Into the Blue: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before (UK edition)

by Tony Horwitz

Into the Blue: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before (UK edition)

book data

535 ratings, 3.94 average rating, 108 reviews (more data...)

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published

August 19th 2002 (first published 2003) by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

binding

Hardcover, 496 pages

isbn

0747560471 (isbn13: 9780747560470)

description

UK edition of Blue Latitudes.

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 732)

All ratings | 5 stars (143) | 4 stars (225) | 3 stars (122) | 2 stars (23) | 1 star (3) | avg 3.94

all | this edition

Mary

Mary rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

10/15/07

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: history and sailing fans

Despite an interesting topic (Captain Cook) and a fascinating setting (the Pacific), I found this book ponderous and lacking momentum. Perhaps it was the organization but once I'd read about Cook's first journey to the South Pacific, I was done with this book (I did finish - you know by now that if I'd quit the rating would be 1 star "it's a book"). It picked up again when the author visited Yorkshire, Cook's childhood home, but then bogged down. The end was awkward, bringing in the...more

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Linda

Linda rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

11/28/08

In my research for Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawaii, I read a dozen accounts of Captain James Cook’s deadly encounter with the natives of Hawaii in 1779. This included not only the Captains’ journal, but that of seaman, John Ledyard, and that of first mate, Lt. King. When Tony Horwitz declared that in Blue Latitudes he would take us boldly where Captain Cook had gone before, I didn’t expect to learn anything new. What I found was the most informative, well-researched, fun account of the f...more

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Siobhan

Siobhan rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

08/12/08

bookshelves: 2008, nonfiction

Read in August, 2008

I must confess here that I love Tony Horwitz's writing. His ability to pick an interesting topic and delve into it from a myriad of perspectives is both astonishing and entertaining. He has a wry view of the world that allows him to talk to just about anyone, just about anywhere. Looking at the world from his perspective provides information and insights that I just haven't seen elsewhere.

That certainly is the case with Blue Latitudes. Previously, I knew that Captain Cook "discovered&q...more

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Lolly

Lolly rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

07/05/08

bookshelves: travel, world-history

Read in August, 2003

I knew next to nothing about Captain James Cook when i picked up this book... history books generally glass over his voyages, even though he explored an area that encompasses nearly 1/3 of the globe. Horwitz's urge to learn all he could about the man and his work is infectious... you can see this in the text rubbing off on those around him, as seen in Roger, his companion on many of his "Cook" travels.

Retracing Captain Cook's three voyages, relying heavily on the diaires of Cook hi...more I knew next to nothing about Captain James Cook when i picked up this book... history books generally glass over his voyages, even though he explored an area that encompasses nearly 1/3 of the globe. Horwitz's urge to learn all he could about the man and his work is infectious... you can see this in the text rubbing off on those around him, as seen in Roger, his companion on many of his "Cook" travels.

Retracing Captain Cook's three voyages, relying heavily on the diaires of Cook himself, Horwitz decides to take a short trip to the Pacific Northwest to sail for 10 days in a replica of Cook's ship. He wanted a feel for the life or a seaman, and he sure gets it!! Next he sets off to Australia and New Zealand. His journalistic style brings in great aspects of history, anthropology, and language. He interviews Maori people in New Zealand and Aborigines in Australia, asking them what memories their people have of Cook and his men. Both groups remember Captain Cook, oftentimes in a negative light. It does not appear that they despise Cook as a man, but more of what he stood for, and what his exploration meant for the native culture.

Horwitz and Roger then begin to island hop around the Pacific. I particularly liked the time they spent on the island of Niue (like Horwitz, I had never heard of this island.) Describing the scene, Horwitz claims it may be the last part of Polynesia that is not spoiled by commercialism and tourists. He and Roger stay for a week on this small island (only 11 miles long!) and try to unravel the mystery of the hula hula (Cook's men were scared away from these islands by men with red teeth, and they named the island Savage Island because they thought the people were cannibals).

Roger and Horwitz go to Yorkshire, England, Cook's birthplace (and Roger's too), and take part in a few days of the Cook festival. They meet Cliff, the young president of the Captain Cook society, and try to find out as much as they can about the enigmatic Cook. Going to Cook's own home gives Horwitz a different take on the man, and he learns more about Cook's beliefs and his philosophies.

Their travels end in Hawaii, like Cook's did in 1778. They commemorate Cook on the beach where he was killed.

