We used to holiday on the English canals, and there we got to know the name of Thomas Telford, engineer of Pontcyssylte Aqueduct, Menai Bridge, etc. etc. and stood in wonder of his work. And the author L.T.C. Rolt (with this book about life on the canals in the 1950's on his boat Cressy) was one of the people responsible for the renewed interest and eventual rescue and restoration of the English canal system - a person also very much admired by us. So I could not pass this biography by, and I read it with great interest - but without a prior interest in Telford, I guess the book would have been very hard going. ( )