Customer Reviews (1)

Patrick O'Brian - what's not to love!
The Aubrey/Maturin series is such an excellent collection of stories.
The narration by Patrick Tull can't be beat! ... Read more

Product Description
Napoleon has been defeated at Waterloo, but the ensuing peace becomes ugly for Captain Jack Aubrey, with violent celebrations of the English sailors in Gibraltar and the desertion of nearly half his crew. To cap it all off, the Surprise is nearly sunk in a shattering night collision on the first leg of her journey to South America, where Jack and Stephen are to help Chile assert her independence from Spain.

The delay for repairs reaps a harvest of strange consequences, and then the South American expedition is a desperate affair, starting with near disaster in the ice-choked seas far south of the Horn. In the end, Jack, again the daring frigate commander of old, stakes all on a desperate solo night raid against the might of the Spanish viceroy in Peru. ... Read more

Product Description
The fascinating story behind one of the most highly anticipated movies to come out of Hollywood in recent years.

Peter Weir's astonishing film brings Patrick O'Brian's world to life, complete with its swashbuckling adventures, brilliantly drawn characterization, romance, and intrigue. It is sure to captivate stalwart enthusiasts of O'Brian's work as well as draw in new fans everywhere. With unique access to the cast and crew, Tom McGregor traces the project, from the actors' boot camp to the filming in the Galapagos Islands and on board a replica ship (in the same studio where Titanic was filmed).

With exclusive photographs and interviews with key members of the cast, including Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind), and director Peter Weir (Dead Poets' Society, Green Card, The Truman Show), this book records the painstaking work of the crew and stars in making the film as historically accurate as possible, from replicating the uniforms of Nelson's navy to bringing the gun deck of the Surprise incredibly to life. Exclusive behind-the-scenes insight and information on the history of the project are dazzlingly showcased in this unique companion, featuring the same high production standards and imagination as the film itself. 200 color photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Essential companion
This is an excellent book which explains the huge amount of work that went into the making of the film Master and Commander.The sheer amount of research and attention to detail revealed by this book greatly enhances the enjoyment of the film.

Making of Master and Commander
Lots of great large pictures and plenty of information. A good book to ad to your collection of movie related books.

Can't Stop Reading It!
My dad loves Master and Commander (and so do I), so I got him this book for Christmas. He loves it and said it was his favorite present this year! He says he's also reading the books by Patrick O'Brian (the author of the books that inspired this movie) and he said he sometimes goes back to this book for reference after reading the novels.

This book is divided into sections - stuff about the crew, the doctor, the captain, etc. It has quotes from the actors and stuff about the novels and the author.

Well, all I can say is my dad loves this book and is still looking at it from Christmas and I look at it all I can. If you love the Master and Commander movie, you'll love this book!

A Fan's Dream Come True!!!
If you love the O'Brian series and the movie, this book is not only full of colour photos but also contains much information about the movie and its actors. Any interested in the 19th century British Royal Navy will find it intersting, also.A great book!!!

An excellent look behind the scenes
I'm a great fan of O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels and of Napoleonic era naval fiction in general, and I looked forward to this film with a certain apprehension. I mean, how could they possibly do justice to O'Brian's extremely detailed world? Would they just crank out a superficial action film? I'm not sure any devotée was entirely pleased with the result, but it was, in fact, a pretty damn good movie. And all the background information and photos in this book help explain why. Peter Weir, the director, was a fanatic on accurate historical detail, including small items you never see on camera (but the crew knows they're there). He kept the entire cast together for the full five months of filming at the big tank in Baja, the same way a ship's crew would be together every day of their lives. And he instituted hierarchy (with Russell Crowe at the top, naturally) even during the "boot camp" phase at the beginning of the project. And on and on. A fascinating look behind the scenes and into the minds of all the people responsible for the film. I winced every time they talked about the "cannon," though. ... Read more

Product Description
A complex, layered portrait of the man considered by many to be the greatest British novelist of the twentieth century.

This is the story of Patrick O'Brian's life up to his decision to move to Collioure in the south of France. His childhood; his precocious writing success; his sailing experiences; and the truth behind his first marriage, divorce, and name change are set forth with candor and sympathy. Along the way Nikolai Tolstoy reveals the seeds of inspiration that would one day lead to comparisons to Jane Austen and even Homer.

