The Life of Captain James Cook

There is no doubt that this is the definitive biography of the renowned Captain Cook. For no other reason, persons with an interest in the greatest navigator of all time should read this work. While few details of his life outside of his three major expeditions have been retained, this book brings to life the Captain that sailed the world on his three voyages, including his personality, his foibles, his leadership, and his intellect. He was indeed a man with many admirable qualities.So why only three stars? While the book is well researched and well organized, it is not well written. Far too often, a jumble of words is presented as a substitute for a sentence. If Beaglehole could write clearly, this would certainly be a 5 star work. On the other hand, sadly enough, a clear writing style has not always been the hallmark of a professional historian.

I worked for the Captain Cook Inn and desired to read about how it came to be named. This book took me on adventures totally imaginable. It will open your eyes to the trials these Seaman experienced, their hardships, ship disciplines and the total havoc reeked by scurvy. I highly recommend this well written book.

I base my three star review from the point of view of a reader not a historian. I chose this book because I enjoyed "Farther Than Any Man" by Martin Dugard. "The Life of Captain James Cook" has so much menutiae, that, for me, it lost all thrill and my interest. If Beaglehole had the ability of Stephan Ambrose to condense Lewis and Clark's journals, which I tried to read, into "Undaunted Courage", which I have read twice, this would probably be a wonderful read.

Not as good as I expected. Written in old style English with far too much detail. Became rather mind numbing.

I've not had time to read it yes, but look forward to doing so. A guide on a recent cruise we took to Tasmania and New Zealand highly recommended that I buy it.Frances VandervoortChicago

This is a tome which occassionally tells you just a little more than you really want to know about the three great voyages to the Pacific, but anyone seriously interested in the western penetration into the Pacific will want to read this book. It is also an articulate and formidable defense of Cook's character, seamanship, and wisdom. While Cook is not quite so venerable now in a time of great sensitivity to the depradations western invasion inflicted on indiginous people, this book presents us with an undoubtedly great man interested not in conquest but in geography, exploration, discovery, science, anthropology and peaceful relations between cultures. The aftermath was a tragedy, (see Alan Moorehead's The Fatal Impact) but Cook was simply too high-minded and short-sighted to forsee what would come after. Cook was for better and worse a man of his time--and it was an age of enlightenment--an exemplar of the period of science, exploration and adventure. He was of course a cold fish and hard to cosy to, but there is much to admire in this brilliant portrait of the man and his age.

New Zealand historian J. C. Beaglehole was perhaps the 20th century's foremost authority on European exploration in the Pacific. The main results of his long and distinguished career were "Exploration of the Pacific" and "Life of Captain James Cook". In preparation for writing the Life, he produced the definitive modern editions of the Journals of Captain Cook (4 volumes) and the Endeavour Journals of Jospeh Banks (2 volumes).An understanding of Cook and the voyages must begin with Beaglehole.

J.C. Beaglehole has brought to life in this book, not only the greatest seaman and navigator ever, but a man that should be revered as a perfect showcase of human quality. The book is very long and detailed, but provides vast information of Captain James Cook and his voyages that added to our knowledge of geography, oceanography, biology, astronomy, navigation, health, and humanity. I recomend everyone old and young, of every ethnic background to read this book. In the end, the reader sees that it wasn't his accomplisments that made him famous, but his awesome moral beliefs of modesty, chastity, temperence, faithfulness, steadfastness, truth, honesty, loyalty, discilpline, and passion that define the very finest example of how to live as a human being.

It came earlier , good condition package good no problem