A well-written, well-researched account of the life and times of Captain James Cook who was not only an outstanding explorer and all-around good man but who also found a way to prevent beri-beri during long months at sea. His detailed charting of New Zealand is still a benchmark of excellence. He left his indelible mark upon the world.

A well-written, well-researched account of the life and times of Captain James Cook who was not only an outstanding explorer and all-around good man but who also found a way to prevent beri-beri during long months at sea. His detailed charting of New Zealand is still a benchmark of excellence. He left his indelible mark upon the world.

What a surprise I found myself reading this book. For years I had wanted to read a biography of Captain Cook. Then I had the great pleasure to read BLUE LATITUDES, BOLDLY GOING WHERE GAPTAIN COOK
HAS GONE BEFORE (2002) by Tony Horwitz which is in part a biography told via a humorous travel narrative. And then I read the more detailed and dry COOK: The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook (2003) by Nicholas Thomas which is not so much a biography but a study of all three voyages told from all points of view. Then I came upon Martin Dugard's book which I found a fun, simple, and excellent straight forward biography. Yes, the book is flawed a bit by some psychological guesses about Cook's behavior on his final voyage with no source notes to back up the argument. Yet this is a marvelously entertaining read in similar fashion to my all time favorite page turner about another early discoverer, OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe (2003) BY Laurence Bergreen. Dugard also did a great job of explaining Cook's patrons in England and how he advanced and won the right to Captain these three voyages of discovery. Should a dare say there is a small biography of the Earl of Sandwich contained in these 287 pages too. I recommend Farther Than Any Man for those who want a short fun good read while learning more about an amazing individual who did indeed go Father than any Man.

i have spent my life around cook strait,i give talks on what cook did on his first visit,and mr dugard clearly has no idea of what cook did,every item is incorrect,wrong in all detail and he has clearly never visited the ships cove,queen charlotte sound nor read Beaglehole or cooks log,,the book is the worst i have seen of hundreds written and should not have been published with all the errors in it,it is also trivial even the locations are wrong,,,i have 40years experience of the area and am surprised this book sells

Dugard's slightly fanciful account of Cook's voyages certainly makes for an entertaining read - I read it cover-to-cover on a recent trip to Hawaii.

However, despite the lively, engaging style, it is a bit scant and even sloppy in some areas - particularly the account of Cook's interaction with Australian Aborigines near present day Cooktown and the Easter Island encounter.

That said, I enjoyed it.

If you are a history buff, amature psychologist, or professional traveler, this book is easly trashed. It's inconsistencies, geography and attempts psychoanalysis are sort of sad. That being said, it is a fine book! Read it for what it is - a nice yard about a real individual who greatly influenced our history and use it as a launch for further, mroe indepth studies of a fastinating man and time. I like the author's style. He is actually readable. There is no attempt to come across as a great historical guru who happened to take World History 101 while in college. I get quite sick of "academics" who just hate for their territory to be tromped on, and their freshman following, who after reading one or two history texts, are experts. Certain reading should be for pure pleasure, other reading for serious study - lets not mix them up. Her we have a book that is a pleasure to read, and we can even learn a bit from it - what more could you want? Buy it. Read it and enjoy. He Martin, lets have some more! Don't let the History Grunts get you down!

FARTHER THAN ANY MAN is an engaging biography of Captain James Cook, arguably the greatest explorer ever. The book covers Cook's humble beginnings as an ordinary seaman, his progress up the ranks of the merchant marine and his unlikely ascension to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The account of his major voyages is a spellbinding narrative that explains clearly that Cook's contribution to world discovery remains unparalleled.

An excellent history, FARTHER THAN ANY MAN tells both sides of the Cook story; his cartographic genius--creating maps and charts that remained the standard well in the twentieth century, his unflinching courage and determination, his boundless vision, and his dominating ego that ultimately led to his untimely death in Hawaii.

FARTHER THAN ANY MAN is a page-turner that you won't be able to put down. Read it, as I did, prior to a trip to New Zealand and the Cook Islands or, perhaps more realistically, next week to learn more about the world we live in.

