The best of this crop of titles was Steve Hall & Bruce Beveridge’s book Titanic and Olympic, The Truth Behind the Conspiracy. The author’s made use of the latest photographic enhancement techniques to examine original photographs of Olympic and Titanic and came up with an amazing number of examples detailing just how different these supposedly identical sister ships really were. The rivet counters amongst us went nuts.

But the book appealed to the casual reader as well, as the author’s used this information to finally put to rest beyond any reasonable doubt that there was ever a conspiracy to switch Olympic with Titanic. With popular interest in the switch theory so high, it is important to have a book that finally tells the other side of the story.

It was for the clever blend of these two elements that I awarded this book my Titanic Book of the Year Award© for 2004.

Another book to break new ground with original research was Mark Chirnside’s history of the Olympic trio, The Olympic Class Ships: Olympic, Titanic, Britannic. Several previous author’s have attempted to tell the story of the three sisters, but few have done it as well as Chirnside. Plus he has uncovered some fascinating technical details about this class of ships. Some of my passenger focused friends groused about “all that mechanical drivel”, but rivet counters once again had a field day. I personally felt there was a pleasant balance between the technical and the historical aspects of the book.

Not content with just one new title, the vagaries of the publishing industry saw Chirnside’s second book, a biography of the Olympic, published within a month of his first book. This one was called RMS Olympic, Titanic’s Sister. As of the posting of this article, I have yet to receive my copy, but I fully expect it to be as fact filled a work as the Olympic Class was.

One disappointment was Dr. Robert Ballard & Michael Sweeney’s book, Return to Titanic. Advance previews promised hard evidence that visits to the wreck were causing it serious harm but the book did not deliver much in the way of proof. The amount of new wreck photography was also in short supply. However, there were still a few gems to be found within, particularly the new photo mosaic of the bow and the most complete map of the wreck and debris field ever made available.

Collector Günter Bäbler self-published a facsimile reprint of an original first class passenger list under the title R.M.S. Titanic First Class Passenger List. This turned out to be a professional, attractive booklet as true to the original as could be managed, even down to the tipped-in special notice and the placement of the staples.

Diana Hargreaves edited a book called Every Light was Shining. The Loss of the White Star Liner, Titanic. It covered the sinking of the Titanic as reported in 1912 in the pages of the local newspaper the Hampshire Chronicle. Every article is reproduced from the originals, detailing how the disaster affected the area and its people.

Captain L. Marmaduke Collins came out with a revised and somewhat expanded edition of his soft cover 2002 book, The Sinking of the Titanic, An Ice Pilot’s Perspective. The expanded edition was called The Sinking of the Titanic, the Mystery Solved and included roughly 8 to 10% new material as well as several new photographic plates. Another bonus was the hardcover binding.

Finally, Tom Hedberg also released a revised version of his fold-out booklet, the Titanic Reference Map. It included both revised and new material as well.

This perennial favorite topic came up with two titles this year. Stephanie Barczewski’s book, Titanic, A Night Remembered, explores how the disaster was perceived in 1912 by the public and the press in Great Britain and the United States. She then compares and contrasts how these same topics are viewed today.

Tim Bergfelder & Sarah Street co-edited The Titanic in Myth and Memory. Representations in Visual and Literary Culture. The book is made up of a series of essays by various writers, mostly university professors. It is a scholarly work, and includes both the best and worst of this kind of writing. On the one hand, there are quite a number of interesting topics covered, as diverse as a chapter on Enzensberger’s epic Titanic poem; several articles on early Titanic films including Atlantic, and the Nazi propaganda movie, not to mention eight articles on Cameron’s masterpiece. On the other hand some of the writing is so dense you almost need x-ray glasses to make sense of them.

It has been a few years since this aspect of the story was examined. Eileen Grimes’ book Titanic Astrology. The Grand Design of a Famous Shipwreck, explores the disaster from her perspective as a professional astrologer. True believers will likely be awed, and skeptics will probably remain unimpressed.

In the nonfiction arena there was Michael Burgan’s book, Titanic. The text covers very basic information about the ship, the disaster and the discovery of the wreck, combined with lots of illustrations.

Tim O’Shei wrote 101 Things You Need to Know about the Titanic, which is apparently a compilation of Titanic facts and trivia.

In fiction, my favorite book for kids was White Star. A Dog on the Titanic, by Marty Crisp. It tells the story of a fictional Irish Setter who joins the dozen or so dogs that really were on Titanic.

Another gem was a book printed by a small publisher in Northern Ireland called Samson’s Titanic Journey by Lauren Graham. It tells the story of a mouse who takes the maiden voyage. The artwork by Roisin Mathews is a highlight, with delightful illustrations.

Dick King-Smith wrote Just Binnie, about a young girl determined to keep her siblings together after their parents are lost in the shipwreck

Rounding out this section is a book by Leonard Mlodinow & Matt Costello called Titanic Cat. This is one of a number of titles in the Kids of Einstein Elementary series. It combines fact and fiction along with six mathematical puzzles.

D.E. Bristow’s novel, Titanic Calling, was originally released in 1985 in an edited form under the title Captain’s Karma. This new version is how the author originally intended it to be written.

Amanda Grange wrote a book called Titanic Affair. I don’t have much information about this one, but it is apparently a romance novel.

Elizabeth LaCroix-Wagaman’s book, She Was Deemed, is about the author’s impressions of the disaster and how James Cameron’s movie affected her.

Anne Robins wrote A Perfect Stranger. It appears to be another romance novel, this one about a dancer traveling in steerage.

Peter Davies-Garner’s much anticipated book RMS Titanic, A Modeler’s Guide was originally due out in June. Unfortunately it was delayed until sometime in 2005. The author built a 20 foot replica, and this book explains how he did it with many tips for other model makers.

Per Kristian Sebak’s book, Titanic’s Predecessor: The SS Norge Disaster of 1904, recounts the wreck of this Norwegian steamer.

Randy Bryan Bigham’s book, Finding Dorothy, should be out in January. It is a biography of the actress who survived the disaster, Dorothy Gibson Brulatour. The “book” is actually a package enclosing a soft cover book in magazine format, a CD-ROM of select images and two reproduction art prints, suitable for framing.

D. Brian Anderson’s book, The Titanic in Print and on Screen, An Annotated Guide, promises to be a survey of the topic in all forms of media. According to the publisher, the book includes Titanic-inspired documentaries, narrative films, children’s books, histories, short stories, novels, plays, articles, essays, software, web sites, poems and songs. It is due out in May.