Amazon.com
The explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton has recently become the legendary character at the center of a renewed fascination with the early days of Antarctic exploration. Though not the most renowned explorer of his day, nor even the most successful in terms of stated goals, Shackleton's story of adventurous ambition, incredible endurance, and heroic survival against all odds is indeed the stuff of legend. And now, thanks to the detailed research and helpful insights of Morrell and Capparell, his story is also the meaty material of lessons on how to lead with authority, integrity, humor, and compassion.
A British explorer once summarized the feats of the great Antarctic explorer like this: "For a joint scientific and geographical piece of organization, give me Scott; for a winter journey, give me Wilson, for a dash to the Pole and nothing else, Amundsen; and if I am in the devil of a hole and want to get out of it, give me Shackleton every time." His words set the tone for Shackleton's Way, at once both a travel narrative and a handbook of the skills required for effective leadership of diverse groups, especially in times of change and crisis. Shackleton's attempts to reach the South Pole and his two-year fight for the survival of his crew, when their ship is stranded in ice and then sunk, makes for exciting reading. Using this story as the centerpiece of their book, the authors have woven in their interpretation of his success using interviews with exceptional modern leaders such as Mike Dale, Jaguar's former chief of North American operations, and Apollo 13 Commander James Lovell, and by offering useful advice points at the end of each chapter. For example, in the chapter entitled "The Path to Leadership," Shackleton is shown to have been a well-read man, eager to learn and able to mix with varied company. The authors support this by noting that broadening one's horizons and learning to see things from different perspectives will allow for greater flexibility in problem solving. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig agrees that a level of well roundedness is vital in leaders, acknowledging that "one of my prime aims in distributing books is to get people to think outside themselves and to think broadly."
Morrell and Capparell's excellent use of archival material (especially crew diaries) and their intelligent interpretation of what Shackleton's story implies about good leaders makes this book both pleasurable and educational. Throughout the story of the explorer's exploits, the authors have inserted summarizing subtitles that succinctly capture Shackleton's leadership style. Occasionally, this seems a little strained; while the explorer's progressive attitudes and actions deserve praise as leadership lessons par excellence, even some of his misjudgments are referred to with something approaching reverence. For the most part, however, the authors employ a subtle and effective hand in translating the actions of a man at the helm of a dangerous adventure into advice beneficial to leaders in all areas of life. --S. Ketchum
Book Description
Sir Ernest Shackleton has been called "the greatest leader that ever came on God's earth, bar none" for saving the lives of the twenty-seven men stranded with him in the Antarctic for almost two years. Today the public can't get enough of this once-forgotten explorer, and his actions have made him a model for great leadership and masterful crisis management. Now, through anecdotes, the diaries of the men in his crew, and Shackleton's own writing, Shackleton's leadership style and time-honored principles are translated for the modern business world. Written by two veteran business observers and illustrated with ship photographer Frank Hurley's masterpieces and other rarely seen photos, this practical book helps today's leaders follow Shackleton's triumphant example.
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Preface by Andrea Shackleton.
Customer Reviews:
A new slant on the Endurance expedition.......2007-08-15
I've read a lot of books on Antarctic exploration, but this is the first one that's intended as a text for leadership skills: apparently the intended audience is MBA students and other budding executives. This is an interesting slant on the story, and the authors do seem to have a lot of insight into what made Shackleton a model for leadership. One oddity is that they don't say a word about his controversial decision to site the Nimrod expedition's home base at McMurdo, giving rise to much bitterness in his relations with Scott and the British Antarctic "establishment"; I'd have been interested in the authors' judgment on this.
Does a book like this really give useful guidance to executives? Beats me! The aphorisms they provide seem oversimplified, but I can't claim any expertise here. It was, however, most interesting to contrast Shackleton's leadership principles with those of the current occupant of the White House!
Leadership and Teamwork from the past.......2007-04-08
For those familiar with the story of Shackleton and the Endurance, this is a great book. Actually anyone not familiar with the story can learn it with a lesson in leadership and teamwork. Shackleton took his men and kept them alive thru 9 months trapped on a ship in the ice then 6 months living on the ice after the ship broke up and finally depositing them on Elephant island and leaving on an 800 hundred mile open boat trip to South Georgia island. After nearly 3 years of survival in the Antarctic, Shackleton brought all 27 men home. None died. That is an amazing feat.
Shackleton's Way by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell, breaks this amazing odyssey down into chapters with short notes on leadership method's and then adds in a view or perspective of a business or leader in today's world who applies some of Shackleton's methods. The story starts Sir Ernest Shackleton's method of selecting his men for the voyage. Then the initial voyage and how he made sure each man could do the others job and everyone understood they were a team united. This allowed the survival of all. Shackleton knew men and how to keep them organized, hopeful and strong. This is a great book to add to your bookshelf of leadership, teamwork and people management in crisis.
Uncommon common knowledge.......2007-02-27
I have heard it said many times that management is common knowledge and this book reaffirms those sentiments. But common knowledge is often forgotten when adversity happens or when things become too busy. This book takes the effort of reaffirming all those things that are important to leadership in adverse times. It covers many of the things Sir Ernest Shackleton faced in many of his polar expeditions and how he learned from past mistakes. It talks of his planning, expenditures, morale focus, and other things he felt were to make for a successful trip. It also talks about how one can set what success is, where sometimes reaching the South Pole is not the best idea when you focus on bringing everyone through to the end with you.
I recommend this book just for an inspirational aspect. It is well written if occasionally hokey when they pull out leadership bullet points, but still a good read.
