"Capt. JG" wrote
Well, this is a newbie asking, so I don't like to get so complicated.

Thanks, this newbie appreciates forebearance. What I find is that I might
learn a few things that I can personally use from a typical sailing book,
but the bulk of it tends to be stuff that I can't find much use for
considering I do all my cruising on an inland river. For example, knowing
how to maintain optimum catenary on my anchor rode is not nearly as useful
to me, in my circumstances, as knowing how to hug the bank as a coal barge
goes by.