Hitting this novel after sailing on a bowline through the previous 12 was like suddenly hitting the doldrums. It was very slow moving ahead at times, as the dialogue and description of the intrigue and negotiations of the treaty became painfully dull and tedious. And Maturin's side trip to the monkey shrine seemed like a device for O'Brien to test his mettle writing about fauna and flora--a digression within a digression. I finally got through it (things pick up again once they get out to sea), and am enjoying the Nutmeg of Consolation.

O'Brian's fans, and surely it is his loyal fans who are reading this the thirteenth in his wonderful twenty-volume nautical series, will not be disappointed. "The Thirteen Gun Salute" makes, with its successor "The Nutmeg of Consolation", a nice two-volume subset within the larger series --not unlike "Treason's Harbour" / "Far Side of the World" the ninth and tenth in the series. For "Salute" is an extended diplomatic mission to present-day Indonesia that ends in a precarious position that will only be resolved in the next book. Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin take an ambassador in the HMS Diane, which readers will remember they took from the French in the preceding volume, to sign a treaty with a Malayan sultan. Along the way Maturin finds and satisfyingly deals with Ledward and Wray. (To the reviewer who doesn't quite understand what happened to the pair of traitors, suffice to recall that Ambassador Fox is an expert marksman.)

O'Brian's intelligent and intimate prose is as strong as ever. His delightful dry humor and observations of human nature are perfectly insightful. Another excellent story.

In terms of delineation of character and pure description of the sea -- at both of which O'Brian excells -- this thirteenth novel in the series is one of his best yet. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are off, finally, on their quasi-diplomatic voyage to South America -- but wait! The Admiralty suddenly needs them for a mission in one of the Malayan sultanates! Jack gets his commission and seniority back, he's given the Diane (which he captured in the last book), and he takes aboard another envoy (who rates thirteen guns, hence the title). The French are in Pulo Prabang, too, in the persons of the traitors Wray and Ledward, and Maturin has his hands full, but they come to a delightfully bonechilling end under the doctor's scalpel. And then there's that uncharted reef. . . .

The argumentation is uneven, but the good stretches contain
enough new ideas to make it a good read. The core of
the book is the notion that referential links have to
be *maintained*. A subsidiary theme is that your metaphysics
should satisfy two constraints: it should make sense of
computer science, and it should allow for the world being
intrinsically very, very messy. If you like Bruno Latour,
and you're interested in metaphysics and epistemology, you'll probably like this. (If you dislike Latour, you'll probably dislike this.)

Fascinating!, Riveting!, Exquisite!. But. This is not an easy book. This is not an easy reading. From the first page, B. Smith throws at the reader the whole apparatus of the philosophical jargon. And it does not ease up towards the end. So, if you are not a philosopher but merely a computer scientist you could be lost. The difficulty of the topic (more about it later) is magnified by the writing style: Smith's style does not have a clarity of Gallileo letters. Nor does it have the brilliance and illuminating simplicity of Russell's essays. It is more like a style of someone who is struggling with his topic and with the language. You have an impression that the author is trying to shake the shackles of the language to express some deep thoughts that are intuitively understandable but are impossible to express, that those ideas he is trying to tell us about, are beyond the normal grasp of the language, beyond its expressive powers. And he makes us fully participate in this struggle. So what is the topic of the book? Smith attempts to answer the oldest of questions man/woman dared to ask- the question of what is out there. And while the question for a long time remained mainly of interest to philosophers, with the advent of computers and computer models it entered the mainstream of the human thought. Anyone who has been struggling with the computer (or computerized) representations and computer models of any system or any process (in fact of anything), will appreciate Smith's discourse.

Smith's thesis is that there is nothing out there such as a box, a house, a river, a cloud, etc.(examples are a bit simplistic and Smith goes beyond them). What is out there is a " constant flux" and we, through our participation in the flux, by our intentional stance "make things" out of it. We segment the reality into what make sense to us because of our intentions (intention in a larger, than everyday, sense) Thus, every struggle to nail down the models of reality using Yes/No abstract logic, will fail because the One reality has multiple realizations, each of them is true and the key to them (and what is missing in our Yes/No models) is the "participation" or the intentional stance. Smith asks questions that strike at the very heart of our understanding of the world and at the very essence of what we think computers are, do, or can do, and how they do. If you are brave enough to probe the same depths of human experience this book is for you.