Tolstoy was O'Brian's stepson, and their acquaintance lasted forty-five years. He stayed with his mother and O'Brian at their French home and was a frequent correspondent with the reclusive author, discovering facets of his character and creative genius that were hidden from others. Over the years he accumulated a vast collection of the author's papers, correspondence, and notebooks, many of which are reproduced here. On the basis of this trove of original material, Tolstoy has written the definitive biography that O'Brian and his admirers deserve. 16 pages of illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wonderful work!
Much better than I expected and much better than King's bio.Here is so much meat for the interested reader in O'Brian as a young man and it explains how O'Brian became who he was.I hope that Tolstoy writes a "Volume 2".

Nikolai Tolstoy versus Dean King--neither bio is adequate
Dean King's groundbreaking biography of Patrick O'Brian has taken a real beating of late from Nikolai Tolstoy's recent and competing treatment of his stepfather's first 35 years.Having slogged through both biographies of the literary gifted but humanly flawed O'Brian, I have to say, no one wins.In fact, a pox on both their houses; I am going to forget what I have read and will just start rereading the man's work.

King gets credit for being the first to put together O'Brian's life.Even with all the inaccuracies so helpfully pointed out by Tolstoy, King was able to anchor the main points of that life in a way that make Tolstoy's criticisms often seem petty (more on that).Above all, it must be understood, King has written a biography more of O'Brian's work--what was written when, how it was received, the struggles for recognition--than of his life with all its hidden chapters and strange motivations.

Tolstoy, having read and disagreed with King's bio of his stepfather, has given us an uneven, often tedious, and overly defensive account of O'Brian's life until his move to France in 1949.In the end, quite ironically, his biography leaves one less enamored with O'Brian the man than does King's.

Tolstoy's thickest problem is that he's too close to his subject for comfort.The most transparent example of this is Tolstoy's repeated criticisms of Dean King's errors--some factual but most on the writer's motivations--that themselves originate in O'Brian's lies about himself, lies that Tolstoy dismisses as "innocuous pretense" or "romancing."Tolstoy, in essence, just doesn't see what all the fuss is about, but as one of those O'Brian family members who refused to speak with King, he really cannot have it two ways.Likewise, Tolstoy swings between saying that O'Brian knew perfectly well that he was lying about his background (and what does that matter really?), the suggestion that O'Brian believed his own lies (and therefore is not culpable), and the idea that others wanted to believe O'Brian was Irish, so he had to follow along (and therefore should be forgiven).

It's in the substance of Tolstoy's defense of O'Brian--responding to what King unearthed in his research--that things get ugly, or amusing, depending on your point of view.King discovered that O'Brian had an affair shortly after marrying his first wife; Tolstoy gives O'Brian a pass on adultery because the girl was willing and the wife probably would never know!Tolstoy lets us know that "nothing can justify" O'Brian's leaving the first wife and two small children--one with a fatal disease--but he apparently thinks the situation mitigated somehow by the fact that O'Brian was "constitutionally ill equipped" for fatherhood (in fact he hated children), that his little daughter wasn't going to live long anyway, and that in any case he had met and moved in with his soul mate, the author's mother, a woman of wit and education, quite in contrast to the first wife.At one point Tolstoy cannot understand the first wife's bitterness, as O'Brian had done nothing (nothing!) to provoke it.

Tolstoy's biography is more accurate than King's (it helps to have the subject's diaries and papers), there is no doubt Tolstoy is a better writer (a family thing, perhaps), and I have to say his teasing out autobiographical elements from early short stories is very good indeed.But one must question both his judgment and his perspective.He started by wanting to defend O'Brian against what he saw as unfair treatment, but he ended up portraying a far more dysfunctional, far less appealing Patrick O'Brian than Dean King ever did or would.

The Enigma Remains
This is an extremely well written summary of the first 35 years of Patrick O'Brian/Richard Patrick Russ/Richard Ross's life.Nikolai Tolstoy does a superb job mapping the parallels between the unattested portions of his step-father's life through a detailed analysis of O'Brian's 3rd and autobiographical novel, Richard Temple.Tolstoy's interpretations is measured and credible.While critical of certain points in Dean King's portrait, he avoids getting excessively embroiled in their differences.

