To those familiar with Patrick O'Brian's previous stories, "The Wine Dark Sea" will not disappoint! Just don't start here if you're not...

There are few prose stylists writing today who can compare with Patrick O'Brian for the smooth, evocative and fluid stories which come from his pen. This book, a particularly fine example of O'Brian's craft, is part of his Aubrey/Maturin series of sea-faring novels. Sailor Jack Aubrey, while a typically crusty man of the blue briny, is also a well-read and witty contrast and companion to Doctor Stephen Maturin, an erudite physician with a huge love of the sea. Together, the two have had many adventures, but in The Wine-Dark Sea, they face some of their greatest challenges ever with remarkable spirit and aplomb. The story here is great entertainment with lots of page-turning action, but the lush writing is simply seductive and so easy to become lost and quite "at sea" within. While these are often consider "men's books," I strongly suspect that many women would be attracted to the strong plots, grand characterization, and fine writing; there is never the least hint of the crude or the coarse in these highly literate, but so readable novels. I have often suggested the works of Patrick O'Brian to writing students as a model for crisp, fresh, lively prose and most highly recommend this series to anyone who loves a great read.

Brian Brown created a near perfect character. Ceasar Fortunato was never described as being bad at anything. In fact, the worst we heard of him being was when he was cut from his high school baseball team, he was a "typical" batter. He was supposed to be a virtuoso at the piano, a scholarship awarded basketball player, some artistic visionary in television, was attractive, and got laid and/or became the object of a woman's love all the time. There were no flaws whatsoever in the character, so he was given problems with gambling and narcotics. It was an easy way out for Brian Brown, rather than trying to create a character that may have flaws and faults that I'm sure that even TV producers possess. The only thing that prevented Ceasar from being a perfect speciman, one who is physically attractive, has many friends, is an excellent athlete, finishes his life as a very popular radio personality who is capable of molding others, and has an astute appreciation for classical music that even people in the music biz cannot compete with, is this contrived gambling addiction. If Brown had spend some time demonstrating how Ceasar went on a downward slope, it might have been more believable. The whole story was done in flashbacks, so we eventually learn that Ceasar took bribes to skim points on a college basketball game. We are also told about a girlfriend whose father ran some bookkeeping op in his bar. We are left to our own devices to assume that these incidents were his path into the world of gambling. But we are not shown how he was sucked in, how it overtook his life, how he went from skimming a couple of points in exchange for a car to begging his son for money so he can bet just one more time. We are just to assume that he got to that point. Likewise, the author was unable to demonstrate how Ceasar went from being a punk kid in TV to being corrupt. No time was spent on describing how Ceasar first realized that a gratutious expense would not be questioned, so why not two gratutious expenses? Once again, we are just to assume that he woke up one day and decided that he wanted to live his job in a fashion where it would only work to his personal advantage. All this being said, I am convinced that Brian Brown did not want to think out a well rounded story for the fictional producer as much as he wanted to call out his one time colleagues. If you want a story on the corruption in the entertainment biz, take a look at Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. At least what is in there does not pretend to be fiction.

The fictional characters who were thinly vailed portrayals of a real-life character was insulting to the intelligence as well. The best skateboarder in the world is Brett Falcon? Come on... You didn't want to spend the time describing a character that could convince the reader that he was the best pro skateboarder in the world, so you come up with a play on Tony Hawk's name? There are so many occurances of things like this in the book that it makes me sick.

The condescention of some of the commentary made it difficult to read after a while. It would break out into these little sidebars. For instance, when talking about the 1977 Academy Awards, it had to break out in a page long story about Sylvester Stallone and how he fought against all odds to get Rocky made. So many little stupid sidebars like that just came across as know-it-all-ism. When he started describing how in the late 1800s, Daimler created the first motorbike, I think reached my wits end. Adding that you know little facts such as these do not add to the story and are certainly NOT a substitute for thourough plot and character development.

In conclusion, as someone who got out of the broadcasting biz at an early age, I did enjoy the story. But this story seemed to be more of an opportunity for Brown to blow the whistle on some of this behavior rather than tell a story.

The book suffers from some errors, mostly editing and playtesting. The art is sometimes irritating and some 'crunchy' bits have already appeared in other books. I, however have found this book to be of excellent value.

Classes: This book takes the Dungeon Master's Guide's advice and takes the initiative to create variant classes. These range from more specific versions of a class with cool abilities (like the Gladiator and Shaman) to classes that combine existing ones into exciting new classes that are much different than the old ones (like the infiltraitor). These classes are as flexible as the old ones and are fairly well balanced. Also are new prestige classes that cover specific jobs (Mariner, Muse) and a few of the many orginizations on Tellene (Sentinels of Providence, Alliance Merchant).

Feats: Absolutely tons of new feats in this monster. New types of feats like the Enhanced Familiar feats (which give your familiar better abilities like a higher intellegence or the ability to speak) and regional or race-based feats which you can only take at first level help shape your character to exactly what you want and brings the game back to roleplaying.

Religion: This book details the canons of each church. Although these are specifically related to Kalamar gods, they can be adapted to fit any setting. In addition, this book gives ideas on how clerics can advance through the church and very basic game rules like time spent and how to advance to the next level and what you get at each level.

Other rule stuff: The equipment section isn't too terribly exciting but it does give a shot at pushing the edge. Included are (some) new weapons and rules for slaves. The most exciting part is the new alchemical mixtures that will get you thinking of your own and are all interesting in their own way. Their is repeat in the domain section, but not a large amount. The new spells are kinda cool, but what is really nice is the scalable spells. These are kind of like Wheel of Time spells where you choose the level it is cast at.

