Notes: • First American edition. • Stated "First edition" on the copyright page. • 17 colour photographs after p. 81. • 40 black-and-white photos; nos. 1-28 after p. 50; nos. 29-40 after p. 146. • "With color and black-and-white photos by Mike Wilson" on the title page. • Contents: Acknowledgments, List of Illustrations, 23 chapters, Photographic Note. • The first six chapters are reprinted in the collection Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (1999) under the same titles: "Capricorn to Cancer", "Keeping House in Colombo", "The Reefcombers' Derby", "Rest Houses, Catamarans and Sharks", "The First Wreck" and "A Clear Run to the South Pole". • The endpapers are illustrated in white and blue. On the left: sea, palms, dinghy. On the right: a map of Ceylon showing many of the reefs and cities mentioned in the text. • The back of the dustjacket has photos and short biographies of Arthur and Mike. The photo of Arthur is credited to Erich Hartmann, the one of Mike is uncredited.