"Farther than Any Man" is a good beginning overview of the remarkable life and career of Captain James Cook, who circumnavigated the world twice, discovered Autralia's Great Barrier Reef as well as Hawaii, and missed discovering Antarctica by 50 miles, all in the 1700s. It reads briskly, which makes it highly suitable for a popular audience. Some of the places Cook visited are only touched on briefly, but overall we get a good idea of what life was like onboard ship and what drove Cook to venture "farther than any man." We see his character develop from shy underling to commanding presence, as he escapes the class politics of England to make the Pacific his personal exploring playground until the tragic downfall of his third voyage. Dugard has obviously visited many of the places that Cook did, but he mercifully confines his narrative to Cook and his time, instead of inserting long, boring personal adventures of the author the way Tony Horwitz did in "Blue Latitudes." Meanwhile, I think Dugard's own book "Into Africa" about Stanley and Livingstone exceeds his Cook book in depth and detail, but I came to this book knowing little of where Cook went or what he did, and I came away with a serviceable knowledge and an appreciation of the man's accomplishments. (One other thing, there is a nice general map of Cook's voyages but I could have used a little more visual detail or a few other maps with it. I would also like to have seen a portait of Cook.)

By no means a definitive account of Cook's life, but certainly a readable introduction to the legacy of this man.

Martin Dugard has touched lightly on many of the pressures Cook must surely have felt - His family, his birthright and position in society, his ambition, the relationship with his father, England's position in the World and the birth of Empire. It would be impossible to do all of this justice in just 300 pages, and I don't believe that Dugard is really attempting to. Instead, he offers the topics like a light buffet - take what you want, go and look for more on what interests you.

This informal style, laced with conjecture as to conversations or motives, will infuriate the purist historians. This book will also not appeal to those who hold Cook up as a definitive British hero. The author speculates on Cook's rationales and motives, but the message clear: Cook did indeed go father than any man. He led the world into a new era, both through his geographical discoveries and the courage he displayed in attaining them.

French Navigator Jean-François de Galaup de La Pérouse said of Cook that his work was so all-encompassing, there was little for his successors to do but admire it. This is not an all-encompassing account of Cook, but an easy place to begin your own voyage of discovery.

An engaging biography of Captain James Cook, arguably the greatest explorer ever. The book covers Cook's humble beginnings as an ordinary seaman, his progress up the ranks of the merchant marine and his unlikely ascension to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The account of his major voyages is a spellbinding narrative that explains clearly that Cook's contribution to world discovery remains unparalleled.

An excellent history, Farther Than Any Man tells both sides of the Cook story; his cartographic genius--creating maps and charts that remained the standard well in the twentieth century, his unflinching courage and determination, his boundless vision, and his dominating ego that ultimately led to his untimely death in Hawaii.

Farther Than Any Man is a page-turner that you won't be able to put down. Read it, as I did, prior to a trip to New Zealand and the Cook Islands or, perhaps more realistically, next week to learn more about the world we live in.

Dugard's account of the life of explorer James Cook is a light, easily read introduction to England's greatest explorer. Dugard stresses the travails of a man of humble beginnings who, through force of his own will and some fortuitous connections garnered command of the first solo expedition into the South Pacific. He describes Cook's early voyages on colliers, moving on to his decade-long exploration of the Newfoundland coasts. Lured away by the glories of the Royal Navy, Cook entered that force as a lowly seaman but rose rapidly to junior officer due to his cartography skills and forceful sense of drive.

Dugard dubs Cook "the original adventurer." Other expeditions had concentrated on map-ping coastlines along regularly used routes or finding harbours to serve as sanctuaries or supply bases. Cook's voyage in the Endeavour was the first journey dedicated to scientific studies. Cook's mandate was to convey a team of scientists to Tahiti. There they would study the rare phenomenon of Venus' transit across the face of the sun, adding to the navigator's store of tools. From that mid-Pacific isle, however, Cook was free to seek the legendary Southern Continent, particularly Antarctica. Given a mandate to wander the Pacific, Cook found yet another landmass, the island continent of Australia.

Dugard portrays Cook as impelled by several ambitions. To become the premier explorer of the Pacific, to bask in the adoration of its peoples, and show Britain's class-bound society that the son of a farm labourer was the equal of any aristocrat. He achieved all these aims, but at the usual cost to a man overcome by hubris. He went too far, barely staving off mutiny by a crew that adored him. In the end, of course, an act of arrogance cost him his life in Hawaii. Through all this tale of a man burdened by ambition, Dugard offers us glimpses of Elizabeth Cook who remained in England almost mindlessly cheering on her husband's goals. While Cook sailed as far as from the Earth to the Moon, Elizabeth bore and buried a succession of children. When the reader feels the urge to learn of her outlook in more detail, Dugard reminds us of her burning the Cook correspondence, eliminating any record of her thoughts. Unrestrained by evidence, Dugard blithely presents her viewpoint, derived from assumptions.