Armstrong.......2007-02-17
This is just an excellent book. Anyone in a leadership position would be well served to read this book. How great leadership can overcome trials of life and death proportions with applications to most leadership circumstances.
Useful (and suspense-filled) management guide.......2007-01-12
This compelling volume accomplishes the unlikely feat of being both a useful management guide and a suspense-filled page-turner. That's because the book enjoys an unusually rich source of material: a near-deadly Antarctic voyage that everyone survived by dint of the leader's formidable management skills. Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparrell present a strong case that Sir Ernest Shackleton was indeed a great leader. They mine the journey for the telling details of Shackleton's management style, and include short accounts from modern business leaders who look to Shackleton as an inspiration. We recommend this guide to leaders and would-be leaders who love adventure tales and seek an inspiring take on management from a true master.
Book Description
"Starting in a hollowed log of wood--some thousand miles up a river with infinitesimal prospect of returning, I ask myself `Why?' and the only echo is `damned fool!...the Devil drives.'"
So wrote Richard Francis Burton, while preparing for an exploration of the lower Congo in 1863. Tormented by the question of "why?", his answer "the devil drives" applies not only to his explorations, but to the whole of his turbulent life. The nature of his demon, the source of his restlessness, has baffled many biographers.
Drawing from Burton's own published works and from the few manuscripts that managed to escape destruction by Lady Burton, Fawn Brodie explains the "why?" and in doing so creates a fascinating portrait.
Customer Reviews:
A Fascinating Life Well Presented in this Biography.......2007-09-03
The author presents a very thoroughly researched and well written biographical book on a fascinating life of an early British explorer of East Africa (Burton was the first European explorer to report his "findings" of what is today called Lake Tangenyika). At times the presentation can become tedious but on the whole this is a book well worth reading and a life well worth knowing more about. Beyond his explorations Burton lived, wrote, fought, loved and experienced life to the fullest extent. As many of the other comments from other readers have suggested, his life and how he lived it can be a positive inspiration.
Indiana Jones in the flesh..........2007-04-23
Richard Burton was an enigmatic, sour, oftentimes neurotic voyeur with the intention of beating his contemporaries and traveling the globe learning and exposing the cultures he came across. Ms. Brodie also has a tie with writing other biographies of sensational men (Joseph Smith, Jr of Mormon fame) and this book is an educated insight into Richard Burton's travels, motives, and surroundings. The maps included along with photographs, illustrations, and excerpts of Burton's own words help move the narrative along. It can be 'old English' tedious, but is well worth the delve into a man that went against the grain in every way.
Intriquing and Sometimes Painful.......2006-11-20
This is a captivating account of a unique and restless individual driven to observe and graphically document the often very cruel life of the Middle East and Africa in the nineteenth-century. This will not bore.
WONDERFUL BIOGRAPHY - I AM GRATEFUL FOR THIS ONE.......2006-07-06
I read this one years ago, when it was first published. This was my first expierence and admittedly my first encounter with this remarkable man. This has lead me, over the years, to read much more of Sir Richard Burton. Each work I read, each bit of information I gather, I am even for fascinated with this individual, his accomplishments and his writings. This has been a nice reading hobby for me over the past number of year and it all started with Ms. Brodie's work. I am grateful. The book is well written, well researched and is very, very readable. Highly recommend this one.
Towering Individual of the 19th Century.......2004-11-22
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton would be a worthy study for anyone interested in the potentials of the human being. A man of multiple talents and achievements, to count and adequately summarize them all would be an improbable task. This man accomplished more in a lifetime than most of us mere mortals could in several. As a 19th century British explorer, he stands with the legendary - Livingston, Stanley, Baker and Speke. What set him apart from these luminaries, towers above in fact, was is scholarship. His writing talents, publishing countless volumes, his uncanny lingual gift, (twenty-five languages, including several dialects that amount to over forty) and his inroads into anthropology, ethnology, religion and archaeology, make him one of the truly great individuals of the Victorian age. Brodie's treatment of Burton is a worthy tribute to the man, and after reading over four other life histories of Sir Richard; I can say with all honesty, that it is one of the best.
I have to admit that I have a severe aversion to that sixties literary trend of applying Freudian psychoanalysis in a biographical study. It is difficult enough analysing the living, let alone the dead and gone. Brodie is guilty of this method in this biography; however, she does it without taking anything away from the subject. Most all the typical psychoanalytical symptoms are present: the Oedipus complex, latent homosexuality, and preoccupations with sex in general. Brodie's analyses, though, is not a closed shop - she remains open to her subject. In other words, her psychoanalytic musings do not cloud the uniqueness and larger than life qualities of this man. It's a side issue, and therefore can be ignored.
What is so startling about Burton was his enormous passion to know, his tireless travels and recordings of the unknown and exotic. He not only was everything mentioned above, but a poet of talent, geologist, amateur physician, expert swordsman and skilful spy. A precursor to Freud, he studied the sexual customs of many cultures and was a fierce critic of Victorian values on the subject. This man's curiosity knew no bounds and he ensured he did not waste a minute of his sixty-nine years - a relatively short life considering what the man accomplished.
There are many biographies about Burton, but this one seems to encapsulate the man's spirit and zest for life. Brodie writes an enthralling biography and anyone interested in this towering figure of the 19th century, this text is highly recommended.
Book Description
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:
A dry tedious read.......2007-07-20
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.......2005-04-04
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.......2003-06-05
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.......2001-04-05
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.......2000-07-18
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.
Best there is no other!