What I still am at a loss to understand is exactly what prompted O'Brian's name change at the end of WWII, particularly given that Richard Russ operated as Richard Ross while working with what appears to have been one of the propaganda branches of British Intelligence during WWII.Tolstoy teasingly describes how Richard Russ a.k.a. Richard Ross had assumed the identity of an academic with a PHD from an Italian University. Was Richard/Patrick escaping these lies?

The other area that remains unexplored is Patrick O'Brian's craftsmanship.Tolstoy certainly makes clear that Russ/Ross/O'Brian leveraged many of his life experiences when writing his short stories (and many themes reappear in the Aubrey/Maturin series).But how did a largely uneducated writer evolve such a potent writing style.Tolstoy himself is no mere scribbler.The writing is very clear and moves the reader effortlessly along.But what of his subject's beautiful style?Tolstoy apparently had access to manuscripts from this earlier period.Do they tell us anything?

Finally, I believe that this book will help readers look at the characters in Aubrey/Maturin series, especially the female characters, in a new and richer light.

Tolstoy is currently working on Part II of his O'Brian biography.

Life Before Capt. Jack Aubrey
A biographer who is intimately familiar with his or her subject, especially if that familiarity extends over nearly half a century, can bring a unique perspective to the subject.Tolstoy certainly does that since his mother, Mary Tolstoy (her last name derives from her first marriage to a member of a branch of THE Tolstoy family) was O'Brian's second wife for that much time.It can also bring a certain bias to the biography, for better or for worse.In this case I think that the author has succeeded in presenting a balanced and highly nuanced portrait of a complex and secretive individual.I disagree with one of the trade reviews on the Amazon page that suggests that Tolstoy is too much of an apologist for O'Brian's behavior, especially towards his first wife and mother of his son.

The writing can get rather tedious at times and I often found myself scanning quickly over whole paragraphs, but taken as a whole the book is well written.Much of it is based on private letters and diaries available only to Tolstoy and not to O'Brian's previous biographer (a book I did have not read).As a result of access to this material there are exquisitely vivid portrayals of war time London and the harsh but beautiful landscape of Wales.Tolstoy's analysis of O'Brian's life,particularly his youth, relies heavily on deconstruction of O'Brians short stories and other early writings.I was amazed to learn that O'Brian's first work was published when he was barely a teenager.While highly speculative, Tolstoy does manage to present a fairly convincing and consistent picture of the author.Although you might wonder if a completley different picture might be drawn from the same fictional writings of O'Brian, the lengthy excerpts from these writings that Tolstoy presents suggests that if you are going to take this approach, then you are not likely to end up with a widely divergent description.

I read the entire Aubrey/Maturine series over a period of a few months about a year ago and wanted to learn more - actually anything -about the author.While Tolstoy's work ends well before O'Brian began or even conceived of the A/M series, you can certainly see his growing fascination both for detail and for life in the late 18th early 19th centuries.Indeed, Tolstoy makes the case that O'Brian probably would have been much happier living in the past than in the present.He was exceedingly class conscious and regarded with disdain many of the "new-fangled" contrivences of mid-20th century life.

So, would I rank this as amongst the best biographies I have read?No, for reasons I have already given.But I certainly do not regret having read it since the writing is good and I learned a great deal about O'Brian.And I certainly would read its successor volume if one is in Tolstoy's plans. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of short stories are about country life and the open air and were first published in the 1950s. Patrick O'Brian is the author of "Clarissa Oakes", "The Wine-Dark Sea" and "Testimonies". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Great Book, but confusingly titled
This is the same book released under the title "The Truelove" in the US."Clarissa Oakes" is the title used for the British release. ... Read more

Product Description
Celebrate the joys of Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series with this delightful cookbook, full of the food and drink that so often complement Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin's travels. Collected here are authentic and practical recipes for such eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century dishes as Burgoo, Drowned Baby, Sea-Pie, Solomongundy, Jam Roly-Poly, Toasted Cheese, Sucking Pig, Treacle-Dowdy, and, of course, Spotted Dog. Also included are historical notes on the origins of the dishes as well as sections on the preparing of roasts, puddings, and raised pies.Amazon.com Review
Animal lovers, relax--"Spotted Dog" is a kind ofpudding, not a dalmatian. It is also the favorite pudding of JackAubrey, the fictional creation of writer Patrick O'Brian. Aubrey'sadventures as an officer of the British Navy--and those of his friendand ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin--during the tumultuous years of theNapoleonic Wars have been masterfully detailed in O'Brian's manynovels; now Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and her daughter, Lisa Grossman,take readers on a culinary adventure through the kitchens and cuisineof the early 19th century.

