A Sea of Words, Third Edition: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian by Dean King, John B. Hattendorf, J. Worth Estes Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Sea of Words, Third Edition: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian
Book Review: The perfect Aubrey-Maturin companion . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
Subtitled "A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian," this is an absolutely marvelous book, the Third Edition of which includes references to all twenty of the Aubrey-Maturin novels. It scores high in the first test given any alphabetically organized reference book, viz., in looking up an entry, ... There's a wide variety of nautical jargon, period medical terminology, the characters' references to natural history and music, and the foreign words and phrases that crop up in the novels. O'Brian describes a large number of real personages, too, all of whom are succinctly biographed. There's also a pretty detailed timeline for the period 1793-1818, a narrative essay on the ins and outs of the Napoleonic wars, a most illuminating discussion of naval medicine and surgery in Maturin's day, and a nice series of period illustrations of ships and boats for those who can't tell a frigate from a corvette, nor a barge from a launch. This is definitely a book to keep at hand while you work your way through the series.Book Review: It's essential
Summary: 5 Stars
The one annoyance about this book (for people like me, who came to Patrick O'Brian's stories through my own devices, at least) is that, by the time you hear tell off this book, you are several volumes into Mr O'Brian's exquisite series... by which time, you've generally muddled through (with whatever miscellaneous assortment of secondhand reference works you have inherited from elderly relatives) and figured out, by yourself, what a "futtock shroud" might be, or (through sheer perseverance) discovered what a "Greek pollacca" looks like, and much of what this gem of a book could have given you in a flash is already lost!If you ever find yourself in the privilaged position of being able to recommend Patrick O'Brian's magnificant novels to anyone who is so benighted as to have not yet heard of them, don't leave them in the lurch - funish them with a copy of this most excellent tome, to help them on their way! After all, you will remember the number of times you felt compelled to run to your meagre collection of reference sources to find out what O'Brian writes about with such unswerving authority. Even if you cannot gain from it youself, you know that this is _the_ book to have.
I cannot write too highly of it (and I am an able to write too highly of many things when the spirit takes me :). But, To give a copy of "Master and Commander" to a new initiate of Mr O'Brian without also furishing them with a copy of this book is, quite frankly, to condemn your fellow potential Aubreyites to the same fate as yourself - Heck, even I didn't know what a Dutch Galliot looked like until I bought this book!
Book Review: Excellent, but not perfect companion to O'Brian
Summary: 4 Stars
I found the book, which does not appear to have been authorized or endorsed by O'Brian or his publishers, to be generally terrific, highly readable, and a way to help quench the thirst for more which O'Brian skillfully created in his marvelous work.I did, however, find one egregious (to parochial me) error. The book describes the words "Kyrie Eleison," from the traditional Latin mass, as Latin for "Lord have mercy." I'm sure that many readers of forty-five or older recognize those words as the only place where Greek is used in the mass.
Book Review: Invaluable reference
Summary: 4 Stars
Dean King has done all lovers of naval history novels a great service with this book. Aimed specifically at the Aubrey/Maturin series, it nevertheless provides an invaluable wealth of detailed information about the whole of the period around the turn of the 19th Century.Not only does it translate obscure Naval terms, it also explains obsolete Georgian phraseology; describes major naval battles; eminent naval personalities & statesmen; Latin & French phrases common during the period; explanations of classical references; medical & natural history terminology - in short, all that you need as a companion to naval literature.
I got this book after reading all the Aubrey/Maturin series - if only I'd had this at the time, I could have saved myself hours of searching through multiple reference books.
A MUST for all naval history buffs.
Book Review: A MUST Have
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are reading the Aubrey-Maturin books, this is an absolute MUST! Not only is it fascinating to browse, but it helps greatly to clarify the ubiquitous nautical jargon. Admittedly it does not have every word I look up, especially now that I have been using it for a while, but I would not do without it. Highly recommended (as are the Aubrey books!).