Well, I'm slow, but thanks to a gift card present from my brother- and sister-in-law, I ordered Gerr's "The Nature of Boats".

I had thumbed through it in a bookstore before and had it on "the list" to buy, but it's wound up being much better even than I expected.

Gerr is justly famous for his designs and especially his writing regarding boat design and scantlings (The Elements of Boat Strength: For Builders, Designers, and Owners) and propellers (The Propeller Handbook: The Complete Reference for Choosing, Installing, and Understanding Boat Propellers).

After getting those two titles in here, along with the full "Nature of Boats" full title, I think he might should be famous for the length of his titles.

Anyway, after delving more deeply into Nature, I find that this is really the essentials of boat design, boat selection and boat knowledge all in one digestible volume. He covers various hull designs (sharpies, etc.), sail, power, scantlings, hydrodynamic calculations and all the things you need to know and a level deep enough to be useful, but not so deep as to need a rocket science degree. Its nice to see a nice overview that gives you the much of the "book" knowledge you need to analyze plans and designs without having to wade through many tomes.