With two comprehensive books about the Atlantic liners already in print,* as well as several monographs either completed and in print or in progress, Mr. Layton has built a good reputation in the maritime community. He is a proud member of the Titanic Research & Modeling Association, one of the foremost and progressive groups for technical research on the Olympic-class ships, as well as other liners of the past.

Although only about thirty years of age, Kent has been researching ocean liners since he first learned to read; brought up on a steady diet of A Night to Remember, Sail, Steam & Splendour, and a wide variety of famous books about the Titanic and other ships, he has always been an avid reader. His favorite “off-duty” reading includes the Dirk Pitt series of adventure novels, by Clive Cussler. In fact, Cussler’s Raise the Titanic story had a great impact on his interests in life, both the film version of 1980 and later on, when he was introduced to the original book.

He enjoys classical music, especially film scores (John Barry, Jerry and Joel Goldsmith, James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Steve Jablonsky, Rachel Portman, Brian Tyler, and John Williams are listed among his favorite composers); when he is not working on his maritime research, he apprentices as a piano tuner and technician for the family business, Accutone Piano Service; he also runs a small local cleaning business, and enjoys both graphic and web design.

With the release of Kent’s publication, Lusitania: An Illustrated Biography of the Ship of Splendor, (2007) his local newspaper (The Citizen, of Auburn, New York) ran a complete story on him and the project, which can be viewed here.

Ever since he was five years old, his dream was to write books about the ships he was fascinated with. Now that dream has finally become a reality… and further projects are in the works… stay tuned here at Atlantic Liners for all the latest updates and news.