Your Reviews

Here is my Review:

In attempting to assess William Dampier it is necessary to address the reality of the contradictory impressions that reading about him gives rise to.

Ws he “ a pirate ruffian that ought to have been hung” or an intellectual genius whose navigational and scientific achievements were unparalleled in history. The answer, of course, is both.

It was this very contradiction in his character that created the title for this book: “A Pirate of Exquisite Mind,” and which led the author’s to write about this fascinating personality.

Dampier had the heart of a pirate throughout his life but his immense intellectual curiosity and his brilliant mind led him to record his acute observations and to thus gain a reputation as a man of natural science.

Dampier’s intellectual and scientific contribution and legacy has been immense and for this he is to be esteemed, but like all of us, he had “a heart that was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” It is just that he lived in a time when he could find full expression for his ambitions and was able to express the dark side of himself more easily and more overtly than we are able to.

Who knows, if we had lived then, we too may have been pirates or at the least have approved his actions. After all, many pirates became privateers another name for legalised pirates and providing they attacked England’s enemies they were exempt from punishment.

But one thing is certain, we would not have been able to equal his accomplishments.

This book was remarkably well researched. The author’s retraced Dampier’s routes, they have provided extensive notes and sources, and there is a comprehensive bibliography and an index. Apposite illustrations appear throughout the text in this very well written book. It is an enjoyable read and highly recommended.


4 Shells

I had at first thought that Dampier was a victim of the times, thrown into piracy. Now, however, I agree with TT. The times did give an excuse to follow that way of life. There were, however, alternatives. He did not seem able to follow the straight and narrow. He was intelligent, but also an action junkie. He liked the exciting life. Sometimes he would conveniently leave these details out of his journals, but I think that was more for PR.

I found this book interesting on many fronts: scientific, travel, and, yes, action. It is interesting to read an insider's view of the pirate life. I enjoyed this book very much and recommend it.
--BJ

I wrote a review in Dutch for my blog. I will translate this somewhere this week.

Finally, my review...

This certainly was a book I normally never would have read. First because I never had heard about the book, secondly because if I would have had I might not have chosen to read it. And as I never had heard about Dampier, I wouldn't have thought he would be interesting.

Although the title of the book says Dampier is explorer, naturalist and buccaneer, my feeling is more that he's a pirate who's interested in the world around him. Although I liked his travelling stories, they were a little too much to me. A little repetitive. What I liked was to hear about his influence on other writers and on Darwin. Funny, and strange that we never heard about him.

At the end I found Dampier an interesting personality, but I'm more like reading fiction. But for my historical knowledge, books like this are nice. There are large holes to be filled with this kind of knowledge in my brains.