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David Churbuck

Goodreads Author

Born

in Boston, The United States

Website

https://churbuck.com

Genre

History, Nonfiction, Biography

Member Since

April 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/dchurbuck

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David Churbuck first learned about the wreck and rescue of the crew of the whaling ship Phoenix as a child from his great-great-grandfather’s memoirs, The Reminiscences of Captain Thomas Chatfield. This early exposure sparked a lifelong interest in maritime history, which he pursued as an American History major at Yale, where he was selected as a Scholar of the House.

At Yale, he wrote an unpublished novel about solo circumnavigation under the mentorship of the late John Hersey and legendary fiction editor Gordon Lish. His undergraduate research into the evolution of the New Haven Sharpie skiff from indigenous dugout canoes to the fast working boats preferred by Long Island Sound oystermen is preserved in the collection of the New Haven His David Churbuck first learned about the wreck and rescue of the crew of the whaling ship Phoenix as a child from his great-great-grandfather’s memoirs, The Reminiscences of Captain Thomas Chatfield. This early exposure sparked a lifelong interest in maritime history, which he pursued as an American History major at Yale, where he was selected as a Scholar of the House.

At Yale, he wrote an unpublished novel about solo circumnavigation under the mentorship of the late John Hersey and legendary fiction editor Gordon Lish. His undergraduate research into the evolution of the New Haven Sharpie skiff from indigenous dugout canoes to the fast working boats preferred by Long Island Sound oystermen is preserved in the collection of the New Haven Historical Society.

Churbuck is the author of The Book of Rowing (The Overlook Press, 1988, revised 2008), a comprehensive history of the sport of rowing and a practical guide to technique and training. In 2013, he was commissioned to write the privately published The Illustrated History of the Union Boat Club, chronicling one of the oldest rowing clubs in the United States.

Over the course of his journalism career Churbuck founded Forbes.com in 1995 and served as its first editor-in-chief, building it into one of the world's most successful business news websites. The 2003 film Shattered Glass tells the story of the Stephen Glass journalism fraud scandal, which was uncovered by Churbuck’s staff at Forbes.com in 1998.

As the Senior Technology Editor of Forbes Magazine, Churbuck won the National Association of Science Writers story of the year award for his prescient cover story about digital forgery, in which he learned how to forge his paycheck from the legendary conman Frank “Catch Me If You Can” Abagnale.

Following his journalism career, he served as McKinsey & Company’s first Chief Content Officer, and later as vice-president of digital marketing and social media at Lenovo, where he won accolades for developing the first athlete blogging/vlogging platform during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Churbuck has kept a blog at Churbuck.com since 2001, where he often publishes essays on the maritime history of Cape Cod. He is a longtime member and researcher at the Nantucket Historical Association, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and Mystic Seaport. He is also a frequent speaker and lecturer on the maritime history of Cape Cod.
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David Churbuck’s books

Average rating: 4.3 · 20 ratings · 0 reviews · 1 distinct work

The Book of Rowing

4.30 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2008

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* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

David is Currently Reading

David Churbuck is currently reading

The Late George Apley

by John P. Marquand

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Apr 29, 2026 12:12PM

David Churbuck is currently reading

The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777

by Rick Atkinson

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Sep 08, 2025 12:24PM

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The Complete Novels (Centaur Classics)

by Thomas Hardy

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Jul 22, 2018 07:03PM

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David’s Recent Updates

David Churbuck is now following John R. Bockstoce Author of Whales, Ice, and Men: The History of Whaling in...
Apr 29, 2026 12:38PM · like
David Churbuck is now following Nathaniel Philbrick Author of In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Wha...
Apr 29, 2026 12:34PM · like
David Churbuck is now following Eric Jay Dolin Author of Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of A...
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David Churbuck rated a book really liked it Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Listened to the audiobook on my daily walks. Very comprehensive and edifying. A great biography of one of America's most enigmatic industrialists and philanhropists. ...more
Apr 01, 2026 09:09AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Titan by Ron Chernow. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Titan by Ron Chernow <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
David Churbuck rated a book really liked it At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Early Matthiessen, marking his first big popular success (finalist for the 1965 National Book Award). Some astonishingly lyrical passages, a great hero in Lewis Meriwether Moon, and echoes of Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness. Not my favorite of his nov ...more
Nov 01, 2025 09:07AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
David Churbuck rated a book it was amazing Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Great boo, about a daring voyage to a savage shore. One of the best in the genre of shipwreck and survival.
Aug 05, 2025 06:36AM · like · see review

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David’s Quotes

“Round the World! There is much in that sound to inspire proud feelings; but whereto does all that circumnavigation conduct? Only through numberless perils to the very point whence we started, where those that we left behind secure, were all the time before us.”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale

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