I am sitting on my boat in the Panama jungle because of reading one single book: The Cabin Boys of Bontekoe. This book changed my life.
It's based on the real voyage as written by Captain Bontekoe in his journal. They recently made a movie too (with English subtitles). I don't know if the book is published in English. The original Dutch title is "De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe".
see:
De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Willem Ysbrandtsz. Bontekoe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
cheers,
Nick.