Given the wealth of books available on Cook and his voyages, this one stands well down on the list of "must read" titles. Only someone with a superficial interest in the explorer and his journeys would find this useful. A good introductory overview, its lack of bibliography or even an index renders this title merely a journalist's superficial exercise. There are simply too many scholarly books on Cook, some well written, to warrant spending much time with this one. Save it for the beach or cottage.

Dugard has written an entertaining and very enjoyable book, giving the reader a chance to live in Captain Cook's world for a few days. The style is excellent and one easily gets a feel for both Captain Cook as a person and the world in which he lived.

However, it should be pointed out that Dugard is not a professional historian, so readers seeking a highly-detailed source of information on Cook may be disappointed. Indeed, the book doesn't even have an index.

That said, this book is very good and won't disappoint you.

Dugard's review of Cook's career is epic, muscular and highly personal. As Dugard reveals, here was a man fueled to success, and doomed to failure, by a series of inner motivations, not the least of which was his desire to please those in authority. Rising from the lower ranks of the navy, he made the incredible leap from ship's master (essentially, an NCO) to ship's officer, then further upwards. For sheer genius and achievement, Cook is to Pacific exploration what Columbus was to the Atlantic. Interestingly, while he is virtually deified in eastern Australia as the Great Discoverer, he was not the first European to visit this continent, nor did he regard New South Wales as being exciting as others places (New Zealand, to which he frequently returned, was his favorite spot). Dugard is a natural storyteller and the meteoric rise (and precipitous downfall) of this heroic figure, while already familiar to some of us, is fresh and full of new insights, particularly regarding the Second Vogage of Discovery, his gruelling survey of the southernmost latitudes, and (arguably) discovery of Antarctica.

If you are a history buff, amature psychologist, or professional traveler, this book is easly trashed. It's inconstancies, geography, and attempts at psychoanalysis are sort of sad. That being said, it is a fine book. Read if for what it is - a nice yard about a real individual and use it as a launch for further, more indepth studies of a fastinating man. I like the authors style. He is actually readable. There is no attempt to come across as a great historical guru who happened to take World History 101 while in college. I get quite sick of "academics"
who just hate for their territory to be tromped on, and their freshman following, who after reading one or two history texts, are experts. Certain reading should be for pure pleasure, other reading for serious study - lets not mix them up. Here we have a book that is a pleasure to read, and we even can learn a little from it - what more could you want? Buy it, read it and enjoy it... Hey Martin, lets have some more! Don't let the History Grunts get you down!

I loved "Farther than any man". I am not a history buff, so I read the book solely because it was about Captain Cook and it was somewhat a psychological look at the adventurer. I am also fascinated by New Zealand and have been to several of the places in New Zealand that Captain Cook visited.

According to the author, Captain Cook was addicted to adventure. What started out as a way to move up in the Navy became a way of life. He wanted (maybe needed) to travel, to be at sea, to get away from the daily routines of land. Of course, being at sea was also a routine. He understood his men and at least till the end was a much better captain than his contemporaries.
The author also makes the point that Cook was always faithful to his wife. Even in Tahiti, where his men found paradise with the Tahaitian women, Cook himself remained faithful, mostly I feel because he had better things to do with his time. I like that! As one who is married and travels a lot, I understand that being away from a partner does not mean automatic unfaithfulness.

New Zealand was Captain Cook's favorite place. I understand that too. He used the later trips to go back to New Zealand. In those days, Air New Zealand was not yet in business so to go back to New Zealand, he had to organize the whole trip.

If you are fascinated with the South Pacific, read the book.

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The publishers of this book suggest a genre classification of ADVENTURE/BIOGRAPHY. One thing is for sure; it is not a history book. It is, instead, a garbled, confused and at times, barely literate attempt at writing a psychodrama based on the life of that most famous of navigators, Captain James Cook.

You would think an author who wants to write about voyages of discovery, and purports to have done his research by following his subject's tracks around the globe would have his basic geography under control. We have Dugard wandering around London (UK) not knowing what side of the Thames River he is on. He takes us on a walk from the Deptford Docks near Greenwich (on the south bank) to Cook's house in the East End of London, without crossing the river! He takes us along famous London thoroughfares like Regency (sic) Street and Savile (sic once again) Row.

You would hope a book like this might have some useful maps. There is an attempt at one. Right up front of the book we get a chart of the world showing the tracks of the ships taken in Cook's three voyages. This map however is totally useless. The essence of Cook's peregrination around the Pacific saw him often crossing his paths and doubling back. The map in this book has tracks without arrows. You can't tell where he's come from or where he's going!

