2024 the best man show review

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(as of Dec 18, 2024 03:46:08 UTC - Details)

Out of print for many years, this is a brand new edition of the definitive companion to the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series of novels, written by the author himself.

What was daily life in Nelson's navy really like, for everyone from the captain down to the rawest recruit? What did they eat? What songs did they sing? What was the schedule of watches? How were the officers and crew paid, and what was the division of prize-money?

These questions and many more are answered in Patrick O'Brian's elegant narrative, which includes wonderful anecdotal material on the battles and commanders that established Britain's naval supremacy.

The meticulously researched text provides an unparalleled insight into life during wartime in the Napoleonic era, and offers a wonderfully evocative companion to the world of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.

Reviewer: Ironmike
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent for its size, filled with all sorts of interesting items from the Age of Sail.
Review: Splendidly detailed but not enough to bog down the reader. Very nice paintings and line drawings and info about the various ships back in Nelson's day. O'Brian was a master who easily blended fact and fiction and the reader not only enjoyed the character's adventures but learned a few things about the components of brigs and sloops and frigates but also distant corners of the globe.Five jibs for this baby.

Reviewer: OldRadioJeff
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: New To O'Brian? Read this first.
Review: It's interesting reading Patrick O'Brian when he's "off duty" so to speak. He's still very good, dense and concise and goes right to the factual content, in this case...using the exact word, which I love. The book seemed short for it's breadth of subject and he left out many things that appear in his shipboard fictions that I thought would be more thoroughly explained, points of sailing, ship trivia, and perhaps a bigger annotated index for instance. Still, it's a worthy read and a good introduction to the vast series. Read this first, for all love. I give it only 4 stars because of it's dog-watch brevity and the fact that I read it on a Kindle and the wonderful illustrations were very poorly rendered for that dehydrated medium. Now I know better. Get this book in BOOK form.

Reviewer: Amazom buyer.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good book, good service.
Review: Good book, good service.

Reviewer: D. G. Devin
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Enjoyable but far too brief
Review: It's fun to read and it is informative (so far as it goes) but it is far too short. Another reviewer said this resembles an appendix rather than a book, and that sums it up well. Those who love the Aubrey-Maturin novels obviously relish historical detail. But this book teases rather than satisfies, at only 91 pages it cannot begin to do justice to such a big subject. I read this book during commercial breaks while watching a televised baseball game, and it left me wanting more (as did the game, my team lost by one run). If you're looking for something to really get your teeth into, Dean King's book, A Sea Of Words: A Lexicon And Companion For Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales, is more rewarding, being far larger (almost 500 pages) and very well done. Some of the other books on the world inhabited by Aubrey-Maturin timed to coincide with the release of the Russell Crowe film are also quite good but they seem to be rather overpriced, while A Sea Of Words is easy to find at a reasonable price. Yes, I know, a Patrick O'Brian fanatic is going to buy Men-Of-War: Life In Nelson's Navy even knowing it's far too short, so if you get it at a good price you'll enjoy reading it even if it leaves so many of your questions unanswered.

Reviewer: William G. Redensek
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: ... book that had gone missing and it is a good educational resource in telling life as it was and ...
Review: This was replacing a text book that had gone missing and it is a good educational resource in telling life as it was and what the life on board a ship was really like. Anyone who reads historic naval battles of this time period should read this book as it demonstrates the harsh life better than any file has ever.

Reviewer: SuGe
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy by PatricK O'Brian
Review: I ordered and read this book before I ordered Patrick O'Brian's complete Aubrey/Maturin novels. I knew I was going to have a vocabulary problem where Royal Navy Officers Ranks/ Rigging on Frigates and crew designations to say nothing of their "slang" was concerned. So with the book in one hand and a 1916 Canadian/English dictionary in the other I added 3 more pages of definitions to the original book as in "orlop" lowest deck of the ship, "sakers" artillery smaller than a demiculverin and on. The illustrations, magnificent paintings and photographs were essential to the visual understanding of the text and are awe inspiring to say the least. I had only 2 problems with the book: The basics of sea faring of the reader was taken for granted and once I got used to reading around the food droppings, stuck page and smears from the previous owners slops it was an excellent read.

Reviewer: Jake
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good read
Review: Great book, very informative anf an easy read. Would be better for middle school aged kids as it is noy very thick but has all the information you need, still a good read as an adult.

Reviewer: John Iacuzzo
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Pricing too Rich
Review: Content is great, but this e-book is $12.99 + tax for 96 sparse pages. Not much reading. Not consistent with the Pat O'Brian, Master and Commander Series, which is usually 300-400 digital pages for $9.99 + tax. After complaint, Amazon " made an exception" and returned $4.00; Thanks, Amazon. Still too pricy at $8.99 + tax. Into the 13th volume of this series that is about $130.00; "Men of War" should be a freebee add-on.

Reviewer: James Homer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: If you are a fan of the Aubrey Maturin novels you'll like this. Short but worth buying to add info to the series.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I've read a lot of naval books of this era and wish I had it earlier.

Reviewer: PWIA
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Well worth a read.

Reviewer: sdcsmith
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Would recommend reading at any point in the 20 Aubrey Mauritian books for background knowledge and information, would definitely recommend

Reviewer: Greyman
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Bought blind before the reprint date, when it came I was surprised by how small this book is. It’s really pocket sized, about the same size as an old Ladybird book of old. The content is interesting but not detailed, although I found a couple of nuggets in there. I’m guessing if you are new to the ‘wooden world’ this is a good, if brief , starter but there are several much better books out there with more detail.It has a lovely cover though….!