Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before | Tony Horwitz

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before | Tony Horwitz | Good Stuff

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Blue Latitudes: Bo...

	Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before Tony Horwitz, 2002 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 93 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wonderful book

I am both a fan of "travelogues" and of anything to do with the sea and sailing, so this was the prefect book for me. However, even if you lack an interest in either, it is still a wonderful book. Horwitz writing style is familiar, very funny and yet very informative. I really don't understand some of the lower ratings here. The main objection seems it doesn't seem to fit some standard formula of a travelogue. Pardon me, but what does that have to do with anything?

Good Stuff

I wasn't all that interested in explorers until I read this book. since having done so, i have since read or am reading several other such non-fiction books.

I liked the book's comparison between Cook's day and today's reality: Tahiti, for example, conjures up images of a tropical paradise with a promise of escape from stress. Not so, it turns out. Today's Tahiti is polluted, crime-ridden, hot and buggy. - Not a place I would've imagined.

This book enlightened me via honestly describing real life. That's what I like.

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Into the Blue

A wonderful way to learn about history and enjoy a travel tale at the same time. I laughed out loud during some of this. There is some rough language but really not much. I actually got this as a book on tape and it was a good travel companion.

jaded history

Horwitz must be complimented for undertaking visits to so many different places around the world, and for his admirable depth of research. What makes this book interesting is this research is the combination of traditional academic-style historical research and Horwitz's personal experiences during his contemporary visits. He speaks with locals in places as diverse as Cook Town, Australia, Unalaska in the Aleution islands, and Niue, a dot on the map of the pacific between Tahiti and Tonga. These contemporary local perspectives mesh with traditional historical studies on Cook's explorations to provide an enlightening perspective on the effect of Cook's explorations.

Unfortunately, this also makes Horwitz's account somewhat jaded. He makes places universally viewed as paradise sound like trash dumps. Tahiti, for example, comes across like some forlorn third-world country. This book reminded me of why I quit reading National Geographic: while I enjoyed reading about distant, exotic places, I got tired of constantly reading about how they were on the brink of ruin thanks to the relentless onslaught of humanity. I've seen recent pictures of Tahiti, and it doesn't look that bad. It does seem important to know that white man brought venereal and other diseases, pollution, and near-eradication and total subjugation of indigenous cultures. I'm just not sure what to do with that information.

The book is probably 3/5s travelogue and 2/5s history. People who enjoy reading either will benefit from this book. Just don't be surprised if, when you're done, you're not interested in visiting any of the places yourself.

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An Enjoyable Modern Travelogue

"Blue Latitudes" is entertaining and informative, both concerning Captain Cook, and the modern day situation of all his various landfalls. Horowitz essentially has written a biography of the navigator, and added in his own story about globe-hopping in the man's wake.

And it is interesting, believe me. The almost universal hatred of Cook in the South Seas, the aimless violence of Maori gangs, sailing aboard a replica of the Endeavor, all of these things are contrasted with a gritty picture of life during the actual explorations. Punishment, navigation, nutrition, everything sea-story readers want.

But, while I enjoyed the book, it wasn't exactly my sort of travelogue. The biographical bits were great, but the modern stuff didn't interest me that much. It focused mainly on the culture of these places today, and while that is interesting, I was hoping for a bit more of the wilderness. Of course, perhaps that was the whole point. There is no wilderness anymore.

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