summary of three men in a boat by Jerome K Jerome the narrator Jay is sitting by a fire with his friends Harris and George talking about how sick they are Jay recently spent some time at the British museum learning about diseases he came to the conclusion that he had all of them except four housemid KN none of the guys look like they are sick but they all agree that whatever they have is probably from overworking they decide that getting away is the best best thing to do and after some thought agree to take a boat up the temps the men think of the trip as a return to Nature where they can enjoy an easier and more Pure Life however packing turns out to be a difficult and timeconsuming task it seems like they forget things and have to start over as they do this Jay tells the reader that Harris makes him think of his uncle poder who is always making easy things too hard jay also begs the reader to let go of their shallowness and materialism to get rid of the lumber that limits their Journey on the River of Life the men then talk about what food to bring with them which makes Jay think of the time he helped a friend by transporting cheeses from Liverpool to London everyone he met turned away from the strong smell of the cheeses and even his friend didn't want them in the end when the men are done packing it's clear they didn't really follow Jay's advice because they have so many bags full of clothes fancy food and tools also it's getting late so the men go to sleep George says he'll get up early and wake the others up when morning comes the men have already slept too much Mrs poppet who cleans for Jay thought they wanted to have a lion while they eat breakfast George reads the weather report from the paper even though Jay is upset about how inaccurate these kinds of forecasts and barometers are it is sunny outside and the men are hopeful that the weather will be good for their trip George leaves to go to work at the bank and will meet up with the others later Jay Harris and Mont Morenci the dog go to London's waterl station to catch a train to Kingston where they will pick up their boat at waterl though it looks like no one knows where the trains are going so the two men have to pay a driver to take them to Kingston as soon as they get their boat from this historic town Jay starts to dream about Kingston in its heyday Kingston was once a place where kings were crowned and Nobles and corders walked the streets Jay talks about how well buildings were built back then and points out a beautiful shop with wood walls that now has loud blue wallpaper on the walls in his writing Jay thinks deeply about what art is and how people value it he thinks that things that are in style right now which are usually from one or 200 years ago are only valuable because they're old he believes that in 100 years modern commonplace things will also be valued as historical artifacts Jay Harris and the dog Float by Hampton Court a beautiful castle that Henry VII used to live in Harris got lost in that maze one time and had to be rescued by the person who kept the maze at mosy they pass through their first lock which is a machine that controls how fast the water flows in the temps it is one of the nicest places along the river and both boats and people having picnics like going there Jay looks around at the scene and talks about the fashion of the time he says that girls often wear clothes that look great but aren't appropriate for the river people with the dog and two men stop at Kempton park for lunch while they're there an angry man accuses them of breaking into his boss's property the two of them just laugh at him Harris then says he'll set people's homes on fire and sing funny songs while they're in Ruins this makes Jay think of a party they went to together where an old German Master called her SLO and bosan played a song for the crowd before the show two German students at the party told everyone that it was a funny song People laughed at what turned out to be a sad and serious folk song because they didn't know any German and didn't want to look like they didn't know what was going on the boat will soon get to waybridge where George is waiting he walks in with a package that looks strange it turns out to be a banjo which he has never played before the guys take turns pulling the boat along with a line from the bank of the river toe girls are especially bad at it they all agree the group stops for food and sets up for the night after a while they brought a fabric cover for the boat to sleep under but it's really hard to set up because they keep getting tangled up in it and falling over the men seem to be truly at peace once it's all set up and dinner has been served they smoke pipes and talk about their lives as the day ends Jay talks about how the night can ease people's pain and make them feel like something mightier than themselves is with them as the other men fall asleep he makes up a strange story about three Heroes who are in the woods and one of them gets hurt and gets split from the others seeing a vision the reader is only told that it is called sorrow takes him to the castle where he meets up with the other soldiers who thought he was dead George wakes up early the next morning and talks about a time when his watch broke and he dressed up and went to work before realizing it was still dark outside Harris is woken up by George and Jay and all three of them agree that it's a good morning for a swim they give up though because the water is too cold for them to trick the other two Jay wets himself with a little water but he falls in and gets wet Harris makes eggs for breakfast but the pan gets too hot and the eggs are ruined the guys and their dog get to Magna Carta Island which got its name from the place where King JN is said to have signed the