Book Description
With the utterance of a single line—“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”—a remote meeting in the heart of Africa was transformed into one of the most famous encounters in exploration history. But the true story behind Dr. David Livingstone and journalist Henry Morton Stanley is one that has escaped telling. Into Africa is an extraordinarily researched account of a thrilling adventure—defined by alarming foolishness, intense courage, and raw human achievement.
In the mid-1860s, exploration had reached a plateau. The seas and continents had been mapped, the globe circumnavigated. Yet one vexing puzzle remained unsolved: what was the source of the mighty Nile river? Aiming to settle the mystery once and for all, Great Britain called upon its legendary explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, who had spent years in Africa as a missionary. In March 1866, Livingstone steered a massive expedition into the heart of Africa. In his path lay nearly impenetrable, uncharted terrain, hostile cannibals, and deadly predators. Within weeks, the explorer had vanished without a trace. Years passed with no word.
While debate raged in England over whether Livingstone could be found—or rescued—from a place as daunting as Africa, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the brash American newspaper tycoon, hatched a plan to capitalize on the world’s fascination with the missing legend. He would send a young journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, into Africa to search for Livingstone. A drifter with great ambition, but little success to show for it, Stanley undertook his assignment with gusto, filing reports that would one day captivate readers and dominate the front page of the New York Herald.
Tracing the amazing journeys of Livingstone and Stanley in alternating chapters, author Martin Dugard captures with breathtaking immediacy the perils and challenges these men faced. Woven into the narrative, Dugard tells an equally compelling story of the remarkable transformation that occurred over the course of nine years, as Stanley rose in power and prominence and Livingstone found himself alone and in mortal danger. The first book to draw on modern research and to explore the combination of adventure, politics, and larger-than-life personalities involved, Into Africa is a riveting read.
Customer Reviews:
An Unusual Meeting in Central Africa.......2007-09-15
Dugard is one of the new breed of biographer, in that he knows that every- mans life is made up of truth and fiction. At his best he gives us the more interesting side of both but is always faithful in explaining what has become myth and what can be documented. The life of David Livingstone has become so entangled with his myth that even after reading his diaries it's hard to tell how much is true and how much was perceived as true.
When it comes to Stanley, who reinvented himself so many times not to mention his change of name, always leaves the impression that he has taken the time to edit his journals and diaries. He is very seldom shown to be introspective, except when he uses those emotions to further his own myth. He was a driven man who could never settle for what he had done before, and had to do more than anyone else. The story of Livingstone being found by Stanley at a little village in the Lakes Region of Africa would have been so much more powerful if it had not been deconstructed and rebuilt so many times.
In this format, Stanley finds Livingstone sitting on the front porch of his house/hut and goes over to introduce himself. They are both civilized men who have been beaten down by the nature of Africa and have past the point of exhaustion. Livingstone is on the edge of starvation and has been for the last year. Stanley has crossed parts of Africa which Africans and Arab Slavers fear to go into. I can see Stanley (who idolized Livingstone) being uncertain of how to say hello, and therefore being as differential as possible.
Dugard does a wonderful job of putting both men into the context of the societies they lived in and the people they depended on. It's a fine and interesting story.
tremendous.......2007-03-24
I learned about Livingstone and Stanley briefly in my middle-school years. The details that I remember from that learning experience are sparse, and do nothing to describe the characters in the story.
This book fleshed out the lives of two men in marvelous detail. I never understood the humanity of Livingstone (I knew he was a missionary, a detail that tends to deify someone in my mind). I never understood the nature of Stanley and what drove him to find Livingstone when no one else could. These men were larger than life - both an inspiration to persevere where no one else can or will. Their accomplishments are worlds apart, but equally remarkable.
Stanley and Livingstone's Eponymous Adventure.......2007-01-03
Nearly everyone of a certain age knows "Stanley and Livingstone" and the memorable line "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." It's just one of those cultural snippets that gets passed down. Martin Dugard's interesting book gives the story to that shared and brief tidbit. Quite a story it is.
Dr. Livingstone was a poor boy who made good in Victorian England by earning the admiration of the better classes through exploration and perseverance in Darkest Africa. He would spend most of his adult life on the continent, greatly expanding European knowledge of the geography and peoples there. First as a missionary and later as a great explorer determined to find the source of the Nile River, Livingstone was in his own way a man of peace with great sympathy for Africa and Africans. He particularly detested the very active slave trade and slave raids run by Arabs between the interior and the central eastern coast of the continent.
Henry Stanley started life as poor and unmoored as one could be in that day and age. A young crewman out of England on a boat headed to New Orleans, he see destined to finish an early life as one of those mid 19th century petty criminals and ne'er-do-wells who described the seedy side of life. He managed to enlist in both the Union and Confederate armies and fight for both during the Civil War. He had though developed a passion for reading and found himself in the newspaper business out west as a free lance journalist. This occupation would be his life raft. Eventually ending up at the New York Herald, Stanley showed a willingness to go anywhere and endure great hardship to deliver what would today be considered blockbuster news to the voracious readership each of New York's twenty some papers competed for.
Dr. Livingstone's quest for the source of the Nile got him lost, physically weak, and stranded without the resources to get out of the interior. His English patrons and the world feared him lost, and his whereabouts were a source of great concern and focus. Here was Stanley's opportunity. With the promise of his publisher's help (although Stanley had to talk his way into a lot of credit), the journalist outfitted a secret expedition to find Livingstone and bring the story of his demise or rescue to the world. After almost a year of hard slogging through jungle and desert, mutinous porters and expedition members, participation in a native war, dalliance with Arab slavers, death and desperation on the trail and worry that he wouldn't find his needle-in-a-haystack, Stanley arrived at a village to discover a thin, sickly and ragged man much of the world had given up for lost and to whom he was able to greet with the immortal line "Dr. Livingstone I presume."