Since food figures prominently inO'Brian's novels, his fans will already be familiar with such names asSkillygalee, Drowned Baby, Soused Hog's Face, and Jam Roly-Poly, butthey may wonder exactly what those dishesare. Lobscouse and Spotted Dog makes it all clear:Skillygalee, for example, is oatmeal gruel, while Drowned Baby issimilar to Spotted Dog, only without the currants and eggs. AndSpotted Dog is...? You'll find the recipe in the Grossmans' book, alongwith excerpts from the Aubrey/Maturin novels and many other authentic19th-century dishes to test your sense of adventure, your culinaryprowess, and possibly your waistline. Lobscouse and SpottedDog is more than a cookbook--it's a window into the past, aninspired piece of culinary detective work, and a delightfulgastronomic companion to the novels of Patrick O'Brian. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Specialized, but informative
For certain values of informative, at least.You are unlikely to use this book as a cookbook - partly because, let's be truthful, most of the recipes contained within simply don't sound very appealing to the modern palate, and partly because the book just isn't structured as one.While you will find ingredient lists and general preparation instructions, you won't find the degree of precision that an amateur cook is likely to want in order to actually prepare these dishes, which seems a little bit of a shame, since the authors purport to have managed to create many of the dishes contained within the book.Whether this is disappointing to you or not will depend on the reader.

Of course, the title is "Gastronomic Companion" not "Cookbook", and in the capacity advertised by the title, it serves well - if you're wondering what lobscouse, boiled baby, or "neeps hackit with balmagowry" are, then this book will answer admirably.Whether this knowledge is worth the price of admission is up to you.

For the O'Brian fan, I would recommend Harbors and High Seas, 3rd Edition : An Atlas and Geographical Guide to the Complete Aubrey-Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian, Third Edition ahead of this book, simply because the information it delivers is more relevant to the understanding of the novels, but for the hardcore fan, those who already own Harbors and High Seas, or the terribly curious, this volume has its place, and fills it well.

Fun to read!But to cook...
As a huge fan of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, I thought this would be interesting to read.And it is!The recipes are divided into sections according to events in the books, with excerpts preceding the recipes.However, one must have plenty of time and equipment to make the famous "puddings" of the era.Most of the pudding recipes call for suet as a key ingredient.That, and lack of a pudding-basin, ended my interest in attempting a Spotted Dog.However, I may attempt a few of the biscuits...as long as they don't require suet!As a companion to understanding the cuisine of Nelson's Navy, however, it's absolutely delightful.

Great cookbook!
Lots of fun for cooks. A pleasure for readers of Patrick O'Brian's novel (so you can find out what "drowned baby" consists of).

Highly recommended!

Hearts of Oak, Biscuits with Weevils
Lobscouse and Spotted Dog is a lot of fun for those of us who are both fans of Nelson's navy, and part time chefs as well. I sometimes think that a historically accurate dish somehow transports us back to those swashbuckling days when men were men, and walking the plank was not measuring your new hardwood floor at home depot.
The recipes are apparently accurate, and the comments are drole. And if you've got a little time on your hands, there's a theme party waiting for you to create. Get your pals to dress up like Horatio Hornblower and break out the Admiral's Flip. Then the neighbours'll have something to talk about, damn your eyes! Beat to quarters, if you please!

A feast!
I made both of the title dishes (and many of the others)and all were great.The writing was both entertaining and informative.The recipe for Millers in Onion Sauce almost makes me willing to try rat for dinner.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Sigh - all gone
What a great series. And the reader too. We have the whole set, which is now going out of "print" and hard to get.Get yours while you can!!

