James Cook, born in 1728, was one of the most celebrated navigators/explorers of his time. The Lonely Planet and Rough Guide for each of the countries I visited provided lively and generally accurate introductions to Pacific history and culture, as did the South Pacific Handbook. During one tiresome passage Hough lists seemingly every crew member, even the cook, complete with backgrounds where we are told how interesting the characters are, rather than having it shown to us. An account of any one of them would easily fill a whole book. For readers interested in works about travel in the modern Pacific, there are countless paeans to swaying palms and twitching hips. Cook was obviously a man of exceptional intelligence and courage, and his three voyages of discovery were epic. In the thirty years since Beaglehole's death, new sources have come to light. The second was inserting himself into the historical narrative. The poor reader is left all at sea. Like Theroux, Raban also appreciates Cook's accomplishments. We'd seen some kind of exhibit about Cook in Whitby once when we were on holiday. I have encountered mentions of Captain Cook in numerous books, and was glad to find this account if his life and explorations. Cook went places no European ship had been before, visited countless islands, made countless charts and met many different peoples. For as long as people have been telling stories, we’ve spun tales of the monsters and nightmares that lurk in the shadows of our imaginations.... James Cook, born in 1728, was one of the most celebrated navigators/explorers of his time. What was the state of medical knowledge at the time? The New Zealand historian, who died in 1971, published the first accurate and comprehensive edition of Cook's journals, including scholarly introductions, long excerpts from crewmen's diaries, and scores of official documents. Thoroughly enjoyable. Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook Lynne Withey takes a broader, more anthropological approach in Voyages of Discovery, integrating the perspective of Pacific peoples in a way that most others have not. Typical of Dening's contrarian approach is his examination of the number of lashes doled out by every British captain in the Pacific during the eighteenth century; this tally reveals that Bligh, despite his reputation, was a mild commander compared to Cook and others. We'd seen some kind of exhibit about Cook in Whitby once when we were on holiday. In 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force and trained at a flying school near Los Angeles. Also very useful to me were the libraries and exhibits at Sydney's National Maritime Museum, the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., the Natural History Museum in London, and other repositories in Tahiti, New Zealand, Alaska, and Niue. A few works stand out from this tired genre. So while any study of Cook must begin with Beaglehole, it shouldn't end with him. His considerations are reproduced with his permission. Otherwise, solid and informative book that is worth the read. An engrossing telling of Cooks life and the three epic voyages to the Pacific. Truly fires the imagination, and it's all true. Captain James Cook and the Search for Antarctica, The Voyages of Captain James Cook: The Illustrated Accounts of Three Epic Voyages, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific, The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook round the World 7 Volume Set (Cambridge Library Collection - Maritime Exploration), Captain Cook and the Pacific: Art, Exploration and Empire, Captain Cook's Journal During His First Voyage Round the World Made in H. M. Bark "Endeavour", 1768-71. Becalmed in details of where he went and when he went, insights into the man and his methods never get beyond the shallows. Also invaluable to me were Beaglehole's essays, his annotated edition of Banks's journal, and his last work, The Life of Captain James Cook. For primary sources, apart from Cook's and Banks's journals, I relied for the most part on the Mitchell and Dixson Libraries at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, which houses the best collection of Cook-related manuscripts in the world. It was the second time I'd read this book, but because it is so fascinating, with so much to absorb—people, places, ships!—I could easily give it a third go. At the end of this book my knees felt wobbly as if I had just gotten off a ship. For a more academic treatment of the region, I often turned to The Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders. It's hard to imagine now, living in the th. Loss of self control that is all too common as people rise the ranks? *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Captain Cook's Journal: During the First Voyage Round the World Made in H.M. Bark Endeavour 1768-71 by James Cook and Capt W.J.L. This book does a fair job of trying to remind you how truly monumental Cook's accomplishments were for his time. As with Smith and Dening, I found that reading Obeyesekere sharpened my own thinking about Cook and provided an antidote to the hagiographic, Anglocentric tone of much that's been written about the captain. Then there were his early navy years, fighting the French, surveying Newfoundland and participating in the capture of Quebec. The Lonely Planet and Rough Guide for each of the countries I visited provided lively and generally accurate introductions to Pacific history and culture, as did the South Pacific Handbook. It's hard to imagine now, living in the third millenium with Google Earth at our fingertips, an age when the world was unknown, when ships literally sailed off the map and saw things they'd never heard of, like icebergs. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Cook produced maps of unprecedented accuracy; revolutionized the seafarers' diet, all but eliminating scurvy; and exploded the myth of the Great Southern Continent imagined by earlier geographers and scientists. I decided to read this book a couple of weeks before heading to New Zealand. For primary sources, apart from Cook's and Banks's journals, I relied for the most part on the Mitchell and Dixson Libraries at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, which houses the best collection of Cook-related manuscripts in the world. Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook [Dugard, Martin] on Amazon.com. Two recent works that I found indispensable were Ray Parkin's H.M. Bark Endeavour, a very accessible, beautifully illustrated look at Cook's first ship, crew, and voyage, and John Robson's Captain Cook's World, which provides clear maps and concise exposition of Cook's circuitous travels, in Britain and Canada as well as the Pacific. The botanist's Endeavour journal is available online at http://slnsw.gov.au/. As a matter of policy, we do not send out e-mail from our domain name. His life is fascinating, but I had a hard time getting through this book. The violent mood swings and rank decision-making of his fateful final voyage warrant greater analysis and deeper inquiry. In Mr. Bligh's Bad Language, Dening makes frequent reference to Cook and ranges across disciplines to craft one of the most original books I read in the course of my research. Thankfully that was sparingly used. For readers interested in Joseph Banks, Harold Carter's Sir Joseph Banks is the most comprehensive biography. Some lovely passages. Any study of Cook depends to an extraordinary degree on the encyclopedic work of John Cawte Beaglehole. His book on the tragic 54th Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, Fatal Storm , became an international bestseller and was published in six languages. But his biography of Cook, published posthumously in 1974, remains the gold standard for books about the captain. His voyages in the Royal Navy to the eastern and western seaboards of North America, the North and South Pacific, the Arctic, and the Antarctic brought a new understanding of the geography and of the peoples, flora, and fauna of the lands he discovered. I'm glad I finally read a biography, but I wish this book had more maps and helped to outline and draw you into the relationships and people a little bit better. I liked it because I think it is a well-documented/researched biography of a 18th century explorer-navigator-cartographer, James Cook, written by 20th century Richard Hough, a historian specializing in naval history, with very detailed descriptions/accounts of persons, events and places. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. One author makes it dry, another makes it come alive. They took with them Joseph Banks with two Swedes (gentlemen of that northern nation well acquainted with the principles of Carl Linnaeus rather than the vegetables), two painters, and sealed instructions. I'm glad I finally read a biography, but I wish this book had more maps and helped to outline and draw you into the relationships and people a little bit better. His four-volume edition of the journals is a masterpiece of thorough and judicious scholarship. And while Jonathan Raban's Passage to Juneau isn't, strictly speaking, about the Pacific, it's the most probing book I read about travel in the vast territory Cook covered. Paul Theroux's The Happy Isles of Oceania is an acerbic, amusing, and insightful travelogue that covers an astounding amount of the Pacific, including many of the places I visited. The first five long chapters are a tedious recounting of Cook's life before the Endeavour where no detail is too trivial to include, and the telling is insipid. Or maybe it was due to the impact of this story. His travels were extensive. Alistair MacLean, the author of best-sellers such as The Guns of Navarone, knows how to tell a good story, and he does so in Captain Cook. Patrick O'Brian, the famed sea novelist, brings his lively style and eye for color to his shorter, more readable biography, Joseph Banks. What's delivered is a scant page of medical opinion from a senior surgeon. In the thirty years since Beaglehole's death, new sources have come to light. Fascinating how cook changed on the third voyage. Beaglehole isn't infallible or completely without prejudice; he's occasionally too forgiving of Cook, and overly harsh in his assessments of the naturalists Banks and Johann Forster. In a more analytic vein, Bernard Smith combines brilliant art criticism with literary and historical insight, particularly regarding Cook's legacy. Raban sails the northwest coast of America in the path of Cook's disciple, George Vancouver, and casts an original and illuminating eye on both shipboard life in the eighteenth century and the legacy of European encounters with natives. Updated: October 2003. Largest issue with Richard Hough's narrative is he suffers from the two fold malaise of many historians. "Cook's rise in the world was a fabulous occurrence - a phoenix, born in smoke and ashes," Raban writes. The violent mood swings and rank decision-making of his fateful final voyage warrant greater analysis and deeper inquiry. An account of any one of them would easily fill a whole book. Rob is the author of 18 books including his maritime history bestsellers - Bligh, Flinders, Cook, The First Fleet, Great South Land and Under Full Sail. Excellent relatively short biography of Cook and his amazing accomplishments. Cook joined the royal navy in his late twenties after some years on colliers bring coal from north-east England to places in want of it. Cook deserves better than this drab biography. What's delivered is a scant page of medical opinion from a senior surgeon. Cook eventually won out in his biography (go figure.) It was the second time I'd read this book, but because it is so fascinating, with so much to absorb—people, places, ships!—I could easily give it a third go. This book was a bit slow getting started (I almost stopped reading after the first two sections were just about the distant genealogy of his parents), but the book improved considerably once it finally made it to his circumnavigational voyages. He flew Hurricanes and Typhoons and was wounded in action. Little attempt is made to editorialize, but the author's admiration is hard to hide. Theroux can be brutal, but he's never dull. We’d love your help.

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