This book is not for the faint of heart, and if you believe that reading is an intellectual investment rather than just a casual pastime you will certainly benefit from this book. Once you get past Smith's academic language you realize that he has a very important message - that all computational systems are based upon a fundamental philosophical foundation, or ontology as he puts it. Every computational system we design and use is based upon our perceptions(subject) of objects - and the objects and models that arise from the subject-object no-man's land. There is no true platonic ideal, but rather a fuzzy metaphysical boundarys and objects that kinda work sometimes. If you are looking for a book that makes you take a big step in your day to day thinking and how you apply it, this is the book

Given that I haven't actually used the information, and I never intended to even before I bought it, the text seems complete. It manages its completeness without being overly academic. I'd consider it more of a "technical" book rather than an "engineering" book: a brass tacks "how-to" rather than physiology, theory, etc. My biggest "complaint" are the illustrations. They seem to be a bit on the "cutesy" side. Perhaps that was what was intended in order to keep the subject light but I would very much have liked to see some detailed top/front/side views of both the male and the female subject - academic quality. Even jumped on Knox Cellars' website hoping for the diagrams but no such luck. Despite this, keep in mind, I feel this book is more than adequate to get anyone up and running with these little pollinators. The previous review does a sufficient job of summarizing so I won't here.

This book tells all about orchard mason bees (and some other native pollinators), what they look like, what they do, why they're particularly good at it, and most of all how we can help.

Orchard mason bees are not honeybees but a small, modest, hard-working, solitary little bee native to the New World. They mind their own business and do a whale of a job pollinating. My blueberry bushes have doubled and tripled their yields since I started putting homes out for the orchard mason bees.

The pictures of the bee-faces in the section on telling the difference between the boy bees and the lady bees are cute. But the text, while not heavy in the least, is serious. Here is a man who believes in his bees and in ways in which we can acknowledge our part in the natural order by helping offset the pernicious effects of excess urbanization. The text is written at the layman's level; no technical knowledge is required to read and understand, but there are references for people who want to get more deeply involved with technical issues.

Here is everything you will need to know to decide whether you would like to harbor orchard mason bees and how to go about it if you do.

I got my first bee block from Knox Farms several years ago and upgraded to a bee condo last year. This year I took my courage in my hands and carefully changed my bee-full nesting tubes for clean ones to wait for spring. It was fascinating handling those tubes stuffed with beneficient bee life! I think this would be a great thing for kids to get involved with. (I'm fourty-something, and I think it's great).

If you are interested in giving a hard-working native bee a hand, and benefitting all of the fruit and berry plants in your neighborhood, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Easy to read but packed with information!

You only thought you knew conspiracies. But in this book, it all comes to light! WAREHOUSE 13 is a light-hearted look at the paranoid that lurks inside all of us. The premise is that somewhere, hidden away in a secluded mountainside, is a darkened storage facility that contains a myriad of things that THEY don't want you to know exist!

And what a collection!

Clones of current and past presidents, androids, mind-control devices, the Ark of the Covenant, the Spear of Logenes, even up-to-date files on YOU! It's all in here! If you have ever imagined that our beloved and benign government might be hiding something from us, this book will put you onto cloud nine!

A wonderfully delightful addition to any conspiracy-based game, or just a rollicking good read!

There's some great stuff for your campaign in here. I've already used it in mine (a government conspiracy / Bigfoot sort of thing). Some of the artifacts could have had a better basis in history (but then again, maybe they do :-)

Do you believe? Whether you are a fringe researcher or you subscribe to Conspiracies Monthly, this book is for you! It is chock full of conspiracies and artifacts from history. More than a simple game product, the book is also a fantastic read.

Packed with gaming information in the GURPS style, Warehouse 23 is also full of behind-the-scenes conspiracy information. S. John Ross is obviously a man-in-black and knows far too much for his own good. From the legendary Ark of the Covenant to clones of world leaders, the warehouse has it all.

This tape is well done. The sound effects create an atmosphere that draws in the listener. The actors are dramatic, but not overly so. The short stories themselves are well written, delivering edge-of-the-chair suspense (or knee-slapping comedy, as the case may be).

As most net surfers are aware the Sci-Fi Channel's web site has included a section devoted to science fiction radio drama...Seeing Ear Theatre. One aspect of which includes originally produced productions cerated especially for the site and which has featured performances by many well-known SF actors as Micheal O'Hare,Mark Hamill,Marina Sirtis,and others. With a few exceptions, a lot of the dramas are based on recent short stories by SF writers such as Terry Bisson, Allen Steele, John Kessel and Gergory Benford. With the release of this audiobook editon(which includes introductions by SF's resident angry young{sic}man Harlan Ellison)now one can listen to these stories anytime you want. The best stories(IMO)are the Three Odd Comedies and The Death of Captain Future (which despite the pulpish-sounding title is a darkly humorous tale set in the future history of Steele's previous works such as Orbital Decay and Clarke County,Space). If you like audio drama-- especially newly produced audio drama...you'll love this collection and you may also want to check out Vol. 2 which should be on sale soon(I know I can't wait).