O'Brian's last
As an O'Brian fan, I'm extremely sad to see the Aubrey/Maturin series end, but what better way to end than in mid sentence. I can picture Patrick O'Brian finishing his daily writing, the writer at his task, and then just stopping. A great craftsman and artist to the finish.
The book itself is every bit as good as his others: nuanced, erudite, intelligent, artful, with extremely well drawn characters and situations. I got the audio book version and the reader, Patrick Tull, is one of the best ever.
21 is truly great and a fitting end to the series and to a life of writing. ... Read more

Product Description
At the time of his death, Patrick O'Brian had begun to write a novel to follow on from Blue at the Mizzen. These are the chapters he had completed of the final voyage of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin -- the greatest friendship of modern literatureThe story picks up from the end of Blue at the Mizzen when Jack Aubrey receives the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. This new novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of O'Brian's death, would have been a chronicle of that mission, and much else besides.As the novel opens, we are able to visit these friends we have followed so very far in a rare state of almost perfect felicity. Jack has seen his illegitimate son ably discharging important duties. Sophie and his daughters are with him; Brigid is with her father, she's thriving, and Stephen is with a woman who is very dear to him. Jack, at last, is flying a rear-admiral's flag aboard a ship of the line.The chapters left on O'Brian's death are presented here both in printed version -- including his corrections to the typescript -- and a facsimilie of his manuscript, which goes several pages beyond the end of the typescript and includes marginal notes by O'Brian.And so this great 'roman fleuve' comes to an end with Jack, with his 'sacred blue flag', sailing through fair, sweet days -- Stephen with his dissections and new love, Killick muttering darkly over the toasted cheese! Of course, we would rather have had the whole story; instead we have this proof that O'Brian's powers of observation, his humour and his understanding of his characters were undiminished to the end.'There is nothing in this century that rivals Patrick O'Brian's achievement in his chosen genre. His novels embrace with loving clarity the full richness of the 18th-century world. They embody the cruelty of battle, the comedy of men's lives, the uncertain fears that plague their hearts; and yet, not far away, is the vision of an ideal existence.' Amanda Foreman, New York Times ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great story, hard to read at the end
I got this for my husband for his birthday. He wasn't able to finish the book because Mr. O'Brian's handwriting was too hard to read, and it messed up the flow of the tale. I'm thinking about trying to translate it for him for Christmas, so that'll be 2 gifts out of one ;) ... Read more

Product Description
Available for the first time in the United States—a tale of art and espionage during World War II by the best-selling author of the Aubrey-Maturin series.

The eponymous protagonist of this novel is a prisoner of the German army in France; but as we soon discover, he is nobody's idea of a hero. In order to keep himself sane while denying the charges and absorbing the beatings of his captors, Richard Temple conducts a minute examination—one might almost call it a prosecution—of his own life.

Temple escapes from a blighted childhood and his widowed, alcoholic mother thanks to an artistic gift, which is the one thing of value he has to his name. His life as a painter in London of the 1930s is cruelly deprived. In order to eat, he squanders his one asset by becoming a forger of art, specializing in minor works by Utrillo. He is rescued by the love of a beautiful and wealthy woman, and it is the failure of this relationship, coupled with the outbreak of war, that propels him into the world of espionage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Richard Temple review
The book was received in excellent condition in a timely manner.I would buy from this vendor again.

Do not judge a book by its cover.
This is not a story with an ending. The ending is really a beginning to be written in our imaginations. And this happens due to the introspection of his life by Richard Temple of Richard Temple. Yes the cover is wrong for this book. It is not a war story but an artists tale. The gift, the poverty, love and denial, the play of external forces all combine to blend an artist's life into World War II and England of the day. I could not get a grip on the story in it's early stages, but soon felt rewarded for seeing a life unfold with all the self consciousness that one human can feel for another who has a genuine gift we can not know.

Of COURSE it isn't an Aubrey/Maturin novel
I went into this book knowing that it wasn't about a couple of guys rollicking about on the high seas.Unfortunately, many others don't seem to snapped to this fact and are disappointed when their favorite author turns out to be a three-dimensional human.

I was stunned by this book.It was a work of art, and I felt privileged to have been able to read it.After all, O'Brian could have just pushed his thoughts aside and penned another "action" novel for the masses.

As much as I love Jack and Steven, I'm glad he didn't.

If you have never faced failure...don't bother reading this novel.
Richard Temple is not an adventure novel, and if you read it with the expectation that Captain Jack is going to come bounding over the waves to the rescue you will be disappointed.On the other hand, if you have ever felt a connection with Dr. Maturin at his darker moments you will appreciate this novel.It paints a bleak self-portrait of a man who can't reach the brass ring. A portrait that casts in sharp relief the risks faced by a man living on the edge of spiritual and temporal poverty, not so much because he wants to, but because it is the way his life stubbornly insists on unfolding.It is not uplifting, but it plays on fears rarely discussed by "successful" people and it is, for that reason, compelling and vaguely terrifying, especially if the reader can connect emotionally with the main character.I could... and for what its worth I enjoyed this book. It was like watching a horror movie in which the cinematography makes the viewer feel as if he or she is running down a dark and forbidding hallway in slow motion with some implacable and unfriendly presence moving in the shadows just behind.I kept hoping that the mirror on the hallway wall would not reveal my own image.

