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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A journalist's jolly jaunt, December 11, 2002
Dugard's account of the life of explorer James Cook is a light, easily read introduction to England's greatest explorer. Dugard stresses the travails of a man of humble beginnings who, through force of his own will and some fortuitous connections garnered command of the first solo expedition into the South Pacific. He describes Cook's early voyages on colliers, moving on to his decade-long exploration of the Newfoundland coasts. Lured away by the glories of the Royal Navy, Cook entered that force as a lowly seaman but rose rapidly to junior officer due to his cartography skills and forceful sense of drive. Dugard dubs Cook "the original adventurer." Other expeditions had concentrated on map-ping coastlines along regularly used routes or finding harbours to serve as sanctuaries or supply bases. Cook's voyage in the Endeavour was the first journey dedicated to scientific studies. Cook's mandate was to convey a team of scientists to Tahiti. There they would study the rare phenomenon of Venus' transit across the face of the sun, adding to the navigator's store of tools. From that mid-Pacific isle, however, Cook was free to seek the legendary Southern Continent, particularly Antarctica. Given a mandate to wander the Pacific, Cook found yet another landmass, the island continent of Australia. Dugard portrays Cook as impelled by several ambitions. To become the premier explorer of the Pacific, to bask in the adoration of its peoples, and show Britain's class-bound society that the son of a farm labourer was the equal of any aristocrat. He achieved all these aims, but at the usual cost to a man overcome by hubris. He went too far, barely staving off mutiny by a crew that adored him. In the end, of course, an act of arrogance cost him his life in Hawaii. Through all this tale of a man burdened by ambition, Dugard offers us glimpses of Elizabeth Cook who remained in England almost mindlessly cheering on her husband's goals. While Cook sailed as far as from the Earth to the Moon, Elizabeth bore and buried a succession of children. When the reader feels the urge to learn of her outlook in more detail, Dugard reminds us of her burning the Cook correspondence, eliminating any record of her thoughts. Unrestrained by evidence, Dugard blithely presents her viewpoint, derived from assumptions. Given the wealth of books available on Cook and his voyages, this one stands well down on the list of "must read" titles. Only someone with a superficial interest in the explorer and his journeys would find this useful. A good introductory overview, its lack of bibliography or even an index renders this title merely a journalist's superficial exercise. There are simply too many scholarly books on Cook, some well written, to warrant spending much time with this one. Save it for the beach or cottage.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Adventures of a Real Adventurer, June 4, 2001
The biography _Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook_ (Pocket Books) by Martin Dugard tells the story of the man who was arguably the greatest adventurer in the world. It is an amazing story of a driven man who repeatedly accomplished the impossible. For instance, it was simply not possible for Cook to become a Captain in the Royal Navy, as he was a farmhand's son with no pull. He worked nine years in the commercial fleet in the North Sea, and against the judgement of everyone, halted a promising career to go to the bottom of the ranks in the Royal Navy. He again worked swiftly up the ranks, but had no chance of becoming an officer. Only the scheming of a scientist, a Lord, and King George III got him a commission, to go on a circumnavigation for a particular astronomical observation in Tahiti. Cook commanded three circumnavigations, and racked up an impressive record, sailing farther north and farther south than anyone had. He found and charted new islands throughout the Pacific. He was an exemplary commander, a brilliant shiphandler who was reluctant to use the lash on his men. He also pioneered the use of an anti-scurvy diet that kept his men healthy. He kept close notes on the tribes he encountered and in the beginning, at least, had profitable and friendly relations with them. Eventually, worn out from adventuring, and not at home either in England or in what he wished to be a paradise of the Pacific, he became frustrated, and his frustration led directly to difficulties on his command, and in his death at the hands of the Sandwich Islanders. Cook emerges from these pages as a complex figure, a flawed hero who can justly be called the greatest adventurer in history. The book includes fascinating accounts of naval facts, like what the sailors ate and by what means they were punished at sea. The way Dugard has told the story it is by turns exciting, comic, inspiring, and sad, and the narrative never flags.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Every Journey needs a beginning, October 4, 2003
This review is from: Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook (Paperback)
By no means a definitive account of Cook's life, but certainly a readable introduction to the legacy of this man. Martin Dugard has touched lightly on many of the pressures Cook must surely have felt - His family, his birthright and position in society, his ambition, the relationship with his father, England's position in the World and the birth of Empire. It would be impossible to do all of this justice in just 300 pages, and I don't believe that Dugard is really attempting to. Instead, he offers the topics like a light buffet - take what you want, go and look for more on what interests you. This informal style, laced with conjecture as to conversations or motives, will infuriate the purist historians. This book will also not appeal to those who hold Cook up as a definitive British hero. The author speculates on Cook's rationales and motives, but the message clear: Cook did indeed go father than any man. He led the world into a new era, both through his geographical discoveries and the courage he displayed in attaining them. French Navigator Jean-François de Galaup de La Pérouse said of Cook that his work was so all-encompassing, there was little for his successors to do but admire it. This is not an all-encompassing account of Cook, but an easy place to begin your own voyage of discovery.
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