WOW what a story! Brian Smith could sell this as a short story by itself it is so good IMO. I just wish they sold a hard copy of these writings--not just audio! I have been reading Sci Fi for a long time. This guy is great! Reminds me of 2001, a space odyssey a bit. Worth the price just for this one folks! I noticed there are no other books by Brian Smith for sale on Amazon. What's up with that? He needs to write books, and Amazon needs to sell them--geez, do I make myself clear?

The ninth of twenty volumes in O'Brian's classic nautical series, "Treason's Harbour" ties together some of the plot threads from the previous book, "Ionian Mission", but leaves some of its own questions unanswered. Ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin is back in the intelligence game in Malta, battling French agents and feeding them false information until he and Captain Aubrey are sent to the Red Sea. Their mission is disappointing, though, because of a mole in the British command whose identity is unknown but who also apparently foils the mission to Algeria that ends this book.

Two-thirds of the way into "Treason's Harbour", readers will finally hear about the capitulation of the town of Marga, which Aubrey's crew was besieging in "Ionian Mission". Similarly, in this book we never learn the fate of the Fieldings, he a naval officer escaped from a French prison to return to his wife and she with reputation ruined by Maturin's espionage machinations. This is a letdown, because we've spent so much time learning about them and watching Maturin considering their fates. We never learn the denouement of the Zambra mission but are left hanging after Aubrey has confronted three French vessels, this too is disappointing because the naval actions in this book are subdued, far less gripping than in other installments.

"Treason's Harbour" is a good book, skipping along with O'Brian's intelligent prose and complete ease with maritime matters, but is not wholly self-contained. The diving bell is fun, but this reader is still wishing to know about the Fieldings. The plot bobs and eddies but never quite runs out before the pages do.

Captain Jack Aubrey was known in the Royal Navy as "Lucky Jack" in his earlier career, but he hasn't been so lucky of late. This ninth novel in the series, which continues immediately after _The Ionian Mission_ (and appears to be the middle installment of a mini-trilogy), is a satisfying mix of naval adventure, set mostly in the Red Sea, and spy story, set in Malta and revolving around Stephen Maturin's befriending of the young wife of a captured naval captain who is working, semi-unaware, for the French intelligence service. He's much better known to his enemies now than in times past, which has increased his personal danger greatly, and -- while we all know he's going to survive -- it's interesting to see how he does it. As always, O'Brian shows himself a master of early 19th century slang and jargon, and also of droll wit. The extra fillip this time is the pair's adventures crossing the desert between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez, combined with Maturin's acquisition of a massive brass diving bell. And the account of the pellmell journey down the narrow passage in pursuit of a galley hopefully filled with French gold is one of the author's best extended scenes yet.

This installment, like the rest of this series so far, is suspenseful, funny and populated with characters that seem very real. One new character, Laura Fielding, is admirably faithful to her imprisoned husband, and is, in general, a very likable character (and one that charms both Stephen and Jack). The Middle Eastern setting of this book is exotic and very vividly described. Stephen's adventures in his new scientific marvel, the diving bell, are both funny and interesting. Jack's encounters with Laura's massive dog Ponto are hilarious. The end of this book is very suspenseful because the reader has come to really care about the characters involved. The most notable thing about this book is what a great job O'Brian did of keeping this series fresh by bringing in new locations, characters and situations. O'brian did a great job of not letting this series fall into predictable formulas and repetition. The only failing of this book is that the very end is just a little disappointing and O'brian leaves the reader hanging much more than in the previous books.

The tenth volume in O'Brian's wonderfully intelligent nautical series finds Captain Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in Gibraltar, still aboard the Surprise. Their mission is to track an American ship down the Atlantic and on to the largely uncharted Pacific whaling grounds. While "Far Side of the World" contains none of the heart-pounding muzzle-to-muzzle naval battles that readers have come to expect in O'Brian's stories, it contains lots of imaginative plot twists nonetheless. A strange and tragic love triangle, a raft full of primitive lesbians, Maturin's disappointing visit to the Galapagos, and an oddly gripping denouement as the Surprises confront their American nemeses. The book is entirely afloat, with pit stops to refit, but no extended periods ashore with family or engaged in intelligence affairs. Maturin's friendship with Dr. Martin, a naturalist parson, provides comic relief at every turn.

