Captain Cook

When I was a boy I read a book entitled A Short History of the Civil War by Fletcher Pratt. It was full of inaccuracies, part truths, overblown quotes, not what a "real historian" would have approved of. But it stirred the mind of a pre-teen and left me wanting to know more. OK, so Ms Collingridge's facts are not dry enough for real historians, and maybe she adds some dramatic license to the tale. But, the interweaving of Cook, her distant relative George Collingridge, and her own journey to tell the two tales, was wonderful. I very much enjoyed the book and her journey. I wish that she had added more of her personal reflections than she did. I studied history in college, and I taught history in middle school. History needs facts, but it also needs drama so that people are interested in learning. This book had both.

This superbly presented history charts all of Cook's voyages of exploration; from his mapping of the Pacific Islands and travels through Antarctica to discoveries of New Hebrides and Australia. His many adventures receive lively coverage in a title which explains how Cook changed the Western map of the world - and reveals that he was not the first to do so. An involving re-examination of Cook's achievements.

THIS WAS A WONDERFUL BOOK ON CAPTAIN COOK ALSO THE UNKNOWN GEORGE COLLINGBRIDGE, AND VANESSA COLLINGBRIDGE THE AUTHORLook at the subject first then read on. How I came about this book was I saw preview for History Channel's reality series on called the ship which was based on Captain Cook's first voyage...Mrs. Collingbridge is James Cook's distant cousin, and George Collingbridge's neice or cousin I forgot what which it was. The book was about how their lifes became almost the same not everything about (sorry for my grammar). This book was though (however you spell it) research, well written, and so on...

THIS WAS A WONDERFUL BOOK ON CAPTAIN COOK ALSO THE UNKNOWN GEORGE COLLINGBRIDGE, AND VANESSA COLLINGBRIDGE THE AUTHORLook at the subject first then read on. How I came about this book was I saw preview for History Channel's reality series on called the ship which was based on Captain Cook's first voyage. So I went to Barnes and Noble store with my mom and sister and saw this on one of the new books table in the front of the store. Miss Collingbridge is James Cook's distant cousin, and George Collingbridge's neice or cousin I forgot what which it was. The book was about how their lifes became almost the same not everything about (sorry for my grammar). This book was though (however you spell it) research, well written, and so on. I recommed not reading chapter 30. Obsession and Betrayal James Cook 1779 on pg. 327 past midnight because you will be thinking of it and have bad dreams about it and then finish the book...I still recommed reading it still.

For various reasons, there continues to be substantial interest in great explorers such as Ernest Shackleton, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Robert Falcon Scott, and James Cook. This the first of two books about Cook which I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed. (The other is Tony Horwitz's Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before.) They discuss a common subject but from different perspectives. I highly recommend both. Of special interest to me is what Collingridge learned about an ancestor, George Collingridge (1847-1931), while consulting an abundance of research resources. He was among the first to challenge the generally accepted belief that Cook was the first to "discover" Australia during various voyages. (Cook traveled more than 200,000 miles during the years 1768-1789, limited by crude navigational instruments but sustained by his superior skills as a seaman.) Of her ancestor Collingridge observes: "He was eccentric and colorful and too given to whims of fancy and dreadful puns, but the bulk of his [own] research is basically sound." Both Horwitz and Vanessa Collingridge seem to agree that Cook was -- as was Shackleton -- a great leader. Also, that he treated the native people "with a decency that shattered all convention." Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Horwitz's.