The other aspect of this book that fascinated me was how Horwitz tried to get "into Cook's head". Cook was a son of the Enlightenment, and did not come to Polynesia with preconceived notions of God, Gold, and Glory like earlier explorers. He wanted to discover and learn about others, and was very scientifically conscious for a man of his time. ...less

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Denise

Denise rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

01/02/08

Read in August, 2005

recommends it for: Travelers, Historians,

I finished it a bit late but I loved every minute of it. How amazing to know that much about something. To be able to recite off the top of your head all the countries Captain Cook visited, his family line, dates of events. Not to mention the wife with the patience of a saint to let him run around like that. I'm actually looking at picking up his other book "Baghdad without a Map"

The thing I couldn't get over is how much he affected the places he visited. And I can see why he wasn...more I finished it a bit late but I loved every minute of it. How amazing to know that much about something. To be able to recite off the top of your head all the countries Captain Cook visited, his family line, dates of events. Not to mention the wife with the patience of a saint to let him run around like that. I'm actually looking at picking up his other book "Baghdad without a Map"

The thing I couldn't get over is how much he affected the places he visited. And I can see why he wasn't considered a hero to anyone but the English. I mean with him came disease, greed, violence and the destruction of the land ~ everything that is bad in today's time.

What were once beautiful areas filled with gentle people became slums with no one ounce of good soil. But that being said, a person that didn't have his sensitivity to his power could have done a lot worse. I think he was smart enough to know how much power he had – he could have destroyed civilizations and no one would have been the wiser. And it's not like it wouldn't have happened eventually – he just caused it to happen at THAT time.

I always find it so egotistical of us to claim land in the name of a country when THERE are PEOPLE already living on that land! But that's another story.

This book was so easy to go thru even though it was Non-fiction and over 400 pages. I couldn't imagine reading a book about Captain Cooks travels without falling asleep or getting a huge headache but he wrote in such a story way that it took me a minute to realize I was actually learning something. And it helped to have Rodger's dialogue thrown in every now and then.

Make sure you check out his site when you get a chance http://www.bluelatitudes.com/ it has maps of Cook's voyages, pictures of everyone he talked about and a bit more information. Or and before I forget, when I mentioned the book to my dad he says he saw the site in Hawaii where Cook was killed. He thought that they buried him in the hills and I had fun telling him that they used his leg bone to make an arrow and more than likely parts of him were eaten!...less

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Tracey

Tracey rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

12/21/07

bookshelves: libraryread

Read in June, 2003

I checked this out after reading Confederates in the Attic, also by Tony Horwitz. I was vaguely aware of Captain Cook's voyages and his untimely demise, and was looking forward to learning more.

Horwitz alternates between recapping Cook's travels and telling about his own experiences following (roughly) in Cook's wake. Horwitz starts his journey with a two-week trip on a replica of the Endurance, Cook's first ship, a...more

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Dan

Dan rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

01/23/08

Read in January, 2008

A travelogue in which Tony Horwitz goes to many of the places that Capt. Cook first found for the West, mostly in the South Pacific. Chapters alternate between descriptions of Cook's voyages and Horwitz recounting his own travels (often with his drinking buddy, Roger) to the same places. I found it a breeze for the first half, but it got pretty bogged down in some of the chapters where Horwitz indulged his and Roger's inane goofiness too much. The best thing was the exploration of the effects...more

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ateedub

ateedub added it (review of isbn 0312422601)

03/28/07

Read in January, 2006

This is travel writing at its modern American best. The author (purely for the sake of the book) travels around the world visiting places that Captain Cook visited on his (nearly) 3 circumnavigations of the globe.

The reason the book works is that the author compares accounts of the voyages (by Cook, other members of the crew, and historians) to what he sees today. He also makes an effort to talk to 'locals' about their attitudes toward Cook and goes out of his way to find other people who a...more

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Marilynmayer

Marilynmayer rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

02/19/08

Read in January, 2005

A must-read for geography and history buffs. Horwitz follows the sea voyages of Captain Cook and finds amazing changes in the cultures that intrigued Cook. One comes away with admiration for Cook, the son of a poor and uneducated farmer, who broke out of the restrictions of the social class barriers of 18th century England. One-third of the globe was blank when Cook began his voyages in 1768 and his travels from Tahiti to Siberia, Alaska to Antarctica, and from Easter Island to Australia's Gr...more

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Aileen

Aileen rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

11/06/07

My rating is actually closer to a 3, but I'm feeling a bit harsh today. This book came so highly recommended from lots of people that I felt personally disappointed in Horwitz while reading it. It has an interesting premiese: following Captain Cook's Pacific journies. However, Horwitz tries to cram too much into this book -- history, present day travelogues and he annoyingly inserts him and his friend Roger as the main characters. There are redeeming points of the book and it's worthwhile re...more

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JH rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

