I just checked out your piece on the book. It sounds amazing!! I hate doing botany but I love books on botany. Go figure. Have you read Elizabeth Gilbert's THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS? That a good one
One of my life-goals is to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon - I've only poked around at the top.
Yes, Jenna! SIGNATURE is the book that gives moss some spice! Loved it too. 💖🌿🌱🌳
I feel the same regarding hiking around the Grand Canyon. Maybe once I’m out of the ‘competitive registration for day camp’ phase of parenting I’ll direct that energy those permit-by-lottery experiences.
I loved this whole post so so so much! And now I want to read this book right away. I laughed, I cried (not really, but I did cringe at the tactics of early explorers), I felt homesick for WA state. Also, the unit on Wayfinders sounds so inspired and I wish I was in your class even tho I’m 41 yrs old but I can’t remember anything any of my history teachers taught me so they obvi weren’t you! Lastly, my family grew up going to the cabins at La Push! The place is so close to my heart I gasped when I saw the pic. Thanks for the good read!
Ah, thank you so much! I'm glad I could bring the PNW vibes to you.
I love teaching about Wayfinders and I always have a few Islander students in my class who really shine when we learn about how amazing Wayfinders are.
Those La Push cabins are so, so cool! I've only been in the winter time and I need to go back in the summer sometime.
We haven’t been back since we were kids of the late 80’s. I remember sandstorms and rain and cozy cabins and dunes. Now we take an annual trip to Iron Springs - also PNW magic.
George Vancouver! He had aspirations. The book sounds intriguing.
I loved The Girl Who Wrote In Silk. Highly recommend.
I haven't read too many book about LA-- where I grew up, but remember being impressed by Less Than Zero as it was an accurate description of that superficial land.
Sold! I first read 'The Journals of Captain Cook' when I was 20 years old, on holiday in Port Douglass and Cooktown (Northern Queensland). The latter is the site at which Cook beached HMS Endeavor to conduct repairs after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef. The journals are fantastic.
I've also visited the site of his home at Great Ayton (near Whitby), UK, where there is (somewhat surprisingly) a plaque explaining the sale and transport of the building that occupied the site to the city of Melbourne, Australia (my home town). Incidentally, his home now stands in Melbourne's Fitzroy Gardens (behind Parliament House), a location that he never visited or came remotely close to in his lifetime. Such was Australia's thirst for romantic founding fathers in the early years of its independence.
Cook's empathetic understanding and humanity transcended the enlightenment. He was a man ahead of his time both morally and spiritually. I'm uncomfortable with the hate he gets for being an agent of British Imperialism, though he was that. He is quite a divisive figure in contemporary Australian post-colonial discourse: his statues are regularly targeted and he is often personally blamed for the British colonisation of the continent, and its attendant genocide. I don't think he remotely deserves to be caricatured thus: there are far more deserving targets whose names are unsullied because they play second fiddle to Cook in terms of cultural capital (I'm looking at you, Joseph Banks).
Finally, being in mind this morning of Hunter S Thompson's claim that "the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism", I'll not pass up the opportunity to recommend the Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian, if one wants to get a feel for the period.
I hope you like the book. The author seems to agree with you regarding his empathy, understanding and humanity, particularly compared to other explorers of his time. He does argue that Cook lots his touch a bit with this 3rd and final journey.
Hard to pick a non-fiction fave but I have re-read “The Children’s Blizzard” (David Laskin) and “Isaac’s Storm” (Erik Larson) a number of times—basically every time there’s a big storm and I want to get my head around how our forebears managed weather disasters without the benefit of our current warning systems and 24-hour news cycles. (Hint: They didn’t manage very well, and a lot of people died.)
I don’t know if it’s all time fav, but my most recent adventuress fave is Brave The Wild River about Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter who were the first people (also ladies) to “botanize” the Grand Canyon. (In the book botanize doesn’t get quotation marks, it’s apparently just a straight up verb.) My complete gushing over it is here: https://open.substack.com/pub/kellyturner/p/spend-your-holiday-season-with-clover?r=oqlw9&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Cannot recommend this book more. So well done.
