The author and his two friends, George and Harris, agree that they have been working too hard and that their health in consequence is suffering. The three young men decide therefore to take a boating holiday on the Thames, starting at Kingston and ending in Oxford. They also take Montmorency, their pet terrier with them. The book recounts their adventures and mishaps on the trip and is punctuated by numerous hilarious passages about, for example, being trapped in Hampton Court Maze, the unreliabilty of barometers and the problems involved in learning to play the bagpipes. "Three Men in a Boat" was first published in 1889 and has never been out of print since-a remarkable testimony to its popularity.