Dugard's inventiveness really comes into its own when he attempts to go inside the head of Cook. He gives us the passionate details of his relationship with his wife Elizabeth. The fact that Mrs Cook burnt all her correspondence with her husband before she died, and the total lack of details in Cook's own records of his personal life is a real convenience for the imaginative author.

Dugard's thesis is that Cook's eventual downfall at the hands of the Hawaiian BBQ Kings was due to an egotism that was verging on psychotic. Whenever the author starts to develop a case for a particular aspect of Cook's personality or a behavioural trait he goes and destroys his own argument a few pages later. Take the following two extracts as an example.

On p124 we have, "Cook had always taken a quiet pride in being in touch with his crew's emotions. Their worries and fears became his, for in his heart he was still one of them." Only 26 pages later we have, "He had always been detached and reclusive, absorbed in his own thoughts and dreams. But after this trip he became even less aware of other's needs".

Dugard also invents another motive for Cook's zeal for discovery. On at least 6 occasions in the book he claims Cook wanted to "wipe off the map" previous explorers contributions to cartography. The author provides zero evidence for this. In fact, immediately prior to one of these repeated claims on p216, he had just provided a quote from Cook's journal which shows the great navigator (contrary to Dugard's thesis) was only too willing to recognize the work of the explorers who went before him.

When Dugrad writes about common maritime practice and procedures, even the lay reader would be left gasping at his ignorance. In one account where Cook's ship is wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef, he tells us (twice) that it was Cook's "gut instinct" that the evening tide that day would be higher than the previous high tide seen during the day. Even a weekend sailor could have worked that out from a few prior observations.

Dugard's attempts at literary "style" fall in a heap. He tries to conjure up some 18th Century atmosphere by using lingo like "unbeknownst". A few paras later he goes and shatters it with modern metaphors like "laser-like intensity".

As an historic travelogue to places familiar to the 21st Century tourist, any visitor-info website could replace this book. For example, Dugard describes the entrance to Sydney Harbour as being between "two towering basalt heads". The golden cliffs of sandstone that erode to make the famous beaches of Bondi must have popped into existence in the last 200 years!

There is no shortage of great books written about the life and times of Captain Cook. An AMAZON search will give you the Penguin Classic "The Journals of Captain Cook" (you cannot go past the man's own words) or John C. Beaglehole's "The Life of Captain James Cook".

It is sad to see the publishing industry churning out "pot-boilers" like this book. With all the bloopers, inconsistencies and non sequitur logic in this text it hard to believe there were any editorial disciplines interposed between the author's manuscript and the printing press.

As a Cook Book this one belongs in the bargain bin --- right alongside titles like "101 Recipes for Olde English Style BBQ".

This biography is phenomenal. It describes the three great voyages of Captain James Cook (no middle initial!) without claiming pretensions as to why he acted in the manner he did. It tells his life story and why he has left an indelible mark on the history of exploration. It also makes strong reference to the 'rags to metaphorical riches' theme.
The biography opens with a quick run through of his early life and then is in three sections, each dealing with the voyages. Interspersed are details about the love of his life - his wife Elisabeth, and his dealings with Sandwich and Banks.
The narrative is superb and you are literally on the Endeavour, the Resolution with the 'People', one of the crew seeing the Pacific as it unfolds. You literally get a sense of the wonder and unknown excitement seeping through the pages.
I couldn't put it down and whilst this is my first foray into Cook and, therefore, I can't compare it to other biographies/histories that deal with him for accuracy and in-depth character analysis, this book is a must-read. It is enormously refreshing and delightful. Perhaps it is a beginner biography for him but it is one of the finest biographies I have read in the past two years. I look forward to the author producing more.

This is an interesting and well-written book about James Cook, the Englishman who explored so much of the Pacific and Polynesian areas of the globe. The writing is colorful, and it keeps the reader interested in the narrative line. My one problem with the work, however, is the total lack of a bibliography, and footnotes. While I don't necessarily look at all footnotes in a work, when the author discusses a person's private thoughts or feelings, I like to know that his writing is based uopon something he has read, from whatever source. Without either footnotes or bibliography I don't know where the author's lines originated, and that makes me wonder a bit about his writing and research style. Read the book to learn about Cook's life and explorations, but be cautious about accepting everything the author says, in light of his lack of providing documentation.