I just checked out your piece on the book. It sounds amazing!! I hate doing botany but I love books on botany. Go figure. Have you read Elizabeth Gilbert's THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS? That a good one
One of my life-goals is to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon - I've only poked around at the top.
Yes, Jenna! SIGNATURE is the book that gives moss some spice! Loved it too. 💖🌿🌱🌳
I feel the same regarding hiking around the Grand Canyon. Maybe once I’m out of the ‘competitive registration for day camp’ phase of parenting I’ll direct that energy those permit-by-lottery experiences.
I loved this whole post so so so much! And now I want to read this book right away. I laughed, I cried (not really, but I did cringe at the tactics of early explorers), I felt homesick for WA state. Also, the unit on Wayfinders sounds so inspired and I wish I was in your class even tho I’m 41 yrs old but I can’t remember anything any of my history teachers taught me so they obvi weren’t you! Lastly, my family grew up going to the cabins at La Push! The place is so close to my heart I gasped when I saw the pic. Thanks for the good read!
Ah, thank you so much! I'm glad I could bring the PNW vibes to you.
I love teaching about Wayfinders and I always have a few Islander students in my class who really shine when we learn about how amazing Wayfinders are.
Those La Push cabins are so, so cool! I've only been in the winter time and I need to go back in the summer sometime.
We haven’t been back since we were kids of the late 80’s. I remember sandstorms and rain and cozy cabins and dunes. Now we take an annual trip to Iron Springs - also PNW magic.
George Vancouver! He had aspirations. The book sounds intriguing.
I loved The Girl Who Wrote In Silk. Highly recommend.
I haven't read too many book about LA-- where I grew up, but remember being impressed by Less Than Zero as it was an accurate description of that superficial land.
I loved Malibu Rising! I'll have to try Less Than Zero. I don't think I've read many LA books either.
Sold! I first read 'The Journals of Captain Cook' when I was 20 years old, on holiday in Port Douglass and Cooktown (Northern Queensland). The latter is the site at which Cook beached HMS Endeavor to conduct repairs after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef. The journals are fantastic.
I've also visited the site of his home at Great Ayton (near Whitby), UK, where there is (somewhat surprisingly) a plaque explaining the sale and transport of the building that occupied the site to the city of Melbourne, Australia (my home town). Incidentally, his home now stands in Melbourne's Fitzroy Gardens (behind Parliament House), a location that he never visited or came remotely close to in his lifetime. Such was Australia's thirst for romantic founding fathers in the early years of its independence.
Cook's empathetic understanding and humanity transcended the enlightenment. He was a man ahead of his time both morally and spiritually. I'm uncomfortable with the hate he gets for being an agent of British Imperialism, though he was that. He is quite a divisive figure in contemporary Australian post-colonial discourse: his statues are regularly targeted and he is often personally blamed for the British colonisation of the continent, and its attendant genocide. I don't think he remotely deserves to be caricatured thus: there are far more deserving targets whose names are unsullied because they play second fiddle to Cook in terms of cultural capital (I'm looking at you, Joseph Banks).
Finally, being in mind this morning of Hunter S Thompson's claim that "the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism", I'll not pass up the opportunity to recommend the Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O'Brian, if one wants to get a feel for the period.
I'm so jealous! So many Cook places :)
I hope you like the book. The author seems to agree with you regarding his empathy, understanding and humanity, particularly compared to other explorers of his time. He does argue that Cook lots his touch a bit with this 3rd and final journey.
I didn’t enjoy The Wager as much as I thought I would. Now I know what I’m going to read next!
I couldn't even finish The Wager! Good to know I'm not alone.
Hard to pick a non-fiction fave but I have re-read “The Children’s Blizzard” (David Laskin) and “Isaac’s Storm” (Erik Larson) a number of times—basically every time there’s a big storm and I want to get my head around how our forebears managed weather disasters without the benefit of our current warning systems and 24-hour news cycles. (Hint: They didn’t manage very well, and a lot of people died.)