Magna Carta an important English document that sets rules and ideas for human rights Jay imagines himself back in time to the time when King JN has stepped onto the shore and we wait in the suffocating silence until a great shout breaks the air and the great Cornerstone in England's Temple of Liberty has now we know been firmly laid after a while the men stop for lunch they both feel down because they don't have any mustard but they feel better when they remember they brought canned pineapple for dessert they forgot the tin opener which is a bad thing and after all three men have trouble opening the tin they give up and throw it into the temps the boat goes by Maiden head after lunch Jay says it's too snobby to be pleasant and it's where many of the river's steam launches are based the three men say they hate the steam powered boats and that they often do things on purpose to block their way the next place they go is Marlo where Percy Bish Shelli used to live the men go to get more food but once again they buy a lot more than they need on their way back to the boat young shop assistants carry their extra items for them they get back on the river and get to hambledon lock that's where they ask the lock keeper for water and he tells them straight out to drink from the river once the the men used river water to make tea but just as they were about to drink a dead dog floated by and scared them away Harris falls into the river while cutting a pie when the men stop for lunch he says that the other people pushed him in after more time on the river the men get ready for bed pretty early in the evening Harris makes Irish stew which is a mix of different things that can go into it Mont Morenci even adds a dead rat George and Jay go to Henley a nearby town to get some drinks when they get back Harris doesn't seem to be there in the end they find him passed out from fighting a group of swans the men left the next morning but they were already fighting about who had done the most work on the trip both men say the other is not doing his job Jay talks about the different ways to move a boat like skulling punting and Rowing George remembers seeing a punter lose the the boat from under him and have to hold on to the long punting pole for dear life Jay once tried to go sailing with his friend Hector but they broke in their ores and couldn't get the sail upright they had to be saved as the three men walked to reading they pass by a house where Charles the first used to play bows in this spot they see the most maob part of their trip the body of a young woman floating in the river they find out that the woman killed herself after her family and friends turned their backs on her because of an affair in Goring the men try to wash their clothes in the river but it makes them clean less they pay someone in streetly to do it for them they see a huge trout in a glass case hanging on the wall of an in at streetly people from the area keep telling them that they caught the big fish but it turns out that they're all lying the fish is just a model as they go up the river Jay talks about how beautiful the flower fields are at each lock he remembers that one time they were at a lock and almost crashed the boat because they were too focused on looking good for the camera when they get to Oxford the last stop on their trip it starts to rain even though the men try to deal with the weather for 2 days all of their food gets wet and when they try to cheer themselves up by singing the music sounds sad Harris imagines what that night would be like at their favorite theater in London after acting like they don't want to go Harris and the other guys decide to cut their trip short and go back they say it's just because getting out of the rain is good for their health they will get to London on the train at 5:00 p.m. they hide the fact that they will be back in the morning when they leave their boat behind when they get to London they feel right at home before going to their favorite French restaurant for dinner they watch dance at the alhamra theater as they enjoy their wine and steaks Harris makes a toast to their supposed success we had a nice trip and I thank old father Tims from the bottom of my heart for it but I think we did well to ditch it when we did here's to three men out of a boat about the author Jerome was born in England at bsai house in Kama Wala Jerome's father wasted Jerome's mother's inheritance on unsuccessful business projects including Mining Company investment feeling down the family moved to London's poor East End where they tried to keep up the image of being well off when Jerome was a Youngster both of his parents died so he had to stop going to school he worked for 4 years for the London and Northwestern Railway before he decided to try his hand at acting Jerome was unhappy with the theater world so he did a lot of different jobs while working on his writing most of the jobs he applied for were turned down finally in 1885 he found a distributor in 1886 thoughts of an idol fellow came out and it is still one of his most famous works Jerome married Georgina Maris in June 1888 and they spent their honeymoon on the temps in a boat when he got back Jerome wrote three men in a boat which was in still as his most famous work with his Newfound Financial Security Jerome was able to focus on writing full-time he wrote plays articles and books before becoming editor of the famous magazine The Idler people thought Jerome was too old to join the British army when World War I brought broke out instead he offered to drive an ambulance for the French army and then moved to the country in Britain Jerome died in 1927 hope we summarized it fully and you liked it please hit the like button and subscribe to our channel so that we are motivated to create more videos