I cannot decide how many stars to give this book! Yes, it is amazing that there even exists a book about an ordinary person's life back in the latter half of the 1700s. It's amazing how much he travelled (twice around the globe). Here is an unpretentious, nice guy who simply adores travelling, seeing new places, learning about his world. And he did no much - took part in the naval battles fought by Britain when America sought independence and also the naval battles following the French Revolution. He fought against the Spanish, he fought off of Egypt, was stationed in Malta and more. He was on the ship Juliana that took women conscripts to Australia and fell head over heels in love with one of theses women. He visited China, Canton, so many times that he could say that he went and visited his Chinese friends again! He saves a Chinese boy from drowning and subsequently gets invited into Chinese homes. He was in Hawai immediately after Captain Cooks visit there. He danced and ate and drank with Hawaian women. He is stuck in Artic ice, and although I have read whole books about how terrible this is - he sums it up in one beautiful paragraph. The book doesn't need editing. It is short and quick and to the point. It is really quite amazing. The maps in the paperback version totally suck, so get out your atlas. Nevertheless 5 stars feels wrong, and even 4 stars too. So it gets 3 - but you SHOULD read the book. This book fills me with surprise, rather than engagement, and I like to be engaged. I have a hunch that it is because the book is of "another era" that it doesn't get more stars, and honestly that isn't fair. No, it gets 4 stars.
