James Cook (1728–1779)

Oh, Captain Cook, you are the closest thing we have to a real-life Captain Picard, and you have such material, and yet you are so very, very limited. Homo oeconomicus, bah. But I am an aesthete, maybe even a synaesthete, and your constant logbook irrelevances about wind and sails do make me squint and taste salt, and the idea of the endless sea and the endless strand and the brown people in their canoes, future friends and foes, makes my soul rise and swell and spread till it astrally show more envelops this sorry bone-cage and whisks it back to when the world was new. show less

Apart from a few notable episodes this is a tedious read. But Cook’s humanity and humor show through in a few episodes of his sensible and thoughtful dealing with the native tribes of South Seas Islanders. One to skim read mostly but read fully some of the longer narratives.

Highly agreeable. This book collects lengthy extracts from Cook's journals, at a time of maritime journeys astonishing in every way to us now. The extracts are well placed in context, preventing the lay reader from having to scrounge through the entire pieces. Understandably, in the 2020s, many readers will approach these journals primarily from a racial context, as I see of some recent reviews here. Certainly this is important, and the complex layers of cultural expectations and show more understanding weigh heavy on Cook's subconscious, as they do all of us, and we can clearly see the ways in which he applies thought and intellect and yet cannot always break free of his inculcated values. Given the consequences of this meeting (even though Cook himself had nothing do with the colonisation of Australia, and indeed was dead long before 1788), it's fair for readers to be engaged with this. However that's a comparatively minor part of this journal of maritime lore, exploration, and the (often repetitive, by their very nature) travails of taking dozens of men on a ship not much larger than a tennis court to sections of land and ocean which had never been visited by Europeans, where danger was not just constant but, in so many ways, fatal. show less

A wonderful, emotional read. Given his enormous contribution to geographical research, science, medicine, navigation, etc., Cook really deserves far greater recognition. And he did it all without so much as a trace of imperialistic arrogance. In fact, his approach to dealings with natives in the South Pacific, North America and elsewhere, and the rigid code of conduct imposed upon his crew, are among the most heart-warming features of this account.

My one criticism is all too often true of show more books about exploration: the original pre- and post- Cook maps are fine, but you also need a detailed modern map to comprehend the routes that Cook and his ships took, and the places they visited. Still a fine account though, and thoroughly recommended (especially for those who complain about discomfort on the Isle of Wight ferry!). show less