This British writer is best know for the "Aubrey-Maturin" series of novels, set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic period. His writing is outstanding for many reasons. Easy to dismiss as swash-buckling boy's adventure books, he is much more complex than that. His use of language is superb and his complex characters live in the readers imagination so vividly. Of course there is much to enjoy in the excitment of the naval battles and acts of derring-do, but he covers so much else as well. His picture of society and politics in England in the early nineteenth century is captivating. There is much to say about Patrick O'Brian, the writer and the man. Seek him out in his books and those who write about him, it will never be dull.