# Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor by Paul Lutus

3 Hacker News commenters recommended Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor by Paul Lutus and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a vivid snapshot of the sailing world in the eighties and a fantastic read. Critics find the first chapter self-congratulatory and poorly written.

## Why people recommend it

- Snapshot of eighties sailing world (1 comments): "Another snapshot of the sailing world, in the eighties." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50003567))
- Fantastic read, remembered for years (1 comments): "I read this many years ago, it is fantastic." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49258256))

## What people warn about

- First chapter self-congratulatory and poorly written (1 comments): "The first chapter was so simultaneously self-congratulatory and also poorly written that I just gave up." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50006194))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams](https://hackerapproved.com/p/careless-people.md): 106 recommend
- [Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl](https://hackerapproved.com/p/man-s-search-for-meaning.md): 13 recommend
- [Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/surely-you-re-joking-mr-feynman.md): 11 recommend
- [Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/down-and-out-in-paris-and-london.md): 9 recommend
- [Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kitchen-confidential.md): 9 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1435710274?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781435710276) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor by Paul Lutus", https://hackerapproved.com/p/confessions-of-a-long-distance-sailor/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).