{"product_id":"the-blue-monk-david-emery-bricker-9780984300969","title":"The Blue Monk","description":"In 1983, when I was 18-years old, I encountered a com-mu-nity of eccen-tric sailors who lived in a secret anchor-age on the far side of the spoil islands a quarter-mile from Miami City Hall. What I found there inspired me and chal-lenged me to expand my per-spec-tives. Though the Dinner Key Anchorage was often dis-missed as a com-mu-nity of \"dere-licts, bums, winos and thieves,\" I found instead a group of artic-u-late, capa-ble, inno-v-a-tive, edu-cated, and highly skilled peo-ple who took me in and lit-er-ally 'taught me the ropes.' Many of them trav-eled the world, depend-ing on lit-tle but good for-tune and deter-mi-na-tion. At 23, while working on a jazz gui-tar degree, I bought an old 26-foot sail-boat and named her The Blue Monk after the tune by pianist, Thelonious Monk. Six months after grad-u-at-ing, I took off with $30 in my pocket for a series of adven-tures that took me through the Bahamas and even-tu-ally across the Atlantic to Gibraltar. On the sur-face, The Blue Monk is a mem-oir that recounts how I came to love sail-ing, joined a unique com-mu-nity of mis-un-der-stood peo-ple, and sailed away to enjoy a life of adven-ture. The book also pro-vides an account of a spe-cial slice of Miami his-tory that would oth-er-wise remain unrecorded. But The Blue Monk is not really about me; who wants to read a book by an author who can write about him-self for hun-dreds of pages? The Blue Monk is about some-thing much larger; I am but the nar-ra-tor. My expe-ri-ences sail-ing alone on a small boat were beau-ti-ful and some-times ter-ri-fy-ing. Often, they were an odd com-bi-na-tion of both. The Blue Monk tells of an encounter with a remark-able world that lies just beyond the hori-zon and deep within each of us. The Blue Monk is rich life experience translated into prose, a vehicle that transports the reader there and then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David Emery Bricker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0984300961\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780984300969\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Essential Absurdities Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/31\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 444\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.77lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.13d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e Independent Publisher Book Awards - Bronze Medal Winner","brand":"David Emery Bricker","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44120520982783,"sku":"9780984300969","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_191e1740-9d3e-4eea-9498-a9036b44c95f.jpg?v=1687414781","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-blue-monk-david-emery-bricker-9780984300969","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}