This is a well written adventure book that will fascinate on many levels. It offers a great portrait of Stanley and Livingstone as men and the great hardships that shaped their lives. Nineteenth Century exploration in Africa with all the disease, war, slavery, and beauty are painted well on the author's canvass. The motivations and mindsets of two men-of-action are thoroughly explored. This book weaves all of the above elements into a gripping story that is well worth the time.
GREAT INTRO TO AFRICAN EXPLORATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY.......2006-07-23
This book tells the intertwined tales of David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley. Dugard (the author) puts together a very well written story, giving the reader context to be excited when the culminating moment of "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" comes about.
The book provides a begginer on African exploration (such as myself) with a very good understanding of the context in Africa and England, as the Victorian era of exploration is at its best. Characters such as Murchison, Burton and Speke are described in detail as to their accomplishments. The reader also gets a good understanding of the discussion behind the source of the Nile and the difficulties involved in determining it.
The personal lives of Livingstone and Stanley are an integral part of the story. The tale how Stanley rose through newspaper ranks in NY and provided scoops on different European wars ahead of european reporters. His dubious character is portrayed in his experiences in Turkey, where he became a robber and was close to losing his life.
This is a rather short book -- 300 pages -- which can be read in a few sittings. If you are interested in exploration or would just like to know what these historical characters were up to, this is a very good book. It may drive the reader to the point of such curiosity that you may find yourself picking up a few of the books authored by the characters themselves (of which there are many).
Very interesting and educational treatise.......2006-05-03
"Doctor Livingstone I presume?" is undoubtedly one of the most well known quotes in history. Very few people, however, are familiar with the history underlying the meeting of Dr. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley.
This book details the lives of the two men and the historical background through which they were thrown together. Livingstone, one of the foremost explorers of his day is searching for the source of the Nile River. Through a combination of bad luck, poor planning, disease, weather, natives, etc., Livingstone is virtually stranded on the banks of Lake Tangyanika.
Henry Stanley, a newspaper correspondent undertakes a rescue mission at the direction of his publicity hungry publisher. This book details that mission and the international setting under which it took place. The perils of African exploration in the late 19th century cannot be overstated. This book does an excellent job impressing this upon the reader.
I found this book very similar in style and experience to Undaunted Courage (which detailed the Voyage of Discovery undertaken by Lewis and Clark) and River of Doubt (dealing with Theodore Roosevelt's exploration of the Amazon basin. If you enjoyed either of these books, you will like this one as well. If you read this book and enjoy it, I highly recommend the other two.
Customer Reviews:
Last of the Greats.......2007-02-25
I personally tend to find high adventure all the more entertaining when it's real. That it can be informative is icing on the cake. The story of Captain James Cook, about the life of the title's namesake, is high adventure and informative, not only in subject matter but in the telling as well. Author Richard Hough's presentation makes clear the spirit of discovery and exploration that guided Cook's life and exploits in his early years and during his three major voyages as the captain of his own ship.
Cook was an inveterate explorer of the world's oceans and unknown lands, not only identifying them but also charting their coastlines with an accuracy that was sometimes not surpassed until well into the last century. Among his discoveries were islands in parts of the world most remote from European civilization, mostly in the pacific, and in all latitudes from the icy Antarctic sea to the sweltering tropics. His voyages saw the collection of botanical samples extraordinaire and the measuring of astronomical phenomena. He was a literal pioneer in the field of health maintenance among sailors through his attention to cleanliness and diet - the dread disease of scurvy made almost no appearance on his ships.
The text traces out all the major events of his three voyages, including his skills as a diplomat, such as diplomacy was, with countless native Polynesian groups. Likewise, his deteriorating mental condition during his final voyage is presented in a manner of such contrast to his earlier steady-mindedness that the reader has little need for the author to make the redundant observation that something was very wrong. The breakdown in discipline that led ultimately to his death on the Hawaiian shores is clear to all.
There can be no doubt that the synthesis of knowledge and entertainment has exists in its highest form between these two covers. To call it readable is an understatement. Aside from downplaying the various scientific achievements of the civilian passengers, which form a peripheral subject in the story, the informative content is equally valuable. There can be little lacking in a reader's appreciation for this excellent work.
Another great bristish explorer - Excellent Biography.......2006-05-13
I knew a few things about the three voyages of Captain Cook so I decided to read his biography. Well I think I chose right, the author vividly tells the fascinating story of a brave man and his explorations in the pacific and South seas that you just don't want to stop reading, full of adventure and totally enjoyable.
In each voyage they were away from home almost three years, exploring mostly the polynesian islands, tahiti, new zealand and the fatal Hawai. They were also in the east coast of Australia, Eastern Island, Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn. I wish I have the opportunity to meet all theses places.
Another great british explorer.
Honorable.......2005-02-22
Destiny. Some people possess an innate psyche as to what they want to do in life. James Cook would be one of those people. From his days as a youth working in an English seaside shop, Cook dreamed of sailing in a ship to discover other lands and people. He did it, becoming one of England's greatest navigators.
Richard Hough effects a daring read of this fascinating man. With firsthand quotes from the men who were on Cook's three voyages, the book is complete of adventure, misfortunes, perilous storms, native peoples with their ensuing customs and demeanor, geographical descriptions, disorientation, cannibalism, scurvy outbreaks, etc.
