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Summary:
A new one-volume abridged edition of Cook's famous journals--"a majestic story of epic proportions"(Philip Edwards in the Introduction) Captain Cook's Journals provide his vivid first-hand account of three extraordinary expeditions between 1768 and 1779. These charted the entire coast of New Zealand and the east coast of Australia and brought back detailed descriptions of Tahiti, Tonga, and a host of previously unknown islands in the Pacific including the Hawaiian Islands. The journals amply reveal the determination, courage, and skill that enabled Cook to wrestle with the continuous dangers of uncharted seas and the problems of achieving a relationship with the peoples whose unannounced guest he became. This edition, abridged from the definitive four-volume Hakluyt Society edition, makes Cook's inimitable personal account of his years of voyaging widely accessible for the first time and includes an Introduction to each voyage, a Glossary of unusual words, indexes of people and places, and a Postscript assessing the controversy surrounding Cook's death.
Selected and Edited with Introductions by Philip Edwards
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
A dry tedious read
Customer Rating:
I wanted to like this book. I really did. When I saw it online, I thought that it looked interesting. The few reviews were favorable. I enjoy maritime tales, stories and life. I thought that pirates and life aboard ships were interesting decades ago.
This was a slow, monotonous account. At least all that I could read for three days. Then I lost interest. I have read period pieces before. However the abbreviations and some of the words I just could not decipher.
If you want to attempt to figure out this book, I wish you luck. If you do, maybe you could explain it to me. :)
Cook Lite
Customer Rating:
I wish I had read the reviews before paying for this. The key word for this edition is ABRIDGED. According to the editor Philip Edward's introduction, only about a third of Cook's/Beaglehole's text is included.
READ THIS ALONGSIDE RICHARD HOUGH'S BIOGRAPHY
Customer Rating:
This is a spectacularly interesting journal. Cook was an odd sort, that's for sure. But a genius? I'd certainly say so after reading his often-daily account of his activities. Really neat book.
A detailed account of Cook's voyages
Customer Rating:
This well prepared abridged edition of Captain James Cook's journals is a specialized book of interest to people studying the exploration of the Pacific and/or the British Navy of that time period. Other people might find sections of it dry reading. The book is recommended for oceanography students as the 17th century voyages of exploration formed the basis for later oceanographic cruises.
Cook's voyages carried scientific personnel of that time period, many of whom died from the harsh conditions along with members of the crews. In addition to bad weather, there were diseases and hostile natives (including cannibals). Extensive charting was carried out and, on the second voyage, the Board of Longitude supplied Cook with Larcum Kendall's copy of John Harrison's H4 watch for determining longitude. Observations were made of prevailing winds, currents, temperature, and other things of scientific interest.
Natives throughout the Pacific would go to great lengths to obtain iron, expecially axes, even prostituting their wives and daughters (willing or not). Natives would attempt to steal items, if they could, leading to numerous confrontations including one in which a boat crew of the Adventure (the consort ship of the second voyage) were killed and eaten by the Maori natives of New Zealand.
Cook's journal ended several weeks before his death. The editor fills in details from journals of other people who were on the voyage, and speculates on the reason he was killed by the natives in Hawaii.
The book includes maps of Cook's routes on his voyages. It also has an index listing the names of the various individuals mentioned, with an indication of their positions on the voyages or their other positions if they were not active participants.
A classic re-launched
Customer Rating:
This re-issue of the Beaglehole edition of the Cook journals attests to the enduring importance of Cook as the exemplar navigator and Beaglehole as his nautical Boswell.
The writing is elegant and subtle and the fascination of the recital enduring.
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