Not a Jack Aubrey Novel
This is a look inside a confused artist from boyhood to when he is in his thirties or forties.The majority of the story is told from the mind of Richard Temple and it is confusing.The ending is lacking any conclusions.The story just sort of stops.I read the hardback edition which shows Richard Temple inside a German prison camp.Its an interesting read, but the ending left me wondering what was happening. ... Read more

Product Description
This book catalogs every person, animal, ship and cannon mentioned by name in Patrick O'Brian's 19-volume series on the maritime adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. The novels, renowned for their "far-ranging web of wit and allusion," teem with thousands of characters and ships, both imaginary and historical. From Master and Commander to The Hundred Days, this dictionary distinguishes the fictional from the factual, making a useful series companion for both the casual reader and the most ardent O'Brian fans. Each of the more than 4,500 alphabetized entries provides a reference to the novels and chapters in which the topic appears. Additionally, biographical notes on the historical figures are included, with sources provided in an annotated bibliography.Amazon.com Review
Staking out the literary territory between John Jakes andJames Joyce, Patrick O'Brian has produced a penetratingly intelligentseries of historical novels based on the early-19th-century exploitsof a pair of naval officers. This series has developed a strong andloyal following; but many readers will need a little help matching theauthor's erudition. Scholar, writer, and fan Anthony Gary Brown hasstepped up to lend others a hand with Persons, Animals, Ships andCannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels of Patrick O'Brian. Over4,500 entries in 342 pages explain the identities and meanings behindthe names of all the characters (human and otherwise) in the 19 bookspublished as of 1998. Invaluable as much for its reference use as itswit, Brown's book deserves a place on the shelf along with O'Brian'scorpus.

The entries for Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin compose two differentdistillations of the series, each from one of the character's pointsof view; each of the rest of the entries--from Abbas Effendi toZwingerius--details the character or institution's nature, relation tothe stories, and place within the books, as well as the derivation ofthe name and other bits of background not found in the series. Eventhe lowliest seaman gets a place in this comprehensive tome, sopurists and completists will find little to complain about. Beforesetting sail, it's important to chart your course, and Dr. Brown hasmade that task immensely simpler and more pleasurable with Persons,Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels of PatrickO'Brian. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

This is the 1stEdition. Buy the 2nd Edition.
This is the first edition. The second edition has a different title and is much better. Here's the link: The Patrick O'Brian Muster Book: Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels

Great Resource For O'Brian Addicts
I certainly qualify as an addict.For the last five years, in addition to my other reading, I have always been in the middle of one of the twenty Aubrey/Maturin novels. I'm now in my fifth (sixth?) reading of the series.These novels are so rich in period detail and characterization I can't imagine getting tired of them.

As other addicts know, part of the charm of the novels are the numerous obscure and offhand referencesto various "Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon."Mr. Brown's handsome, very well written dictionary of ALL of those references is a delightful companion clarifying many nuances in in O'Brian's prose.Actually, it's a joy just browsing through the book without one of the novels at your side.

The book also includes two insightful summaries of each novel, one from Aubrey's point of view and one from Maturin's, as well as descriptions of O'Brian's rare inconsistencies and errors in plotting from novel to novel.

An absolute treasure!
How on earth I ever managed to enjoy Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels before reading Anthony Gary Brown's wonderful dictionary is a mystery.Brown's book is a must have for all those who wish to get the most out of reading O'Brian's excellent naval stories.