He joined the Royal Navy and worked his way up the ranks becoming surveyor in eastern Canada. With honor and distinction from these years of service, he accepts a position to captain an expedition to the South Pacific for exploration and to study the Transit of Venus for astronomical observations.
With accolades from this voyage, Cook is again asked to lead an expedition to the South Pacific in order to discover and survey the South Pole. Adventure after adventure follows.
His third and final voyage is to locate the mythical northwest passage by first journeying east around the Cape of Good Hope and then straight north through Hawaii to the northwest coast of North America. We see during this final expedition that due to a possible parasitic intestinal infection from his previous voyage, Cook's character and conduct is unbecoming of him and at times his behavior is unrestrained. He meets his final days at the hands of Hawaiian natives.
A discerning look into an accomplished and extraordinary man.
Where did this book come from?.......2004-10-22
When I read this book, I was fascinated by the story of Cook's life (who wouldn't be?) but I was sure this book was a reprint of some turn of the 19th/20th century author. But no, it was published in 1995. So where does this guy get that Australian aborigines are negrotoid and Inuits are mongoloid? Has he read any recent anthropology? Does he still believe in phrenology? He seems not to have read anything besides Beaglehole's biography and Beaglehole's editions of the journals, except for a few other journals by the crew. There is no historiography and no analysis. This book was originally a manuscript Hough found in a Victorian attic, I am sure of it!
This is a very solid biography........2003-06-05
We Aussies have a great deal of affection for dear old Captain Cook, who mapped our east coast whilst exploring the pacific. This book traces Cook's life and long career in an expert and readable fashion. Cook never advanced as rapidly as Lord Nelson, and traded in strictly military missions for other roles of importance to the Admiralty. But, as this fine biography shows, he stands alongside Nelson as a great British naval hero.
Amazon.com
On December 14, 1911, the classical age of polar exploration ended when Norway's Roald Amundsen conquered the South Pole. His competitor for the prize, Britain's Robert Scott, arrived one month later--but died on the return with four of his men only 11 miles from their next cache of supplies. But it was Scott, ironically, who became the legend, Britain's heroic failure, "a monument to sheer ambition and bull-headed persistence. His achievement was to perpetuate the romantic myth of the explorer as martyr, and ... to glorify suffering and self-sacrifice as ends in themselves." The world promptly forgot about Amundsen.
Biographer Ronald Huntford's attempt to restore Amundsen to glory, first published in 1979 under the title Scott and Amundsen, has been thawed as part of the Modern Library Exploration series, captained by Jon Krakauer (of Into Thin Air fame). The Last Place on Earth is a complex and fascinating account of the race for this last great terrestrial goal, and it's pointedly geared toward demythologizing Scott. Though this was the age of the amateur explorer, Amundsen was a professional: he left little to chance, apprenticed with Eskimos, and obsessed over every detail. While Scott clung fast to the British rule of "No skis, no dogs," Amundsen understood that both were vital to survival, and they clearly won him the Pole.
Amundsen in Huntford's view is the "last great Viking" and Scott his bungling opposite: "stupid ... recklessly incompetent," and irresponsible in the extreme--failings that cost him and his teammates their lives. Yet for all of Scott's real or exaggerated faults, he understood far better than Amundsen the power of a well-crafted sentence. Scott's diaries were recovered and widely published, and if the world insisted on lionizing Scott, it was partly because he told a better story. Huntford's bias aside, it's clear that both Scott and Amundsen were valiant and deeply flawed. "Scott ... had set out to be an heroic example. Amundsen merely wanted to be first at the pole. Both had their prayers answered." --Svenja Soldovieri
Customer Reviews:
A Ripping Good Yarn.......2007-02-20
I saw a program on PBS about Amundsen and the Northwest Passage and decided I wanted to know more so I bought this book. Much has already been said and thus doesn't need repeating. If you hold to the hero status of Scott then you are apt to be severely disappointed. He does NOT fair well in the cold light of history. Amundsen comes across as someone who was at the peak of his game and was just better at this sort of thing.
One of the best books I've read in a LONG time. Well worth the time spent.
Read the notes at the end of the book!.......2007-02-18
There are simply too many errors in this book to state here. I can only suggest that the reader look at the notes at the end of the book. Huntford derives almost all of his negative comments from two or three people on Scott's expeditions. Why are so few of the comments collected from hundreds of men who loved and supported Scott. I'd hate to have my life judged before the world by the few people I've pissed off out of the many I've known. And just a note in passing---the Markham diary or jornal he keeps referring to? It's not a diary or journal; it is a collection of notes made by a very old Markham years after he encountered Scott on the street (prior to appointing Scott as leader on the first expedition).
Scott certainly made some serious judgement errors and prevaricated occassionally, but Huntford lies on almost every page of his book by omission and deception.
I have no complaints about his description of Amundsen; Amundsen was the better of the two explorers. In fact, Amundson was arguably the greatest of all polar explorers in the heroc age. Some of the best polar explorers appear almost amateurish by comparison.
The Last Place On Earth.......2007-01-12
For those who like to read history, this is very well researched.
Well researched, penetrating, a tad biased.......2006-12-07
I've finished reading both this and Fiennes "Race to the Pole". Huntford clearly spent an enormous amount of time digging through many expedition diaries and personal letter archives. He simply doesn't just quote them, but knits them together in a fine tapestry of interrelated decisions and events. This provides keen insights into the importance of planning, preparation, and attention to detail during operations.
