I loved Patrick O'Brien's series; I learned a lot about sailing techniques, ship architecture and methods of those days, as well as how they fought battles. He obviously studied that tech deeply. Spherical geometry, anyone? How about creating a vehicle that can circumnavigate the world, out of nothing but wood, linen, hemp and a few bits and bobs of iron? Those people rocked it, they were not stupid.
There was a misspelling; it's Alfred Thayer Mahan, with no 'y' in his last name. His books are long out of copyright, but I was able to build a nearly-complete collection of them used. Most of them are also available as PDFs, but they tend to have double-sized foldout maps of battles which the people scanning them are not so careful to do well. He was able to interview Civil War naval veterans some 20 years after that war; his learnings are recorded in "The Gulf and Inland Waters". Grab any of his books you can; they are classic studies of sailing-navy strategy.
"Man-Kzin Wars" piece of trivia-- Niven wrote one incident where a Pierson's Puppeteer engages a Kzin. Pierson's Puppeteers are normally so timid they never leave their home planet, so this one, Nessus, is considered insane by his peers. In the incident, Nessus lashes out with his powerful hind leg (they only have one) and breaks a couple of the Kzin's ribs. The Kzin is flabbergasted that a cowardly prey creature could do him such damage.
Later, Niven was asked to write an episode for the animated Star Trek series of the 1970's. He phoned it in, rewriting Nessus to be Mr. Spock. But since he did that, Kzin are now canon in the Star Trek universe!
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There was a misspelling; it's Alfred Thayer Mahan, with no 'y' in his last name. His books are long out of copyright, but I was able to build a nearly-complete collection of them used. Most of them are also available as PDFs, but they tend to have double-sized foldout maps of battles which the people scanning them are not so careful to do well. He was able to interview Civil War naval veterans some 20 years after that war; his learnings are recorded in "The Gulf and Inland Waters". Grab any of his books you can; they are classic studies of sailing-navy strategy.
"Man-Kzin Wars" piece of trivia-- Niven wrote one incident where a Pierson's Puppeteer engages a Kzin. Pierson's Puppeteers are normally so timid they never leave their home planet, so this one, Nessus, is considered insane by his peers. In the incident, Nessus lashes out with his powerful hind leg (they only have one) and breaks a couple of the Kzin's ribs. The Kzin is flabbergasted that a cowardly prey creature could do him such damage.
Later, Niven was asked to write an episode for the animated Star Trek series of the 1970's. He phoned it in, rewriting Nessus to be Mr. Spock. But since he did that, Kzin are now canon in the Star Trek universe!
- Cicada Grove