O'Brian never fails to please. This book smoothly picks up where the last one left off, and leaves a thread or two dangling to launch the next volume. As always, the writing is brilliant and spare, the characters complex and developed, and the adventures well-researched, founded in British naval histories. Another great voyage.

When reading the Aubrey/Maturin series it is hard to think that perhaps any one book is better then the rest. Because of O'Brians brilliant use of language and subtlety, the best book always seems to be the one you have most recently put down. This seems to be the case until you read The Far side of the World. This book has all the elements that you love about the series - great dialogue, authentic naval warfare, love, intrigue, and more - all rolled into one. O'Brian is able to present early 19th century life to you in a way that can only be equalled by primary sources. I would recommend that you read the series in order , but if you had to read just one make it The Far Side of the World.

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin voyage to unfamiliar waters, chasing an American frigate around Cape Horn, up the South American coast to the Galapagos and into the South Pacific. The American is laying waste to British whaling, and Aubrey's mission is to stop her.

"The Far Side of the World" of course has O'Brian's signature scholarship, his extraordinary attention to the detail of a square-rigged ship during the Napoleonic Wars, his wit and sense of the absurd, and, best of all, his pulse-racing descriptions of a chase and battle at sea.

What sets this installment a bit above its counterparts is the exhilaration of a chase that winds through two oceans and thousands of miles, and a wonderful scene wherein Aubrey and Maturin are plucked from the drink by a female crew of Polynesian men-haters.

By all means, read this book. (But read all the others in the series first!)

The Twentieth (and Final) novel in the Aubrey/Maturin series finds our heroes engaged in a solo night raid against the Spanish viceroy in Peru. The goal, as it has been for the last several books, is to help Chile gains its independence from Spain. On the personal side, Stephen Maturin is reconsidering marriage while Jack Aubrey dreams of finally becoming an Admiral. But as readers of this series are well aware, just because one of these books heads off in a particular direction is no guarantee it will ever reach any given destination.

I finished "Blue at the Mizzen" a week before the death of author Patrick O'Brian, having spent the entire summer reading the Aubrey/Maturin series from start to finish. There was speculation when the book was published that it might make the end of this most remarkable series because of O'Brian's failing health. However, the author was apparently well into his next novel when he passed away.

In hindsight it is certainly remarkable that "Blue at the Mizzen" will be the final book in the series. The series does indeed a high water mark of a sort and I must express my wish that O'Brian had picked a different title in regards to that particular point. The novel begins with Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, which is also significant, for Jack Aubrey is very much a creature of the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Although Aubrey and his particular friend Stephen Maturin had never been in the forefront of the war effort, it was against that larger backdrop that O'Brian set his novels. Whatever adventures lay ahead, they would most surely have been of a different cut of cloth. Consequently, while I will miss the novels that would have been followed this one, I am satisfied that there is a completeness to the epic.

To underscore this idea I ask you to read the final chapter of this novel and to recognize the inherent rightness in the final words of Jack Aubrey upon the printed page.

Final Note: While I give this particular novel 4 Stars the entire series. Remember: YOU MUST READ THESE NOVELS IN ORDER. This is not Horatio Hornblower.

I don't know whether I would recommend "Blue at the Mizzen" to someone unfamiliar with Patrick O'Brian's excellent series of nautical novels about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin because, I believe, much of the pleasure to be derived in reading the book comes from our acquaintance with the main characters from previous novels. But I would have no hesititation at all at recommending it to any Aubrey-Maturin fan. A significant number of readers (not including me) of the previous book in the series, "The Hundred Days", were disappointed in the somber tone of that novel -- an atmosphere fully justified, in my opinion, by the central subject matter. Those readers need not fear a repetition in "Blue at the Mizzen." Stephen Maturin has recovered his interest in the natural world and is once again a fully engaged participant in the events around him. It has been said that this novel might be the final volume in the series (I hope not) but if it is, then the series will end on a high note. The book is full of typical O'Brian touches of elegantly described scenes and subtle characterizations. If it is not quite the equal of "Post Captain" or "Desolation Island" (but what is?) there is still much in "Blue at the Mizzen" to make longtime fans of the series smile with satisfaction. And if it is not the final volume, then I shall look forward with great pleasure to the next book.

I wasn't a great fan of the predecessor to this book (The Hundred Days) as it seemed that a lot of life had been sucked out of the series. I then re-read the set from Master and Commander to Blue at The Mizzen.

