1. Take those Austen novels and pack ‘em away.
2. Drop what you’re doing and head off of to the nearest book store.
3. Buy the complete set of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels.
4. Read all twenty volumes sequentially starting with Master and Commander .
5. No need to thank me until you’ve finished them all.
“Come, sir, cannot I prevail upon you to go to sea? A man-of-war is the very thing for a philosopher, above all in the Mediterranean: there are the birds, the fishes—I could promise you some monstrous strange fishes—the natural phenomena, the meteors, the chance of prize-money. For even Aristotle would have been moved by prize-money . . . .”
“A ship must be a most instructive theatre for an inquiring mind . . . .”
“Prodigiously instructive, I do assure you, Doctor.”
—Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy convincing Stephen Maturin, natural philosopher, to join him at sea (Patrick O’Brian, Master and Commander )
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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