patrick o brian

A person's favorite stories can be enjoyed many times

Readers can go from Jane Austen to O’Brian and not miss a beat, except where the former writes about the country life of women in England circa 1810, the latter, who kept a first edition of “Pride and Prejudice” at his bedside, specialized in describing the lives of sailors in the same period in impeccable detail. In fact, Austen’s brothers were prominent sailors, and O’Brian wrote as if he was related. Though not one to re-read books, I’ve consumed this 7,000 page work in either print or audio form probably five or six times (who’s counting, anyway), with each experience revealing fresh and fascinating aspects. Besides being a rousing, historically accurate tale, there’s intriguing insight into all the ways humans can express strong emotions, especially love.  MRI tests have shown that when we see letters and groups of letters, our brains sound out what we’re seeing at lightning speed.The “brain is processing one sound at a time, but we perceive it as a whole word. In good readers, the process is so fast it appears they are reading whole words, but in fact they are converting the letters on the written page into sounds. The brain then recognizes groups of sounds as words.” The article describes a computer program designed by New Zealand university professor Quentin Atkinson that determines the comparative number of phonemes, “the sounds that make up words, like ‘c,’ ‘a,’ and ‘tch’ in the words ‘catch,’” in various languages. Atkinson found “African populations have higher genetic diversity than European, Asian and American populations,” and they have the greatest phonetic diversity, being the only place on earth where clicks are employed in the spoken vocabulary. I also re-read a lecture titled “How to Read, How to Write” by novelist Vladimir Nabokov published thirty years ago in Esquire Magazine, of all places.

Just finished Patrick O'Brian's The Catalans. I found the style hard to read (I read extremely fast) but enjoyed the atmosphere and the tale

Musical Evenings in the Captain's Cabin: More Music from the Aubrey-Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian: Musica...

The Marine Art of Geoff Hunt: Master Painter of the Naval World of Nelson and Patrick O'brian:

I really dislike the snobbery that permeates publishing. Take Patrick O'Brian novels: they stand up against any so-called 'lit-fic'.

On the 5th Aubrey/Maturin novel by Patrick O'Brian ("Master and Commander" fame). Wonderfully immersing, highly descriptive sea tales!

Patrick, Son of Ireland

Surviving an attack by Irish raiders on his home in Wales, sixteen-year-old Succat is sold into slavery and comes to the attention of a novice Druid who teaches ...

Brian's Winter

A companion to Hatchet tells the story of what might have happened if thirteen-year-old Brian was not rescued and follows his struggle to survive against the ...

Brian's Return

Georgia O'Keeffe, a life

The first biography written with full cooperation of the O'Keeffe family examines the artist's long and distinguished career, her personal relationships, and ...

St. Patrick of Ireland, A Biography

In "St. Patrick of Ireland" Philip Freeman brings the historic Patrick and his world vividly to life.