While the books have changed somewhat, in that they have become less descriptive of the interrelationships between the characters, this is understandable. As Aubrey gets more senior (here for much of the time he is an acting Commodore with a small squadron) the books have to describe a much bigger naval and political picture. O'Brian excels at this.

Unfortunately this means we lose some of the "small ship" feeling, and many of the best characters from earlier in the series are left out. Isn't this a function of life - not only Aubrey and Maturin's but also most readers? As we move on in the world relationships change and we interact with different people. In addition O'Brian would have difficulty in weaving in many old characters and maintaining the sense of historical accuracy that is important to his books (this is however not a justification for Aubrey's lack of response to Bonden's death in the previous book).

Read the whole series from book one and then enjoy this and its predecessor (The Hundred Days). Both books then fall into much better context.

Keep it up Mr O'Brian - you are doing an excellent job. I fervently hope that the unanswered questions surrounding Stephen and Christine Wood (as well as where Aubrey goes from here) mean that we can hope for one more (and preferably more than one) book and a couple of large fleet actions!

Brian Moynahan clearly sets out the assumption that is too guide the rest of his interpretation in his introduction, "underneath every brownshirt is a red" or some similar statement. This extreme bias taints the entire work. However, it is still an interesting read

Moynahan's journalistic instincts are to the fore in this fast moving account of one of history's great upheavals. The author has plenty of experience covering Russia as a journalist at The Times. The coverage doesn't just take in the politics or revolution. There's social history, art and lifestyle - as well as all the gruesome stuff involving purges, genocide and the death camps in eastern siberia.

It also has some wonderful pictures - especially one showing an old woman experiencing voting for the first time. Something that is so familiar to most of us was so alien to her. She was ninety and old enough to remember Tsar Nicholas.

The coverage is heavily bent towards the first half of the century since most of the action took place then. Moynahan's big picture style means that you really get a feel for how traumatic and vengeful these times were for ordinary people. The revolutions and the spread of communist power throughout the empire was quite simply government by a gang of murderous thugs. Fiends of the worst possible kind with a liking for violence.

The end of the party and the Russian Empire is dealt with only lightly since the book was first written in the early 1990s. (I read the 1994 version and haven't got around to reading an updated version). That, I don't, think is a big issue since most readers will have been around long enough to have a pretty good handle on the Gorbachev and Yeltsin years anyway.

All too often, these types of histories are academic (often mind numbing) and/or far too long. This one is short, sucinct and highly entertaining. In fact, anyone wishing to get into the excellent accounts of the revolution by Figes or Pipes should read this one first.

The Russian Century is a whirlwind tour through the last 100 years of Russia's history, with the core of the book dedicated to Stalin and the WWII years. This is a short, fast book that touches lightly on the key events of the century but discusses none in great detail.

Moynahan is a journalist and not a historian -- he gives the reader the feel and flavor of the Russian experience instead of a hardcore analysis. It is the sizzle of Russian history without the meat. This is a book where one learns that Lenin disguised himself with a gray wig during the Bolshevik Revolution, and that Stalin once fired a famous jazz singer because her songs were too complex for his taste. On the other hand, the Yalta conference is alluded to in just one sentence and never discussed again. Raisa Gorbachev's shopping habits receive several mentions, while the complex internal politics behind glasnost are glossed over.

These are not faults -- just differences. The Russian Century is the perfect "survey course" for someone new to Russian history. They can get the quick overview here and then learn more about specific events in other books.

This book is an action packed thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed and hated to put down (the few times that I did). Smith's efficient and fluid writing style provides excitement at Mach 1. His characters are real, and familiar enough to bring the horror too close to home. This is the stuff that nightmares spawn from. Smith has produced a new flavor of horror for those of us who have been satiated by the established masters of horror.

I think this Lucifer guy from NY has missed the boat on When Shadows Fall. This book packs more action and fright than any King or Koontz book. If you've ever been bored with the lengthy digressions of those authors, and want to scream "Let's get on with it!" you're in for a treat. Smith was woven more elements into a horror novel than anyone I've read so far (and I've read quite a few). It's a real tour de force of terror. I highly recommend it, and can't wait for his next.

When Shadows Fall is not your typical horror novel. It's great. It really departs from the fill-up-300-pgs-with-boring details approach I've come to loathe in King and company. Smith has broken new ground with his cimematic writing and jam-packed action. It's really hair-raising, fast moving literature. I highly recommend it.