I've seen the ads for "How to Read a Nautical Chart" by Nigel Calder.
I've always mentally added (unfairly, as it turned out) "For Dummies".
The other day at my friendly boat store, I scanned a copy, and for
only $14.95, couldn't resist..

He does a good job in explaining the different earth models and how
they relate to nautical chart datums A bit dry for the casual reader maybe,
but grest stuff for those with a geodetic bent.
He goes on to to remind us that GPS is only
reliable 95% of the time...the remaiing 5% of the time can run you
aground courtsey of the autopilot. Learn why (and when) WGS 84
might not always be the best earth model to set the GPS to. He also talks
about different commercial chart plotter products. One more thing, the
scope of the book is international.

The book includes Chart 1, but in a different format. One thing I like is
that he sprinkles lots of sample charts throughout the book, pointing
out various features, examples and errors to be aware of. I, for one,
never realized the signicance of depth soundings and other chart
features in italics versus 'straight' text. But maybe I'm the 2% that didn't
get the word...

I think it's worth the money
Norm B