Since visiting Australia I've wanted to read more about Captain Cook. I bought this book as a Christmas present which I then got lent to read. At first I was daunted by the size of the book ~400 pages of very small print.
But it is very readable, despite the mixed reviews on Amazon over accuracy. It goes through all of Cook's voyages and seems to have a balanced view of the effects of western contact with the remote island societies (on balance not beneficial - despite Cook's good intentions).
The feats of navigation stand out, in the late 1700s before longitude could be measured accurately. There is some discussion about Cook being "lucky" never to have truly seen harsh 100ft waves but that seems a little unfair. However the author lists other such loses that may have been due to these waves and that they are more common that originally thought - being powerful enough to take out a modern cruise liner.
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