This biography of the explorer and seafarer Cook tells of a man who never even saw the sea in his early years. Once he did, he moved from a farm boy to captain of the Royal Navy, leading historic journeys which opened up new worlds. Farther Than Any Man examines both Captain Cook's life and the politics of his times, combining history and biography in a fascinating account of exploration and discovery - both personal and historic.

Though "Farther Than Any Man ...." provides an inventoried account of Cook's voyages, I can't help feeling disappointed with this book. Too much verbiage is focused upon Cook's habitual characteristics (how many times must we be reminded that Cook harbored a desire for greatness despite his status in a class-based society?); as a result, the reader never gains a connection to or appreciation of Cook's travles (especially the wonderful and diverse worlds Cook explored).

In the end this book felt more like a work of hero worship than a thorough account of Cook's life and accomplishments.

While the subject is fascinating, so many inaccuracies crop up that it makes the rest questionable. Inaccuracies such as the proper names of Royal Navy ranks and ship construction, which are hard to overlook. Hasn't he done the research? Is he dumbing it down for a general, nonspecialist audience? Is the 'adventure story' taking precedence over the facts?

By contrast, some other biographies of the era (such as Patrick O'Brian's 'Joseph Banks: A Life') are reliable both in detail and in general. You can depend on the author's having done the research.

I hope the author takes the time to edit and improve this in the second edition. For the moment, I cannot recommend it.

I really enjoyed this book, although it could have used some portraits of the people involved, and maybe an index. So often we read about someone famous and find out that he had serious character flaws and end up feeling disappointed. It was refreshing to find out that Captain Cook was a man of integrity & conscience who tried to do what was right. Although he became grouchy in his later years, which perhaps contributed to the circumstances of his horrific death on Hawaii, he was for the most part an admirable person. I have always admired his courage to "go where no man has gone before" but I didn't know 'til I read this book the exact circumstances of his voyages; the many dangers, the hardships and risks of life at sea, etc. Highly recommended!

.....are just some elements that Mr. Dugard so eloquently covers in this wonderful book on the life and adventures of Captain James Cook. Mr. Dugard's writing captivates the reader and by the second chapter the reader becomes one with the unsung Captain Cook. I finished the whole book on my flight from LA to Sydney!

If this were a movie and if I were Siskel or Ebert, I would say "two thumbs up!!."

The biography _Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook_ (Pocket Books) by Martin Dugard tells the story of the man who was arguably the greatest adventurer in the world. It is an amazing story of a driven man who repeatedly accomplished the impossible. For instance, it was simply not possible for Cook to become a Captain in the Royal Navy, as he was a farmhand's son with no pull. He worked nine years in the commercial fleet in the North Sea, and against the judgement of everyone, halted a promising career to go to the bottom of the ranks in the Royal Navy. He again worked swiftly up the ranks, but had no chance of becoming an officer. Only the scheming of a scientist, a Lord, and King George III got him a commission, to go on a circumnavigation for a particular astronomical observation in Tahiti.

Cook commanded three circumnavigations, and racked up an impressive record, sailing farther north and farther south than anyone had. He found and charted new islands throughout the Pacific. He was an exemplary commander, a brilliant shiphandler who was reluctant to use the lash on his men. He also pioneered the use of an anti-scurvy diet that kept his men healthy. He kept close notes on the tribes he encountered and in the beginning, at least, had profitable and friendly relations with them. Eventually, worn out from adventuring, and not at home either in England or in what he wished to be a paradise of the Pacific, he became frustrated, and his frustration led directly to difficulties on his command, and in his death at the hands of the Sandwich Islanders.

Cook emerges from these pages as a complex figure, a flawed hero who can justly be called the greatest adventurer in history. The book includes fascinating accounts of naval facts, like what the sailors ate and by what means they were punished at sea. The way Dugard has told the story it is by turns exciting, comic, inspiring, and sad, and the narrative never flags.

Farther Than Any Man sheds new light on a ubiquitous, if underappreciated name: Cook

Relegated to a line in a textbook and the label of cheap champagne, "Captain Cook" still maintains a toehold in our knowledge, but it took this book to explain why, and why Cook the man should hold a far greater place in our estimation.

Dugard's book is commendable in that he not only narrates with a brawny and active prose, he also brings to life a man who led an extraordinary life. Cook was completely self-made, absolutely driven, more canny and political than I had imagined and yet also possessed of a loyal and loving side.

The accounts of his explorations are gripping, particularly if you know of his grisly end. And the summation of his encounters with the natives of the Pacific are illustrative of the West's dual colonial role of custodians and oppressors.

This is a great book, hugely informative, and I recommend it highly.