At the end: The white pages. If you are thinking telephone book when I say that you are on the right tracks. In these are a comprehensive list of all feats and spells (divided up by class) in all official D&D products and where they can be found. These can then be copied to use as a spell sheets. Also back here is a gigantic Place of Origin table. Only useful if you are playing Kalamar but it is non-obtrusive and only takes 7 pages.

To close, this is a great book for all D&D players and DMs alike. If you don't have it yet, I recommend you pick one up.

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Lucky Jack Aubrey is a bold naval officer who befriends Steven Maturin, a physician and multilingual spy, in their efforts to thwart Napoleon's ambitions for the British Empire. The two oddball friends provide an interesting contrast as Patrick O'Brien takes us back 200 years and give us British Naval History more or less intact with the exception that he places these two hero's on the scene. Some explanation is given at the start of each story as to what is real and what is fiction.

O'Brien's writing style uses turn of the century terminology and language--which can be confusing at times, especially some of the nautical maneuvers, but lends more authenticity to each volume.

My only regret is that I purchased the paperbound version. These books are worth keeping and re-reading. I recommend you purchase them in the hard bound edition which will hold up as you re-read them in the future.

I agree that it's easy to read and seems to be well organised, but it is certainly not well written.

There are numerous errors throughout the book ranging from the trivial to the totally misleading, and many IPv6 concepts are repeated as nauseum in the first half suggesting that they were written by different authors without consulting one another before the book was published. Worse, it seems to have been rushed out without any overall proof reading.

No specific target audience seems to have been kept in mind - if you need an explanation of how to convert decimal to hex (pages 122 - 124) then perhaps this book isn't your first priority.

If you want to know more about IPv6 in Cisco IOS I recommend you look elsewhere - especially to the authoritative guide from Cisco Press by Regis Desmeules.

I give this book three stars for the Cisco IOS specific material, but only two for the general IPv6 material.

I found this book to be excellent reading. It covers enough to help you understand IPv4 and carry that over to IPv6 very adaquately. I have to say I have a technical library of over 300 books and manuals, and this is a welcome addition. It is definitley the best book I've read on IPv6, and know that I will have it around for reference for some time. It is very well written adn organized.

I am a proffesional Internet Security Expert, and find this book Configuring IPv6 with Cisco IOS to be very helpful in understanding what to expect in the new version of IP.

I recommend the book to anyone who is serious about IT, and wants to be on top of the game.

Throughout this book nineteen main environmental issues are addressed. I decided to focus on three main topics, that I feel are the most important; they are fresh water, biodiversity, and waste. Evidence of water stress is seen all over the world. According to Brown there will be scarcely one fourth as much fresh water per person in 2050 as there was in 1950. Worldwide, some 70 percent of the water pumped from underground wells or diverted from rivers is used for irragation, 20 percent is used for industrial purposes, and 10 percent for residental use. As population keeps growing more water is being diverted to urban areas, this is the same water that is usually used for irrigation. The main point being addressed is that the shortage of water means the decrease in food being produced.

The next topic covered in the book is biodiversity. As human populations keep growing other species are affected, some to the point of extinction. According to Brown the major source of species loss is habitat alteration, invasion by exotic species, pollution, and over hunting. As populations keep growing more people are forced into undeveloped areas that our host to many different species. This is where over hunting comes into play. People have to eat, or make a living selling skins or other animal parts. This problem is the greatest in underdeveloped countries where there are little or no conservation laws.

The last topic addressed is waste control. With a constant increase in population, the flow of waste products into landfills and waterways is increasing. Municipal waste is a major source of this problem. On average 824 million tons of waste are produced in developing countries each year. With an increase in population growth this number will rise to 1.4 billion in 2050. It is suggested that government agencies have to step in order to regulate this problem. Finding new ways to dispose of waste have to be discovered in order for the world to live with less disease.

Overall I felt this book was very informative about some of the problems of the world. I wish there were more solutions for what needs to be done in order to solve these problems. I think more education needs to be conducted in developing countries to reduce birth rates. According to Brown the current fertility rate in Pakistan is six children per woman and nearly seven in Ethiopia. These numbers have to be lowered in order for these countries to sustain a reasonable standard of living.

The late Patrick O'Brian had no peer when it came to sea stories. This is another in his series with Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin as his protagonists. The two, although dissimilar in every way, are great friends and sail together, Aubrey as commander, and Maturin as ship's physician--and intelligence agent for the Admiralty.

The period is the Napoleonic wars, the ship is His Majesty's hired vessel, the Surprise, a brig, and this story begins in Australian waters, having just left the penal colony there. Shortly after leaving, the Surprise is overhauled by a packet with orders to proceed to the Hawaiian (Sandwich) Islands, to protect British whaling interests there. Oh, and an ex-convict stowaway (Clarissa Harvill) is discovered in the cable-tier, hiding in the anchor rope. It takes Stephen Maturin to discover her past.

Thus the story begins, and O'Brian, with his usual brisk narrative pace maintains your interest throughout.

Patrick O'Brian had few, if any equals when it came to knowledge of square-rigged vessels and their history in battle. Many of his stories reflect actual actions, taken directly from British Admiralty history. Not only is his nautical terminology accurate, but he also uses period expressions that lend reality to his tales. I cannot find it in my heart to award anything he has written with less than 5 stars.

Let me suggest that the reader would do well to start with the first book in the series, Master and Commander, and take them in order. The series is a saga that provides untold hours of pleasure.

Joseph H. Pierre
Author of The Road to Damascus, Our Journey Through Eternity

The title is a misnomer -- there are no secrets to be found here!

It's strange; the Windows ME Secrets book was great! This book lacks heart. Its a drab, dull, superficial look at Windows 2000. Just about any Windows 2000 book would be better than this one.

Its hard to believe the same guy who wrote all those great books is actually responsible for this miserable work. Must have been a bad day.