Customer Reviews

The Log of Christopher Columbus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I profoundly disagree with a previous reviewer. It is a MISTAKE to judge a fifteen-century man by present standards. This is very important. Time and again, we see politically-correct people make moral judgments on people who died centuries ago. Morally, people should be judged primarily by the standards of their own time. To do otherwise, suggests very little personal insight.

For most of human history people took exactly what they could. We disapprove of this now although I strongly suspect that the impulse is only sublimated. We now commit robbery via our legal system and other institutions. In centuries to come, the politically correct will look on us as immoral barbarians.

So, I don't think it proper to judge Columbus, or any other historical figure, by present day standards. I do think it legitimate to judge him by the standards of his own time. Although a great pilot and pretty good captain, he was a poor administrator and had difficulty hanging onto his coveted title of "Admiral of the Ocean Blue." He, no doubt, like all of us, have plenty of other moral failings, but it is wrong to judge him for what would become the greatest land-grab of history.

Did his drive, determination and brilliance cause incalculable human grief? Yes. But by the standards of his own time, he was a hero. Did his actions jump start the fabulous European civilizations of the Americas? Again, yes. But Columbus couldn't have known this, either, so perhaps he shouldn't be given excessive credit.

I think his log is an invaluabe asset to those of us who would know what the explorer was thinking even as he was attempting discovery. It's amusing how he attempts to identify this or that tree as valuable. It's clearly a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. He needs to justify his sovereigns' investment in what, by Spanish standards, was an extremely expensive endeavor. He couldn't recognize that he had discovered the most valuable prize in the world.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Fuson translated (and reconstructed where necessary) the logs of Columbus. Loaded with pictures, maps and explanatory comments this work gives us a look at the famous explorer in his own words. I'd guess this is the best and closest one could get to a primary source for Columbus's journals. This would be a great resource for teachers and students who cover the Discovery. Too bad it's out of print

By coincidence, I read the Velvet Doublet by James Street, just days before I unpacked the Log of Christopher Columbus. The two books cover virtually the same material from two distinctly different points of view. The detail and expanded coverage of the former (from the point of view of the Pinta/Nina sailors and captains) was highly instructional for reading and evaluating Chris' alleged version of the same events. For the price of the log, (expensive because it is out of print), the James Street book is reasonable, much more entertaining, highly constructive, and causes the reader to question the self-serving entries and omissions in 'the log'. If you are going to read a copy of a lost copy of a translation twice removed, why not just go to the well-written historical novel, which is much more readable?

A lot of great adventurers came back to write a book--Marco Polo, Julius Caeser, William Bligh, Neil Armstrong (well, with the help of Life Magazine). People seem to be the same throughout history. They'll go off on a great adventure, come home, and write a book about it. While Columbus' book (his log) as well as his body, evidently, are currently lost, this book sure seems realistic. It was a lot of fun trying to duplicate his voyage with modern charts to see if I could figure out his first landfall and any sailor will have fun doing the same since Columbus discovered the sailing routes still used.
I thought Columbus portrayed himself as an adventurer out for the discovery of gold and working for the king and queen who hired him, but what's so surprising about that? He was trying to substantiate the worth of his first trip and to convince Ferdinand and Isabella to send him again wasn't he?

i like my book and i liked that it was shipped out immediately and i got it within 5 days i think it was.

....and very easy to read. The English translation is very clear and put together from sources other than Las Casas, whose facts weren't always straight. For some reason the paragraphs are all center-justified and taper out oddly. Various theories about Columbus's landfall are discussed.

The one flaw is the introductory pieces that whitewash the man himself. Made out to be a bold, great hero, he was in actuality a gold-obsessed sailor, a poor mariner, a perpetual whiner whose crew could barely stand him, an intolerant European who assumed every land he touched belong to his King back in Spain, and of course the initiator of the slavery system in Espanola. His men built the first fortress in the so-called New World, and they brought several Native captives back to Spain. Fortunately, some of these events are mentioned in the Log itself.