I'm reading The Tug Book, second edition, by M.J. Gaston. I had been looking for a book that would outline the basics of vessel propulsion so I could do some catch-up. I interview so many smart and knowledgable people and get the feeling that I need to bone up on some fundamentals. Spending a few years in the Coast Guard dealing mostly with regulations and military procedure and protocol did not leave me with a good enough background in vessel engineering to converse fluently (or even very close to it).
So I've been looking for a book just like this and am now about a third of the way through it. It's dense reading, but every word is valuable info. I picked up The Tug Book at the Pacific Maritime Expo in Seattle from Captain's Nautical Supplies booth. It's a pricey book, but well worth the cost if you need a thorough explanation of tug design, construction, propulsion, towing and deck equipment, and a primar on the various missions of different types of tugs.
Tugs make up a large part of MarineNews coverage, but now I'd like to find a similar kind of text for other types of vessels (offshore, passenger, etc.), as well as a good primar on the North American inland and coastal marine logistical system. I'm not sure if the latter exists outside of bits and pieces in academic and government studies.