Bust out the bottle of rum

Now that Johnny Depp nation is drooling all over itself for the second installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean," you may be curious about the real lives of those sword-wielding drunks in funny hats.

If so, consider turning your insatiable curiosity to "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates," by Gail Selinger and W. Thomas Smith Jr.

It's in paperback, so the good news is the book costs about as much as a trip to the theater. Not to mention you can actually learn about some real history, unless that stuff is poison to your too-cool-for-school persona.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates" gives a fresh perspective on the lives of people like Blackbeard, William Kidd and a bunch of other raping, pillaging, seagoing madmen and women. And for those of you who still have to have pictures in your books (you know who you are), there are plenty of illustrations.