Yes, anybody who knows me and even most of those who do not could have seen this from a mile away - pirates. Although it sounds like a super sexy combat-laden escapade of maritime daring-do, it's nothing of the sort which is exactly why I went into it. Boarding and ransoming a vessel is not interesting to me - the infrastructure around the process is.
This book goes into everything from the socioeconomic reasons for piracy to the specific regulations battling it today. However, one also hears about Themistokles as well as Francis Drake. The latter two-thirds of the book then go into the laws and regulations that the international community undertake as measures to battle maritime piracy, which shows remarkable creativity.
The legal difference of a "crime of universal jurisdiction" as opposed to an "international crime" is notable and is expanded upon in the book - pirates don't get tried in the Hague, but rather in the supreme court of the US more often than not. All of these make it a highly interesting tome that I'm glad to have read.
8/10