Thank you for the review. I've been interested in Captain Cook and the three great voyages for as long as I can remember. It's exciting to find a new perspective and one that tries to reconcile the adulators with the detractors.
I immediately put the book on hold at my library. There are only 24 people ahead of me! But the library does have 6 copies.
And, yes those voyages were far more dangerous than space travel is now. When you went you stood a high chance of not returning.
I'm re-reading The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf at the moment, to review it for my own newsletter. It has a fascinating section on Joseph Banks and Cook's first voyage, which also had a dual purpose - observe the transit of Venus as part of an international scientific project and, secretly, check out rumors of Terra Australis and nab it for the British Empire. The navy financed and fitted out those voyages. The government wasn't putting in all that money out of the goodness of its heart.
Thank you for the review. I've been interested in Captain Cook and the three great voyages for as long as I can remember. It's exciting to find a new perspective and one that tries to reconcile the adulators with the detractors.
I immediately put the book on hold at my library. There are only 24 people ahead of me! But the library does have 6 copies.
And, yes those voyages were far more dangerous than space travel is now. When you went you stood a high chance of not returning.
I'm re-reading The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf at the moment, to review it for my own newsletter. It has a fascinating section on Joseph Banks and Cook's first voyage, which also had a dual purpose - observe the transit of Venus as part of an international scientific project and, secretly, check out rumors of Terra Australis and nab it for the British Empire. The navy financed and fitted out those voyages. The government wasn't putting in all that money out of the goodness of its heart.
So interesting! Thank you! I was on the edge of my seat for this whole book, I'll have to find the Wulf book!