Books with author Jack Binder

This trilogy is definitely not a travel guide. And it’s not just a tale of travelling the world’s oceans and meeting people in faraway lands. It’s a series showing how to live a life filled with adventure and survive. Trilogy comprising: Sailors on Safari + Danger Awaits the Unwary + Moai Magic HomeAfter sailing our vessel the equal of three times around the world, we set off from Australia an accomplished team of explorers searching for the unusual and inspirational.The Four J’s ~ Jack, Judith, Jason, and Jerome had already lived ten years afloat, experiencing daily-life with a multitude of diverse societies. Always being the new family in the neighbourhood, we shared dinners, hosted sleepovers, swapped kids, and were invited to local events. To earn our keep during this decade of life afloat, we successfully completed internationally acclaimed amateur radio expeditions to mid-ocean ribbons of sand. A finely honed team at the peak of our sailing prowess, we set sail around the world on Voyages of Education seeking knowledge and adventure.In Book One – Sailors on Safari, we conquer the stormy Indian Ocean, nearly losing our ship and lives on a storm enraged Madagascar shore before arriving in strife-torn Tanzania. By good fortune, we survive to explore the slave island of Zanzibar and then land on our feet organising a four-wheel drive to explore magical East African game parks rich with Earth’s last collection of wild beasts. Seychelles next, finding Ol Joe, the Rarest Nut, before becoming entangled with Somalia fishermen, and nearly losing our mast. Then on to the Heart of Islam, encountering Red Sea gunships in a frightening middle of the night battle of wits.Includes excerpts from:Danger Awaits the Unwary – Book TWO of the FOUR J’s Trilogy

Four J's Around the World is a trilogy comprising: Sailors on Safari + Danger Awaits the Unwary + Moai Magic HomeThe great Marco Polo travelled without family, Stanley and Livingstone did the same, as did Columbus, Cortês, and the well-travelled Captain Cook. In this one respect, none of those men was as fortunate as we have been. For like them, we have travelled vast distances upon Earth, but of all we have seen of her beauty and treasures, we have been most fortunate to have shared them all with our children. We wonder if another family has ever sailed so far, or for so long. One boat, two sons, a mum and a dad, sailing thousands of miles across seas and oceans, touching more than a hundred countries. Together we accomplished so much aboard our precious Banyandah. When our boys were infants, our first voyage circumnavigated the islands bordering the Coral Sea, and a lifestyle evolved. Then during their early childhood, we meandered through Asia, exploring Indian Ocean countries on "Voyages of Education." Going to places to teach our children something about the diverse people, cultures, and lands of Earth. Following that, we set off to leisurely explore Japan and about every other island on both sides of the Pacific. Our sons' ages clicked into double digits doing that. And here in Europe, still aboard our fabulous floating home, both sons became teenagers; sharp, energetic, eager to take the lead with mum and dad only too pleased to let them test their wings.

Trilogy: Sailors on Safari + Danger Awaits the Unwary + Moai Magic HomeA comfortable breeze propelled Banyandah through a Disneyland of wondrous sights accompanied by a chorus of birds swopping in for a closer look at this stranger in their domain. On our left, a vertical curtain of grey rock erupted from an aquamarine sea to stretch towards a lofty peak. Down its smooth face slid a red-brown streak, darkened along its edge as if old blood from a wound in what could have been a sentinel guarding this strangely isolated patch of Earth. From this curtain of grey rock reaching towards the sky ran a ridge of spikey stones forming what we imagined to be the arm of the giant pointing across the vast sea. Except, where the sentinel's hand should have been ended in a cascade of rubble. On the edge of the world's largest ocean, in the wet never-never once again, uncharted mysteries lay ahead. We had survived many, and instead of cowering from them, we thirst for more, confident we can tackle the most challenging. With that foremost in our thoughts, we plotted a voyage home touching the ultimate attractions where mysteries still abound. Now a formidable team, we'd pit the finely hone spirit of the Four J's to discover what lay at the end of the oceans.

Jack and Jude are an extraordinary couple who have worked side by side since exchanging vows more than fifty years ago. These sixteen short-stories explore the lives of these two explorers bonded by their love of adventure and knowledge, beginning with their African Honeymoon in 1969. Five months overland from England to South Africa in a derelict VW van, braving the beautiful and desolate Sahara, and escaping to a war-ravaged Nigeria followed by Simba Rebels in the Congo, nursing their worn-out vehicle until it collapses into a swayback pile of junk in East Africa! Oh My! Run the clock forward several decades and there are many more adventures from a couple who know how to stay together giving excellent advice to all wanting to achieve magnificent feats. Failed Again, a story highlighting our indomitable spirit of never giving up in a cute reminisce from childhood days. Running Scared is the frame by frame danger in our lives when undertaking expeditions to mid-ocean sand patches, which financed our lifestyle. Cannons boomed and frightened men dived for shelter in the South China Sea, a hotspot. Years later, on a black night approaching Madagascar, with our teenage sons on board, an error of judgement puts death within a heartbeat. The Dead Don’t Cry. Read the full book for a treat that can be spread lusciously over a few weeks, even if ravenous.

Jack and Jude are an extraordinary couple who have worked side by side since exchanging vows over fifty years ago. These sixteen short-stories explore the lives of two explorers deeply in love searching for adventure and knowledge, beginning with their African Honeymoon in 1969. Five months overland from England to South Africa in a derelict VW van, braving the beautiful and desolate Sahara, war-ravaged Nigeria and Congo, nursing their worn-out vehicle until it collapses into a swayback pile of junk. Having shared a tightly bound life for so many years, this couple knows how to stay together and they give excellent advice to all wanting to achieve magnificent feats. Failed Again highlights their indomitable spirit of never giving up in a cute reminisce from childhood days. Running Scared illustrates the danger in their lives when undertaking expeditions to mid-ocean sand patches that financed their lifestyle. Cannons boomed and frightened men dived for shelter in the South China Sea, a hotspot. On a black night in Madagascar, with their teenage sons on board, an error of judgement puts death within seconds, requiring rapid action in their most frightening experience. Retold with heart rendering anguish in The Dead Don’t Cry. Adding further dimensions to lives well lived is hard to believe stories from their mature years in the same vessel they home built in their youth. The Call of the Coral Sea, Sea Gypsies Once Again.Readers’ comments ~I love that it is raw, real, and the reflections are from all four of you. I love all the history of the places you have visited… some I have never heard of. I have learnt so much history from this book.I love the descriptions of the geography; they make me feel like I’m there in person. I love the passion for ‘mother earth’ that you have and the protective fear that we are losing this treasure with overpopulation and pollution. And I just love that you call Jude, my lady. That makes my heart melt.The way you combine personal anecdote with history and local politics creates vivid word portraits that stay in the mind. It adds depth to the experiences you describe and your interactions with the local populace. At Easter Island, you painted a vivid portrait of that mysterious, powerful, lost culture and then in a masterful stroke, aligned that well-known story of a lost civilization to the perils we face today. It brought the current situation into stark focus. One of my favourite paragraphs in this book. “The one truth is the wonder, majesty, and power of Earth and creation of life. Humans are unique for a reason, and it’s not to dominate but to find harmony and balance within the creation so we can become one with its secrets. Perhaps then we’ll attain the higher knowledge needed to understand the why? To reach universal nirvana, we need to tolerate each individual’s religious explanations and together worship Earth as tangible evidence of a force far more significant than our mortal souls. When we do that, we’ll understand the how and why.”