Huntford carefully walks the reader through how Amundsen clearly understood the difficulties ahead of him, while Scott was content to draw hasty conclusions based on faulty testing, prejudice, and unwarranted opinions of the uninformed. Huntford also details the subtle and not-so-subtle difference in the leadership styles of both men, one who built a consensus, and the other who promulgated orders without allowing discussion or feedback.
My only complaints are 1) Huntford descended into the use of terms such as "weak, incompetent, and stupid" for Scott, which was unnecessary and detracted slightly from the rest of his scholarship, and 2) he avoided the use of much of the material that would have reflected positively on Scott, as found in Fiennes book, which is why I only gave this 4 stars.
The last book on earth...twisted facts, and damn lies .......2006-08-10
The central theme of this book, (i.e that Captain Scott was a blundering idiot) has been exposed as nonsense by a series of recent and well balanced books written by expolorers such as Ranulph Fiennes and Antarctic researchers such as Susan Solomon, rather than amateur critics. Read "The Worst journey in the World" if you want a proper account of the Terra Nova expedition. But if you really must buy "The Last Place on Earth" then also read Antarctic explorer Ranulph Fiennes "Captain Scott" which exposes it as a lie.
Amazon.com
Never mind that upon her death in 1993, the then 100-year-old Dame Freya Stark rated a three-column obit in The New York Times. Mention her name to most Americans, and it will elicit a "Freya who?" The tales and travails of this romantic traveler, who marched alone into the Middle East from Persia to Yemen, discovering lost cities and creating an anti-Nazi intelligence system along the way, are captured in this compelling biography by former New York Times reporter Jane Fletcher Geniesse.
The author unveils not the fearless wanderer whose mappings and 30 books brought Stark awards from the likes of the Royal Geographical Society and made her a darling of British society. Instead Stark is seen as humble, insecure, and forever caught in the role of perpetual alien--be it when the English-born child grows up in Italy, where her mother lives in scandal, or when she plunges alone into the East, a feat never before accomplished by a Westerner.
An unwilling iconoclast whose love of travel, she would say, began as an infant when her father carried her in a basket over the Dolomites, Stark longed for the social security of the times: marriage and children. Proposals fell through, on occasion her beloved was married, or the romantic emotions she felt went unrequited--and besides, as a friend later pointed out, marriage would have spoiled her with its confinements. Rising above depression, self-imposed ostracism, and her numerous illnesses, Stark learned Arabic and how to climb mountains, map, partake in geographical digs, and find a niche in strange cultures.
Initially ridiculed for her passionate fondness of the Middle East, her writings ultimately generated vast interest for that mysterious part of the world, where she was surprisingly embraced, made privy to political movements closed to most foreigners, and even shown precious Islamic documents. At times a nurse, a war correspondent, a negotiator, Stark was a one-woman revolution of her time. Geniesse's intoxicating documentation of her life not only serves to stir up new interest in Stark's many books; it also ensures that the name Freya Stark will live on long after her obituary is but a scrap of yellowed, crackling newsprint. --Melissa Rossi
Book Description
Freya Stark—traveler, explorer, Arabist, and woman of letters—began the extraordinary adventures that would glamorize her—and would catapult her into public life for the next sixty years—in 1927. And with the publication of The Valley of the Assassins in 1934, her legend was launched.
Leaving behind a miserable family life, Freya set out, at the age of thirty-four, to explore remote and dangerous regions of the Middle East. She was captured in 1927 by the French military police after penetrating their cordon around the rebellious Druze. She explored the mountainous territory of the mysterious Assassins of Persia, became the first woman to explore Luristan in western Iran, and followed ancient frankincense routes to locate a lost city. Admired by British officialdom, her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages and culture aided the military and diplomatic corps, for whom she conceived an effective propaganda network during WWII.
But Stark’s indomitable spirit was forged by contradictions, her high-profile wanderings often masking deep insecurities. A child of privilege, she grew up in near poverty; she longed for love, but consistently focused on the wrong men. This is a brilliant and balanced biography—filled with sheikhs, diplomats, nomad warriors and chieftains, generals, would be lovers, and luminaries. Author Jane Geniesse digs beneath the mythology to uncover a complex, quixotic, and controversial woman.
Customer Reviews:
David Neel, Mallart et al.......2007-06-11
My Journey to Lhasa: The Classic Story of the Only Western Woman Who Succeeded in Entering the Forbidden CityForbidden Journey (Marlboro Travel)I don't understand why other great women travellers are not mentioned in any of these reviews. If you like this author, don't forget about Alexandra David-Neel who paved the way and Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart who traced their own unique paths. All but Schwarzenbach have been translated into English and are available from amazon.
another "thumbs-up" vote.......2006-12-31
Having just scrolled through the other reviews, I don't have anything to add except the comment that I am another fan of this book. I think the author did a good job of bringing this complex, interesting woman to life.
Fascinating story of a complex historic figure.......2006-11-12
Freya Start was a pioneer in her day -- a remarkable and complex woman whose intellectual curiosity led her to explore a region --the Middle East-- where few Western women felt comfortable to go in company, let alone, as a solo traveler. THis book describes her character as it developed over time, headstrong, determined, and driven to compensate for her plain features and disfigured face with daring adventures. Her advise and counsel to the British foreign office proved to be amazingly prescient, though she was not always heeded. A very good book of historical and human significance.
Passionate Nomad.......2005-10-15
Another amazing book about another amazing British lady of the ealy 1900's. Gertrude Bell (Desert Queen ) and Freya Stark are two incredible women who broke all the barriers of their era. Another must read for those interested in the development of the Middle East in the early 1900's, the cultures of these people and the strength and determination of an incredible woman in a time when only men ruled the world.