04/02/08

Read in April, 2008

I'm a sucker for historical/biography/non-fiction type books, and this was no different. It was a S L O W read, but I made it through. I learned a ton about Captain James Cook, no not the pirate with the hook, and his 3 voyages into the south pacific, up near the arctic circle and down towards Antarctica. He was the last of the great adventurers, the last man to find new lands and new people and many of his voyages gave the West maps of these new lands that were used up until the late 20th ce...more

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Dfleck

Dfleck rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

11/25/08

Not quite as entertaining as Horowitz's Confederates in the Attic, but does a great job again linking the past with present travel experiences

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Allison

Allison rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

08/13/08

bookshelves: nonfiction, summer-2008, travel-nonfiction

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in August, 2008

recommended to Allison by: Capital Books
recommends it for: sailors, travelers, history buffs

I'd actually give this book a 4.5 stars, rather than a five, but I guess we don't get a halfsie option. I love Tony's writing, and I find him informative and interesting as well as, at times, hilarious. Unfortunately, the story of Cook's travels seems to carry with it a bit of misplaced aggression, particularly among some native groups.

Some reviews, I've noticed, complain about the inclusion of Roger, Tony's friend and companion to several destinations. While I found Roger at times tiresome...more

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Blueskies18

Blueskies18 rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

05/04/08

Read in May, 2008

Another winner. I am a retired history teacher and this travelogue is more like a well researched history of Captain Cook's explorations and discoveries mixed with witty, interesting travel writing on the authors travels to those pacific locations seeking to learn more of Cook. If I were to design the prefect travel book, this would be it. I have recommended it to my husband -- something I rarely do. I can't think of anyone who would not love this book. The book is an easy, pleasant read bu...more

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Ken

Ken added it (review of isbn 0312422601)

08/21/07

Read in April, 2007

An item in the introduction cracked me up and got me hooked on Horwitz' style. He relates that as a kid he was thrilled by the adventures of Captain Cook, but he didn't know it. He thought he was watching Star Trek.

HMS Endeavour.... USS Enterprise.

Captain Cook.... Captain Kirk.

A three-year mission to seek out new lands, life forms, and civilizations. Okay, make it five years.

The captain boldly goes ashore with his ship's doctor, his naturalist, and red-jacketed Royal Marines...more

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Matt

Matt rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

08/12/07

A travelogue paired with a history lesson-- author Tony Horwitz set out to explore the same islands in the South Pacific that English exlorer Captain Cook did centuries before. Not knowing much about Cook or his controversial legacy, I found this book fascinating, especially the implicit "before and after" views we get of these various islands (which, honestly, seemed much better off before the Europeans got there). Think what you will of Cook and his connection to colonialism, but h...more

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Kate

Kate rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

07/23/08

Read in July, 2008

recommended to Kate by: Uncle Steve

I was vaguely familiar with Captain Cook, his life and his death after taking an Australian History course and visiting the Maritime Museum in Sydney. Not only did I learn more about Capt. Cook, but about the tragic life of his wife Elizabeth.

The book is so thought provoking and you can tell that it was written with love. Very much makes you consider our current global village and the positive and negative aspects of how it has come to be.

It really is a great book. I gave it to Gran...more

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Myridian

Myridian rated it:

(review of isbn 0805065415)

04/22/08

bookshelves: book-crossing, history, memoir

Read in September, 2006

This book is half biography of Captain Cook and half adventure travel memoir. Horwitz attempts to link the journeys of Captain James Cook to our current culture and the cultures of the places that Cook "discovered." While this book was engaging and I do feel that I learned about Cook, Horwitz spends too much time jumping between his own adventures and those of Cook without providing an organizational formal that really lent structure to the book. Consequently, I felt too split between ...more

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Steve

Steve rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

05/22/08

The book tells of the travels of Capt. Cook in the South Pacific as he revisits the same locations for insights into the what Cook found 200 years ago. It is a wonderful mix of history and travelogue, in the spirit of Bill Bryson, but maybe less obvious in his humor. I actually read most of this while flying over the Pacific and back. The stories of the four year journeys by Cook, where half his crew died enroute, made it real hard to complain about the cramped seat and the 16 hour flight from...more

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Francine

Francine rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422601)

06/12/07

For armchair explorers like myself, this is the perfect read. Horowitz retraces Captain Cook's steps, paralleling his own adventures in his ports of call with those of the earlier expeditions. Not only is the comparison of how these tiny islands have (or have not changed) entertaining, it's also and easily digestable history lesson. I loved this book so much I nearly joined the actual Captain Cook Society after. It will have you wanting to visit obscure islands you had never heard of before in y...more

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