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 enlarge | Authors: Dean King, John B. Hattendorf, J. Worth Estes
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $6.98
You Save: $10.02 (59%)
New (24) Used (22) from $4.75
Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 32608
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0805066152
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780805066159
ASIN: 0805066152
Publication Date: October 1, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! Has a publisher remainder mark. 3rd Edition. 2000 Paperback.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Too Incomplete To Be Worthwhile January 26, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is clearly too ambitious a project to explain, in a 500-page trade paperback, every potentially confusing term and name in the Aubrey / Maturin series. But I expected a better effort than this.
The introductory essays on the on the nature and structure of the British navy and time line of the Napoleonic wars was quite good; the narrative on naval medicine not so much, but passable still.
The real issue is lack of content in the encyclopedic portion of the book. Simply put, you'll run across quite a few terms in any given Aubrey / Maturin novel that simply are not in this book.
Examples from "The Far Side Of The World" alone, as I quickly breeze through, of words and terms mentioned there but not here: "bar-tailed godwit" (kind of bird); "shamming Abraham" (pretending to be sick, or being a thief, beggar, etc.); "St Abdon's day (Saint Abdon, a cooper, is the patron saint of coopers); "specktioneer" (on a whaler, the lead harpooner).
Again, given the scope and nature of the Aubrey / Maturin series, it's beyond naive to expect any one reference book to answer every potential question the series might raise. But, at the least, all sailing terms should be explained without fail, as well as period-specific euphemisms.
Given that about 85 percent of this book is encyclopedia, I really have to hold that out as the defining standard of its worth. Simply put, it fails.
There are several Web-based documentation efforts for the Aubrey / Maturin series: A wiki (unforutunately, it's on a slow, unreliable Web server, which is why it's largely incomplete); a Google Earth project to point out all the places named in the series; and a hit-or-miss links page, all of which can be found at Wikipedia's Patrick O'Brian page.
It seems to me that new technologies provide the best way to document O'Brian's stories of old.
 The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels December 28, 2007
I bought the Patrick O'Brian anthology as a Christmas present for my husband. He has always been intrigued by the Navy and the Tall Ships and the history they played when our nation was formed. I think he vicariously sees himself as C.S. Forester's 'Horatio Hornblower'. I guess this could explain why he likes to do dishes, laundry or anything else that involves using water. He is a former Navy submariner(1957) and, me thinks, a person has to be daft or have an absolute affinity for any body of water no matter how great or how deep. In consideration of the enormity of this collection, I doubt that I will see my husband for several months as he will have his nose into these books...and enjoy riding the high seas once again.
 Surfing the Sea of Words October 18, 2007
An illuminating volume to have on hand as you read the Patrick O'Brian Series. Provides back story and details of those times, along with maps and diagrams. Nauticle terminanolgy decoded. Highly reccomend, could only wish for more diagrams.
A need to have October 5, 2007
This book is a fundamental reading for those who love O'Brian books and want to make the most of of them.
A couple more pictures would have helped, but it gives you all you need to know to enhance your reading experience
 Not that impressed with this book October 2, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was fairly disappointed with this book, given some of the rave reviews I've read about it. In a consecutive fashion, several of the phrases I looked up weren't in there, to the point where I gave up using it and am just reading the books.
Perhaps it's for the best though, the book flows better without interuption, if at the expense of full understanding. I wouldn't recommend buying this book. It doesn't answer what you need it for -- terms that aren't used anymore, but aren't in the dictionary either.
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