A fascinating historical landmark.......2005-08-24
The book offers a well-researched and - presented insight into the life a remarkable woman who had a passion for the region we know as the Middle-East; who lived amongst the people in the region and observed their way of life and worldview with an open mind and with immense humanity, an attitude uncharacteristic of her compatriots.
Book Description
Commonly regarded as the greatest sea explorer of all time, James Cook made his three world-changing voyages during the 1770s, at a time when ships were routinely lost around the English coast. He made history by making geography-- sailing through previously unknown southern seas, charting the eastern Australian coast and circumnavigating New Zealand, putting many Pacific islands on the map, and exploring both the Arctic and Antarctic. His men suffered near shipwreck, were ravaged by tropical diseases, and survived frozen oceans; his lieutenants-- including George Vancouver and William Bligh-- became celebrated captains in their own right. Exploits among native peoples combined to make Cook a celebrity and a legend.
Cook is not, however, viewed by all as a heroic figure. Some Hawaiians demonize him as a syphilitic rascist who had a catastrophic effect on local health. Indigenous Australians often see him as the violent dispossessor of their lands. Nicholas Thomas explores Cook's contradictory character as never before, by reconstructing the many sides of encounters that were curious and unusual for Europeans and natives alike. The result of twenty years' research, Thomas's magnificently rich portrait overturns the familiar images of Cook and reveals the fascinating and far more ambiguous figure beneath.
Customer Reviews:
A good history.......2006-08-17
Fewer things are better than a good sea story dealing with unexplored regions of the world. Captain James Cook's British Naval expeditions in the late 1700's were some of the last expeditions to the unexplored parts of the world. For introducing the subject and telling a good story, Thomas does an excellent job of introducing the reader to the inherent problems in leading a naval and scientific expedition and first contact with Pacific Islanders.
In many ways, today's outer space missions are less complicated than Cook's expeditions.
The anthropology sections of this book are the weakest sections, but there are simply few ways to understand the native Pacific islanders of Hawaii and Polynesia and the Maori peoples of New Zealand and Aborigines of Australia.
Cook's legacy is somewhat mixed in the Pacific basin, though to his credit, he handled first contact issues as well as he probably could. His death that resulted from an altercation with some Hawaiian tribe members was a bit of a tragedy, for few of his generation had as much patience in dealing with the inherent issues of Western and native interaction.
For the reader wanting a solid introduction to one of history's greatest explorers and one of the greatest sea stories, this is a worthwhile book.
The People on the Beach.......2006-03-28
Before reading this book, most of what I knew about Captain Cook was from high school (not much) and from a vacation or two in Hawaii complete with visits to historic sites. I saw it at the library and checked it out because I am enrolled in a "Pacific Islanders in the U.S." course at my local junior college, and because I'm planning another vacation in Hawaii and want to feel more grounded in the history of the place while I'm there.
I thought the book was great. It really cut through a lot of the mythology that surrounds what most of us are taught about Cook, to the real person, with failings as well as strengths. What I loved was I felt I got both perspectives, Cook's as well as the point of view of the People he encountered on the islands. One thing I got from the book is that Cook missed a lot. His journal records his perspective, but as well-meaning as it might be, that perspective was narrow and often limited by his own background. The island kingdoms he encountered, in Tonga, Hawaii and others were politically complex, and socially and culturally rich. Power plays were being made, not only by Cook, but by the People on the beach. I thought the presentation was balanced, and fascinating, and I am grateful for having read a book that allows me to think about this moment in history, and the islands themselves, in a broader way.
A good read, strange word choice at times........2005-09-30
The history, anthropology and sociology presented are well written at least 90% of the time. At other times the writer seems to get bogged down in making hindsighted judgments about certain situations and injects quite a bit of his personal thoughts... but hey it's his book and it's not sold as being a dry history book. It is all about Cook and the impact his expeditions had on the local islanders.
I would have rated the book higher had it not been for some very poor word choices that caught me off guard (read "profanity"). Including the fairly random use of the "F" word at one point in the book, which really seemed out of place and truly bizarre.
The maori were cannibals!.......2005-07-08
Unlike other accounts, this book doesnt start with Cook's heritage, but rather dives straight into Cooks voyages. Although his heritage plays significant roles in his decision making process, there is no need to waste pages. Instead the book recounts a remarkable journey that makes for simple yet eloquent reading. Accounts of European contact with Polynesian natives are griping and wildly descriptive. While university professors in Hawaii tend to blast Cook, most of them are informed by mostly biased sources. Here, the story remains unbiased and allows the reader to see Cook for who he really was: an amazing navigator, an amateur anthropologist, a steady diplomat, and a supurb leader among men. The heinous actions Cook committed has been expressed at face value by Hawaiian instructors, but Thomas goes into the whys rather than the whats. This is an excellent book on leadership as well.
Excellent account marred by a few lapses in style.......2005-05-11
I am not sure that the reviewers who complained about the "political correctness" of this title actually read the same book that I did. Nicholas Thomas presents an interesting, thoroughly researched, and balanced account of Cook's three voyages. Rather than depicting Cook as a malicious abuser of native societies, I was surprised to find that Cook was remarkably understanding, for his time, of cultural differences. The account of Cook's death in Hawaii (I trust I am not giving anything away), which to some extent was provoked by an unfortunate coincidence having to do with the native religion, was particularly fascinating.
My one quibble with the book, for which I deduct "one star", is with the style: first person asides, gratuitous use of the "F-word", and a sprinkling of contractions (e.g., "I'm", "they're"--this is a book, for heaven's sake, not a post-it note!). It is too bad that an otherwise excellent and scholarly work was marred by inelegant language.