I recommend it without reservation to every O'Brian fan!
I've been sampling this book for a couple of weeks and I can't tell you how much I've been enjoying it! For a fan of the Aubrey/Maturin books its almost as good as having a new POB come out! I think of someone I want tolook up, then by the time I've read that entry I've been led to another,and then another and I keep stumbling on the most amazing facts andinteresting historical stories.While just keeping track of all the names inthe books is useful enough, the "enhanced" information - all thedetails about "real" people and ships and historical events - isthe most exciting treasure for me.I can not begin to imagine the hours andhours invested in this masterpiece, though the careful attention to detailsand proofreading suggest it was a labor of love. All I can say is that I'mvery grateful to the author for having written it. It will make readingand re-reading the Aubrey/Maturin books an even greater delight, and for meat least, it will lead deeper into the historical literature behind theseries.Every bookstore in the country should stock this on the shelves nextto the Aubrey/Maturin books so new converts will have it in hand right fromthe start.

An extraordinary reference books about extraordinary novels.
Anthony Gary Brown's "Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels" is a wonderful resource for anyone who loves the nautical fiction of Patrick O'Brian.The depth and breadth ofresearch evident in this companion volume to the Aubrey-Maturin series istruly awe-inspiring.Every "proper name" reference -- no matterhow slight or obscure -- has been diligently tracked and, where everpossible the historical reality behind the fictional is revealed. Characters I had assumed to be merely creations of Patrick O'Brian'simagination are shown by Gary Brown to be based in actual persons. Whenever Stephen Maturin speaks of an obscure botanist or philosopher,Brown has explained who he or she was and what was the significance oftheir work.There are many, many hours of delightful browsing in thisvolume for any Patrick O'Brian fan. ... Read more

Product Description
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans now of many battles, return in this novel to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates. But Jack is now a senior captain commanding a line-of-battle ship in the Royal Navy’s blockade of Toulon, and this is a longer, harder, colder war than the dashing frigate actions of his early days. A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous mission to the Greek Islands, where all his old skills of seamanship and his proverbial luck when fighting against odds come triumphantly into their own. ... Read more

Product Description
A glittering adventure set in India at the height of the British Raj. The New York Times compared this book to Kipling's Kim and called it "a gorgeous entertainment." Of this early work, published when he was in his early twenties, Patrick O'Brian writes in a foreword: "In the writing of the book I learnt the rudiments of my calling: but more than that, it opened a well of joy that has not yet run dry." The story is about a young mahout—or elephant handler—his childhood and life in India, and his relationship and adventures with elephants. As a boy, Hussein falls in love with a beautiful and elusive girl, Sashiya, and arranges for another of her suitors to be murdered with a fakir's curse. The dead man's relatives vow vengeance. Hussein escapes and his adventures begin: snake-charming, sword-fighting, spying, stealing a fortune, and returning triumphantly to claim his bride. All of this is set against an evocatively exotic India, full of bazaars, temples, and beautiful women—despite the fact that O'Brian had never been to the East when he wrote the story.Amazon.com Review
Patrick O'Brian's remarkable career could serve as the textbook model for awriter's life. An invalid in his childhood, he read voraciously, andproduced his first novel, Caesar, at the age of 12,while histutor wasn't looking. It was published three years later in 1930. Hussein (1938), his second novel, grew from a short story O'Briansubmitted to an Oxford journal. Having been urged to expand the tale,he trotted out a thousand words a day until the book was done. Over thenext eight decades, he produced more than 20 books, including thecelebrated Aubrey/Maturin series on the British Navy during theNapoleonic Wars. In the new introduction to his first two novels (nowreprinted after many years), O'Brian discloses that although he had meta few Indians, both Muslim and Hindu, he had never been to India at thetime he wrote Hussein. "The book is largely derivative," heexplains, "based on reading and the recollections, anecdotes and lettersof friends and relations who were well acquainted with that vastcountry: and it has no pretension to being anything more than what it iscalled, an Entertainment."

A delicious blend of Kipling and the Arabian Nights,Hussein is the story of a Muslim mahout (an elephant keeper forthe British Raj) whose bravery and curiosity lead him on a series oflively adventures. After a scandal involving a hated rival, a deadlycurse, and a beautiful woman, Hussein is forced to leave governmentservice and make his way as an itinerant snake charmer andstoryteller. His stories open into other stories, which connect withthe action of the novel, and eventually our hero finds himself in asituation in which, like Scheherazade, his life depends on howskillfully he tells his tale. Even though it isn't "the real thing" as faras nationality or culturalorigins go, Hussein is most assuredly the entertainment thatO'Brian promised, and the impressive early work of a natural writer. --Regina Marler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Just practicing
O'Brian was one of my favorite writers of English prose. But every master has to start somewhere and not all starts are worth the preservation. I think this 'entertainment' is a demonstration why 'selected works' are usually preferable to 'complete works', unless one wants to make a living out of studying somebody's life work.
O'B wrote this when he was a student in Dublin in the 30s. He had no own first hand knowledge of the subject, but knew his Kipling and Arabian Nights etc very well. On that basis he fabulated an unoriginal story, which is far from charmless, but far from worthwhile too.
Actually I did like the first few chapters on the mahouts' lives quite a bit.
P.S. I have learned since that POB may not have been a student in Dublin after all, this may have been part of his active imagination or of his strategy to confuse his public.

