

A very captivating story! I really enjoyed this retelling of a 1968 round-the-world singlehanded boat race, even though I have no nautical background. Great escape reading!

Exhilarating read - bravo!

Great story, I've read it twice.

Oh my goodness! What an adventure around the world! The sailor in me loves this book! The only thing I did not like was the ebook version had many crooked pages with slants which made it hard for the eyes.

This is the true story of the incident packed Sunday Times Golden Globe race to be the first person to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and singlehanded.

Nichols has a gift of a subject with strong characters facing life or death situations. He uses his sailing knowledge enough to explain what happened but does not go so much into sailing jargon that non sailors would be put off.

Generally he concentrates on each of the sailors in turn as they plot their courses round the world and face up to the inadequacies of their chosen yachts.

I read this over the course of a few days because it was a gripping story and so well written.

Incredible story well told.

I enjoyed reading this book but being fairly familiar with the story of the famous Golden Globe race after reading the individual books from or about Crowhurst, Moitessier and Knox-Johnson I found some parts of the book not that interesting anymore as much the story telling came from parts of these earlier books. If you completely new to the topic, you will likely enjoy this book as it is well written and a fascinating story about truly extraordinary men. If you did read the other books already....you will find out a bit more about some of the not so well known participants in the race and their mostly untold story.

Fascinating account of sailing globe circumnavigation challenge back in the day before all the modern GPS systems, etc. Must have been quite challenging for them.