Synopses & Reviews
The first major biography of the explorer and pirate who inspired Darwin, Defoe, and Cook.
Charles Darwin called his books "a mine of information" and took them aboard the Beagle. Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe used his experiences as inspiration in writing Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe. Captain James Cook relied heavily on his observations while voyaging around the world. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him a genius and "a man of exquisite mind." In the history of exploration, nobody has ventured further than Englishman William Dampier (1651-1715).
At a time when surviving a voyage across the Pacific was cause for celebration, Dampier journeyed three times around the world, sailing more than two hundred thousand miles in his lifetime. As a young man he spent several years in the swashbuckling company of buccaneers in the Caribbean, learning to survive in their bloodthirsty, uncertain world. Later, his bestselling books about his experiences were a sensation, and his observations and insights influenced generations of scientists, explorers, and writers.
Dampier has more than a thousand entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, and he introduced hundreds of words into the English language, including barbecue, chopsticks, and kumquat. Yet while the exploits of Cook, Ernest Shackleton, and a host of legendary explorers have been widely chronicled, those of perhaps the greatest are practically invisible today an omission that Diana and Michael Preston have redressed in this vivid, compelling biography.
Dampier's powers of observation were astonishing. He was the first to deduce that winds cause currents and the first to produce wind maps across the world, which surpassed eventhe work of Edmund Halley. His insights when on land were equally acute: For example, he introduced the concept of the "sub-species" that Darwin later built into his theory of evolution, and Dampier's description of the breadfruit was the impetus for Captain Bligh's voyage on the Bounty. Dampier was the first Briton to reach Australia, 80 years before Cook, and he later led the first formal expedition of science and discovery, to Australia. He was celebrated by the leading politicians, scientists, and society figures of his day.
To depict Dampier's life, the Prestons retraced his footsteps around the world. Interweaving Dampier's colorful prose into their narrative, they have brought the same immediacy to his life and times as Dampier brought to his own reading public. A Pirate of Exquisite Mind restores William Dampier to his rightful place in history one of the pioneers on whose insights our understanding of the natural world was built.
Review
"Nonfiction veteran Diana Preston and husband Michael convey Dampier's life in punchy, declarative sentences, strained only by the sheer plentitude of his doings." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"A superbly rendered popular history in a superpopular genre. " Booklist
Review
"It is extraordinary to read...of a swashbuckling English pirate who was primarily motivated by a thirst for knowledge." New York Times
Review
"As to [Dampier's] literary talent, the liveliness of the travel writing in which he embedded his biological and physical insights was perhaps the greatest of his gifts to future generations. Diana and Michael Preston, with their painstaking scrutiny of original sources (including Dampier's unpublished drafts) have at least been able to give East Coker's Pirate of Exquisite Mind the biographical monument he deserves." Richard Shelton, The Times Literary Supplement (read the entire Times Literary Supplement)
Synopsis
The authors reveal the life of William Dampier, explorer, naturalist, and pirate-genius who inspired Darwin, Defoe, and Cook.
Synopsis
Seventeenth-century pirate genius William Dampier sailed around the world three times when crossing the Pacific was a major feat, was the first explorer to visit all five continents, and reached Australia eighty years before Captain Cook. His exploits created a sensation in Europe. Swift and Defoe used his experiences in writing Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe. Darwin incorporated his concept of "sub-species" into the theory of evolution. Dampier's description of breadfruit was the impetus for Captain Bligh's voyage on the Bounty. He was so influential that today he has more than one thousand entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, including such words as chopsticks, barbecue, and kumquat. Anthropologists still use his work.
About the Author
Born and raised in London, Diana Preston studied Modern History at Oxford University, where she first became involved in journalism. After earning her degree, she became a freelance writer of feature and travel articles for national UK newspapers and magazines and has subsequently reviewed books for a number of publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times. She has also been a broadcaster for the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and has been featured in various television documentaries.
Table of Contents
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part I: The Adventurer
I. A Self-Conceited Young Man
II. A Great Prospect of Getting Money Here
III. To Seek a Subsistence
IV. A Door to the South Seas
Part II: The Buccaneer
V. That Sacred Hunger of Gold
VI. Two Fat Monkeys
VII. The Bachelor's Delight
VIII. The Enchanted Islands
IX. We Ran for It
Part III: The Traveler
X. You Would Have Poisened Them
XI. As White as Milk and as Soft as Cream
XII. This Mad Crew
XIII. New-Gotten Library
XIV. Our Little Ark
XV. Gut Rot and Gunpowder
XVI. The Painted Prince
Part IV: The Celebrity
XVII. The Rover's Return
XVIII. Good Copy
XIX. Dampier's Voyage Takes so Wonderfully
XX. Kiss My Arse
XXI. Shark's Bay
XXII. A Flame of Fire
XXIII. Not a Fit Person
Part V: The Ancient Mariner
XXIV. Brandy Enough
XXV. The Manila Galleon at Last
Epilogue
Notes and Sources
Bibliography
Art Credits
Index