Adventures in Colonial India
"Hussein" is a wonderful old-fashioned adventure story that will delight teenage readers as well as adults who have kept an open mind, a sense of humor and the improbable, and curiosity about an alien culture. O'Brian wrote this book under his real name (he was English not Irish) long before he began to write his Aubrey/Maturin novels. "Hussein" already shows his talent as a story-teller. He calls his tale "an entertainment" because he fabulated it largely based on his readings about India. "Hussein" is a romantic rags-to-riches story that runs coherently from Hussein's boyhood in a family of elephant handlers through his years as a fugitive until his unexpected fortune as a young man.

First Effort A Gem
As a new devotee of the author's later work ( the Aubrey and Maturin series) it is sheer pleasure to read O'Brian's first published work. It reveals the early wit and budding appetite for detail and characterdevelopment he later hones to such perfection in the Commander series. As a novel, or more properly "an entertainment," this work standsnicely on it's own, sans the author's later reputation. The background forthe story is exotic East India at the historically pivotal time of itsBritish occupation. The plot lovingly chronicles Hussein's (our hero)journey through youth to adulthood intertwined with a love story as sweetas ripe mangoes.Possibly O'Brian's own biographical story is mirroredhere but we are not privy to that by his admission. A fine fast pacedread even with the slightly halting style, as the writer discovers hiscraft. This aspect is endearing rather than off putting, as it blends sowell with the young hero's discoveries. In his adventures Hussein proves tobe wise beyond his years, learns to keep his head in some very bizarresituations as he respectfully, if somewhat un-orthodoxically attempts tohonor his family tradition, that of mahoot to a decidedly unusual elephant. A most excellent "entertainment".

A very good, entertaining, informative read.
I have read several of Patrick O'Brien's naval stories, which are simplyoutstanding.I was curious to see this, one of his earliest writings, fromdozens of decades ago.Also, being an elephant lover, the topic soundedinteresting.

The book is quite good.It reminds me a bit of RudyardKipling's The Jungle Book.Hussein is a book of fictional tales about aboy who becomes an elephant mahout (rider/trainer) and has many adventuresin India.It gives you a good taste of the early 20th century Indianculture, and is quite entertaining.Each chapter is pretty much adifferent story, and could be read by anyone from age twelve and up, Iwould guess.I thought about recommending it as good stories to readchildren, but a couple of the chapters include killing and violence anddeceit by the young man Hussein, so it is not exactly a children's rolemodel.

Still, adults will like it.I found most of the stories to bebelievable and interesting, but it is not the equal of O'Brien's laterworks.As a first publication it is a great book, but not the five starquality that his later works achieved. ... Read more

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2 O'Brian quality PBs by Norton Publishing. ... Read more

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All of Patrick O’Brian’s strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in Malta, partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage, for the stockyards and salons of Malta are alive with Napoleon’s agents and the admiralty’s intelligence network is compromised. Maturin’s cunning is the sole bulwark against sabotage of Aubrey’s daring mission. ... Read more

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Complete set of all 20 books: 1 : Master and Commander; 2 : Post Captain; 3 : H.M.S. Surprise; 4 : The Mauritius Command; 5 : Desolation Island; 6 : The Fortune of War; 7 : The Surgeon's Mate; 8 : The Ionian Mission; 9 : Treason's Harbour; 10 : The Far Side of the World; 11 : The Reverse of the Medal; 12 : The Letter of Marque; 13 : The Thirteen Gun Salute; 14 : The Nutmeg of Consolation; 15 : The Truelove; 16 : The Wine-Dark Sea; 17 : The Commodore; 18 : The Yellow Admiral; 19 : The Hundred Days; 20 : Blue at the Mizzen. ... Read more