Lords of the Sea

Lords of the Sea was written by Alfred Thayer Mahan, the author of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. I hadn't realized that at first, but the writing style is distinctive; it takes a bit of getting used to, which is why I'm just finishing the book now despite having gotten it for Christmas. Lords covers the careers of six notables of the Royal Navy: Hawke, Rodney, Howe, Jervis, Saumarez, and Pellew. He considers the first four to be notable admirals; he says that Saumarez and Pellew, while excellent captains, didn't have the gift for being in overall command. Oddly, no chapter is devoted to Nelson, although Mahan does say that Nelson wasn't as skilled at ship-handling as, say, Saumarez; you don't have to be able to drive the ship to know where it should go.

Speaking of things which have been unfinished since Christmas, I've finally used the Amazon certificate and ordered The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving Economic Collapse (which was written by someone who was in Argentina during its troubles 2001) and Pike and Shot Tactics (which was written by someone who was never in the Thirty Years War but I hope it will be informative anyway).