Greg Stoll wrote on June17, 2005

Bolger's "Boats with an Open Mind" is a great read for
anyone interested in boat design or building. There
are 75 boats detailed, some of which have been built
and some which haven't. There is the typical
bolgeresque design with bent plywood as well as steel
and carvel planked boats.

While many of Bolger's designs are unorthodox, an
amazing amount of knowledge can be gleaned from
reading about designs in this book that one might not
otherwise be interested in. The level of detail in
the writing and the discussion of trade-offs inherent
in boat design gives the average boat nut valuable
insight into evaluating plans from any designer. A
must read for anyone contemplating building a boat.