Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World by Richard O'Neill Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World
Book Review: A beautiful companion to Patrick O'Brian's fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
"Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World" is one of those books that doesn't really have an author. Richard O'Neill is listed as the Consulting Editor, but the Editor and Indexer is Philip de Ste. Croix, and there are a number of "Contributors" including David Miller, who has his own Jack Aubrey-related book coming out soon ("The World of Jack Aubrey").This is a handsome coffee table-size volume, about 150 pages long, and heavily illustrated. The illustrations may be its strongest point - hundreds of them, mostly contemporary to Jack Aubrey's era and mostly reproduced in vivid color. I have seen many of them before, but usually in black-and-white, so even just on this score, "Patrick O'Brian's Navy" is an attractive addition to a historical nautical library. And there are some modern illustrations as well, usually in the form of diagrams to show complex information such as sail and rigging designations, crew assignments, and the arrangement of watches. Other data is conveyed in tabular form, like those for uniform details, prize money distribution, and crew organization for various ship classes.
Although the primary focus is upon the Royal Navy, there are also chapters devoted to what might be called the geo-political world of the Napoleonic Era. There is a conscious effort to tie all this to Jack Aubrey and the O'Brian novels, with the text, detailing historical events in which Jack took part (including those before the start of the book series) and occasionally providing sidebars titled "Through Aubrey's Eyes" that relate particular subjects to volume and chapter of the novels. Although the overall level of information presented cannot equal that in Brian Lavery's "Nelson's Navy", this is nonetheless an interesting compendium of facts and anecdotes.
There are also two short addendums: "A Cast of Characters" listing the major people and ships in the O'Brian novels and describing their actions and fates, and a Glossary of nautical terms and slang.
Book Review: A most excellent reference
Summary: 5 Stars
The sailing ship of the 18th century was the most complex machine of its age, and even today the mechanics, maintenance and particulars of a frigate are almost too involved for most of us to comprehend. This book is a treasure trove of information about the ships, the history they and their sailors made and the terminology that's unique both to the sea and to that era. I enjoyed reading the Aubrey and Maturin series the first time, but re-reading it with this book as a reference and guide is sublime. If you love these books, or any fiction about the sea and sailors, you should have this book alongside.Book Review: A short overview of the sailing Royal Navy
Summary: 4 Stars
If you have read every sailing naval action book already, there isn't a lot here new. But, if not, this is a good book to have either as a reference or a coffee-table piece- it can do either, and the illustrations are certainly good.Book Review: Beautiful and Informative Book
Summary: 4 Stars
Patrick O'Brian's Navy is a wonderful encyclopedic volume of the British Navy of the 19th Century. My only dissappointment is that I thought it would be more like the Hornblower Companion. What it is missing are maps that allow the reader to follow Aubrey's routes as the novels unfold. However, the quality of the articles and illustrations made my dissappointment short-lived.Book Review: Beautiful pictures
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a good overall book for visual explanation for the O'Brian series of books. I enjoyed this book, but must admit that I was looking for something more in depth. I haven't seen anything better yet, but will keep hoping that someone will write something even better. There is a lot of ground to cover and although this is a good book, and I would happily purchase it again, I am still looking for more visual information that just doesn't seem to be out there.