Book Description
Darwin took his books aboard the Beagle. Swift and Defoe used his experiences as inspiration in writing Gulliver’s Travels and Robinson Crusoe. Captain Cook relied on his observations while voyaging around the world. Coleridge called him a genius and “a man of exquisite mind.” In the history of exploration, nobody has ventured further than Englishman William Dampier. Yet while the exploits of Cook, Shackleton, and a host of legendary explorers have been widely chronicled, those of perhaps the greatest are virtually invisible today—an omission that Diana and Michael Preston have redressed in this vivid, compelling biography.
As a young man Dampier spent several years in the swashbuckling company of buccaneers in the Caribbean. At a time when surviving one voyage across the Pacific was cause for celebration, Dampier ultimately journeyed three times around the world; his bestselling books about his experiences were a sensation, influencing generations of scientists, explorers, and writers. He was the first to deduce that winds cause currents and the first to produce wind maps across the world, surpassing even the work of Edmund Halley. He introduced the concept of the “sub-species” that Darwin later built into his theory of evolution, and his description of the breadfruit was the impetus for Captain Bligh’s voyage on the Bounty. Dampier reached Australia 80 years before Cook, and he later led the first formal expedition of science and discovery there.
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind
restores William Dampier to his rightful place in history—one of the pioneers on whose insights our understanding of the natural world was built.
Customer Reviews:
Book that takes you around the world.......2007-07-27
This book about 17th Century Explorer William Dampier really surprised me - it was so good! I received the book as a gift and it turned out to be one of those books that I might not have chosen on my own, but I really enjoyed.
The book chronicles Dampier's 3 voyages around the world, is interesting, and super easy to read. Two thumbs up for sure.
Pleeeze don't call him "pirate!" He was just along for the ride ..........2007-04-21
Ol' Cap'n Bill plundered only knowledge - couldn't keep two pieces of eight together to save his life. In fact, when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama, he was a lot more worried about keeping his charts dry than about the gold. Trouble was, nobody in his earlier days ever thought about funding a mission for pure scientific research - at least 'til Edmund Halley's voyage in about 1702 or so. And the only British vessels heading into the Pacific had to subsidize their own voyages (at the expense of the Dons, of course). So what was an insatiably curious soul to do? He stuck out his thumb, sailed everywhere -- and I mean EVERYWHERE! and if he's no longer at sea, he's now in print -- everywhere! Don't believe me? Pick up ANY book on exploration, vanished species, oceanography, evolution, British history, British colonialism -- and, of course ... pirates ... and you'll find him there, glaring huffily at anyone who'd demean him as a pirate.
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The life of William Dampier.......2007-03-08
Extraordinary story of one of the most important explorers and cartographers we've never heard of! Fascinating facts and a well written account of some of the early round-the-world navigation.
Great Reading!.......2007-01-10
A student of history for more than half my life I was astounded that I had never heard of Dampier --its a pity that he has not received his due as an explorer & naturalist. He was well known in his own time and should be as well known in ours. The book is an education and a fun one at that.
Inquisitive, free-spirited open-minded seagoing pioneer.......2006-05-27
William Dampier, an inquisitive, free-spirited open-minded seagoing pioneer was on the cutting edge of global explorations. Recorded in his own words, William Dampier has left us all an inspiring legacy of world history. This book was hard to put down and I was sad to see it end.
Average customer rating:
- Intriguing lives, lazily written
- Lytton Lite
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Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Lady Astor
John Halperin
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 0312176856 |
Book Description
John Halperin illuminates the connection between four fascinating people and the intersecting era in which they lived -the second "Georgian" age, the period in England between the two world wars.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing lives, lazily written.......2004-11-26
This certainly isn't Lytton Strachey. Like Strachey and Richard Holmes, however, Halperin well realizes the inherent great enjoyability of very short biographies of extremely interesting people. There seems to be almost no original research here, and Halperin is willing to make an extremely shallow and lazy transition to an anecdote just to squeeze it in, but he does write with grace (and has an eye for a great story). Oddly, there's a running theme throughout the book: the perfidy of what Halperin extremely loosely calls "treason," although what he means by treason seems so broad at times as to be almost meaningless. The best lives here are of the stodgy George V and the hilariously irreverent Nancy Astor, because with both Halperin seems really to have a new angle he wants to bring out; while his willingness to applaud the late king for his steadfastness and decency as compared to his eldest son's thorough rottenness, it does not seem to occur to Halperin that Edward VIII's character might be in part due to his parents' legendarily neglectful cold and neglectful care. Halperin's extremely heavyhanded evaluations of Elizabeth Bowen's novels are also a bit puzzling, although Bowen's exceptionally eventful life and character make up for his judgmentalism towards her fiction.
Lytton Lite.......2001-08-17
John Halperin takes Lytton Strachey as his model and provides four short lives of people he views as emblematic of the "second Georgian" era - King Geroge V himself, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby and Nancy Astor. The results are interesting without being particularly memorable. Halperin tells his stories in a plain documentary fashion, without much analysis and with none of the mordant wit or strong opinions of Strachey's nasty little classic. Such a straightforward approach works best if bolsered by extensive research, but the slim bibliography indicates a newspaper profile rather than an original and insightful work. All this being said, Bowen, Philby and Astor are interesting enough as people to making reading "Eminent Georgians" worthwhile. As for the good King George, it will take a much more persuasive writer to bring that admirable but dull monarch to life on the page.
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