Digging in the sand on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, three brothers come upon some kind of wooden relic there has been in that location for a 1000 years maybe. After a long dry period on this end of the Sea of Galilee, the shore has moved closer and closer to a smaller sea, thus going back thousands of years into the past. This object is something much larger than just a big tree that has fallen and the woood has survived hundreds of years instead of eroding to nothing as other organic objects would have done. They dig a large circle around the object so as not to damage a piece outside of the middle of this log. They know they have found a great discovery but they have o idea how great and they have only a short time until dark and if they leave it where they do someone else may come upon it and claim the find. They pats of it up again with a light cover of sand and agree to come back the next day early.

This book fashions an unusual and unexpected tie between a relatively minor archaeological discovery and the narratives of the New Testament gospels that focus so much on the geographical region around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus spent so much time around the Sea of Galilee. His most prominent disciples were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee when He called them to follow Him. Jesus Himself preached from one of their boats. He used the metaphor of fishing to encourage them into a new lifestyle that focused on reaching people with the good news of God;s kingdom. The boat referred to in the title is a fisherman's boat from the time of Christ that was somehow preserved in wet soil until its recent discovery. You will find the story of the boat and its ties to the time of Christ irresistible. This book has my highest recommendation. ( )

Fascinating story. The author gives a thorough account of two brothers' discovery of an ancient boat and their work to see it recovered and preserved. The photographs are abundant and intriguing. I felt like I was right there and I couldn't put the book down. The author provides plenty of historical and geographical context, so no prior knowledge of this area is necessary. I enjoy reading about archaeology that is related to Biblical times and this book is a wonderful addition to my collection. ( )

You cannot judge a book by its cover goes the ancient proverb and for "The Boat and the Sea of Galilee" the saying appears to be true. Nine and one-quarter inches wide by nine inches tall, this new printing of " The Boat and the Sea of Galilee" appears to be a pretty photography book with wonderful pictures of a two thousand year old wooden boat discovered in new found land exposed by severe drought in the area of the Sea of Galilee in 1986. The narratives for these picture books are usually just enough to tell a simple story explained in detail by the great photographs included. But the narrative for this book tells the story of two Israeli brothers coming upon a boat by accident and having to keep it secret until they can find a way to rescue the boat. They contacted friends they could trust who contacted others and amazingly picked the right people to uncover and save this two thousand year old boat. The rescue is told in vivid detail covering the many miracles that keep the rescue on track and away from those who would exploit this find for their own gain. As the boat is dug out of the ground, they must preserve the wood by wrapping the boat in a protective coating to keep the wood from decomposing. Only about 20 people known to Moshe and Yuval are involved in the recovery of the boat. The reader becomes an explorer with Moshe and Yuval and their friends. This is an amazing boat put together with 2000 year old nails that have not rusted in all that time. The boat with its protective covering is floated out into the Sea of Galilee where it had last sailed in the time of Jesus Christ.
The boat now goes into a conservation tank filled with a special fluid that must replace the water in the wood with this fluid. The members of the recovery team become known as the "Order of the Boat" people and this team of men and women remain together for the fourteen years that the boat remains in this special fluid. At last the boat is taken from the conservation tank to the Yigal Allon Center where it is on display today.
"The Boat and the Sea of Galilee" is just another picture book about an old boat like "The Old Man and the Sea" is just another book about an old man and a fish. ( )

I received this book from the LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. When I requested the book I thought it would be a paper back book along the lines of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ." It is in fact a wonderfully laid out, full color, hard back edition with beautiful photographs and illustrations.

The writing was translated from Hebrew, and that should be kept in mind while reading the book. A glossary would have been a nice edition for some of the cultural words we in the US are not familiar with.

The Boat and the Sea of Galilee is the story of two brothers who during a drought in Israel are exploring the newly receded shoreline and come across an old boat buried in the lake bed. The story unfolds as a scientific drama, sharing the personal insights and feeling of those doing the work of discovery and preservation. There has been no other find of it's kind any where. It's an interesting look into the historic find.

The book is very intriguing and a quick read. Although there are time the books makes jumps in chronology or ideas I think that is a cross-cultural issue, and maybe if there is ever an edition printed solely for the US market they can fix that. ( )