Attention: if you do not like pirate stories, then you are holding the wrong book. Close it immediately. Put it in a chest, hide it in a secret place, and let another reader discover it! If, on the other hand, you enjoy adventures with wild pirates, maps, treasures, skeletons, swords, boarding actions, and mutinies, then let me introduce myself: my name is Jim Hawkins and I will tell you the most piratical story of all. And I will tell it to you firsthand... because I lived it.