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Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, botanist, explorer, President of the Royal Society and one of Australia's founding fathers, was among the most influential figures of the 18th and 19th centuries. As a young man, Sir Joseph Banks accompanied Captain Cook on his voyage of discovery to Australia; in later years he was instrumental in establishing Kew Gardens as the greatest botanical centre in the world, and he knew just about everybody who mattered in the scientific circles of the time. Patrick O'Brian's biography draws on much hitherto unpublished material. Far from being merely the colossus of science traditionally imagined, Joseph Banks emerges here as a warm-hearted enthusiast whose legacy survives not only in the record of his botanizing in the South Seas but in the development of the Australian continent and in the tenor and tradition of subsequent scientific enquiry.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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About the author
Patrick O'Brian
208 books2,411 followersPatrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels has been described as "a masterpiece" (David Mamet, New York Times), "addictively readable" (Patrick T. Reardon, Chicago Tribune), and "the best historical novels ever written" (Richard Snow, New York Times Book Review), which "should have been on those lists of the greatest novels of the 20th century" (George Will).
Set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, O'Brian's twenty-volume series centers on the enduring friendship between naval officer Jack Aubrey and physician (and spy) Stephen Maturin. The Far Side of the World, the tenth book in the series, was adapted into a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. The film was nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture. The books are now available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book format.
In addition to the Aubrey-Maturin novels, Patrick O'Brian wrote several books including the novels Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, and The Unknown Shore, as well as biographies of Joseph Banks and Picasso. He translated many works from French into English, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir, the first volume of Jean Lacouture's biography of Charles de Gaulle, and famed fugitive Henri Cherriere's memoir Papillon. O'Brian died in January 2000.
The Aubrey-Maturin Series on Goodreads
Set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, O'Brian's twenty-volume series centers on the enduring friendship between naval officer Jack Aubrey and physician (and spy) Stephen Maturin. The Far Side of the World, the tenth book in the series, was adapted into a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. The film was nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture. The books are now available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book format.
In addition to the Aubrey-Maturin novels, Patrick O'Brian wrote several books including the novels Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, and The Unknown Shore, as well as biographies of Joseph Banks and Picasso. He translated many works from French into English, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir, the first volume of Jean Lacouture's biography of Charles de Gaulle, and famed fugitive Henri Cherriere's memoir Papillon. O'Brian died in January 2000.
The Aubrey-Maturin Series on Goodreads
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
December 7, 2008
I have come to the realisation that Patrick O'Brian writing a biography about Joseph Banks is really just a collection of his geekgasms. It's in a very eloquent, involved and elaborate way going "FLAIL OMG YOU GUYS!! I R FANDOM PIMPING!!"
Apparently it was published in 1987, which is a good 17 years after he started the Aubreyad series, and I'm convinced that this book is just him writing down all this great information he had about this man he very obviously loved, but found no place for in his fiction.
He goes on his geektangents sometimes and it's wonderful, because it's creepily like he just knows everything, you know? You might sometimes doubt Cordingly (*cough* Cochrane was innocent, was he? *snugs him*), you might sometimes look a bit askance at Glyn Williams, but POB is the ultimate authority.
Which is kind of strange, because surely ficton writers aren't supposed to be the ultimate authority.
There's a weird kind of feeling when you read this book, that if you were suddenly granted the power to bring dead people back to life and invited POB over for a talk you could ask him for additional explanations about any tiny little thing and he'd be off. He'd just know. Even in a book like this, which is dense, dense with as much historical fact as you could wish, he will allow other people who properly should have stayed in the background in this particular tale to shine through. I love the glimpses of Sir Joshua Reynolds in particular and Solander is a comforting semi-permanent presence, not always there, but always hovering. Sophia and Aubert and Phipps and all of them pop up, disappear, pop up more clearly, disappear again.
I'm only reading this book very slowly, partly because it's got such tiny print, but mostly because I'm just reading everything more slowly now that the book challenge is over. And then of course there is so much more to take in than most of the non-fiction books I've read lately. I loved those books, don't take me wrong, but POB tends to assume my font of general knowledge is bigger than it really is, which makes me break off more often to Wiki these random people he keeps throwing in my direction.
It's fun.
I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in this sort of stuff. You know PO'B wouldn't disappoint.
---
Just finished the Joseph Banks biography.
POB's last paragraph of Ch 11 is this:
"And so, eighteen days later, he died as he had lived so long, President of the Royal Society.
Yet to leave Joseph Banks on his deathbed, with the usual remarks about his will and his funeral, and extracts from the obituaries would not only be sad but also misleading; there was such a fund of life there, such a zest and eager intelligent curiosity that no one who has dwelt with him long enough to write even a very small biography can leave him without wishing to show him in his vigour. So after the conventional last pieces of information, I propose a few letters that will give the varying sounds of his living voice again."
he then briefly and succinctly writes the necessaries, who the collections went to, what happened to the people closest to Banks etc etc, and then he gets to the letters, which he quotes in full. The last letter (one to a young William Hooker) ends on a PS.
"the ladies beg to be Remembered to you. I get better daily but very Slowly"
I think I like closing this book with a slowly revalidating Banks. :)
My favourite bits read today were him talking about his wife's obsession with china porcelain; young midshipman Parry's fanboi visit; Banks' letter to his sister when he was 23; and the one to Hooker.
I love the one to Hooker especially. Hooker wanted to go naturalising, but his family was against it. Sir Jo advises:
"Let me hear from you how you feel inclined to prefer Ease & Indulgence to Hardship and activity I was about 23 when I began my Peregrinations you are somewhat older but you may be asured that if I had Listend to a multitude of voice that were Raisd up to dissuade me from my Enterprise I should have been now a Quiet countrey Gentleman ignorant of a multitude of matters I am now acquainted with & probably have attained to no higher Rank in Life than that of a countrey Justice of the Peace
adieu my dear Sir
Very Faithfully yours
Jos: Banks"
Apparently it was published in 1987, which is a good 17 years after he started the Aubreyad series, and I'm convinced that this book is just him writing down all this great information he had about this man he very obviously loved, but found no place for in his fiction.
He goes on his geektangents sometimes and it's wonderful, because it's creepily like he just knows everything, you know? You might sometimes doubt Cordingly (*cough* Cochrane was innocent, was he? *snugs him*), you might sometimes look a bit askance at Glyn Williams, but POB is the ultimate authority.
Which is kind of strange, because surely ficton writers aren't supposed to be the ultimate authority.
There's a weird kind of feeling when you read this book, that if you were suddenly granted the power to bring dead people back to life and invited POB over for a talk you could ask him for additional explanations about any tiny little thing and he'd be off. He'd just know. Even in a book like this, which is dense, dense with as much historical fact as you could wish, he will allow other people who properly should have stayed in the background in this particular tale to shine through. I love the glimpses of Sir Joshua Reynolds in particular and Solander is a comforting semi-permanent presence, not always there, but always hovering. Sophia and Aubert and Phipps and all of them pop up, disappear, pop up more clearly, disappear again.
I'm only reading this book very slowly, partly because it's got such tiny print, but mostly because I'm just reading everything more slowly now that the book challenge is over. And then of course there is so much more to take in than most of the non-fiction books I've read lately. I loved those books, don't take me wrong, but POB tends to assume my font of general knowledge is bigger than it really is, which makes me break off more often to Wiki these random people he keeps throwing in my direction.
It's fun.
I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in this sort of stuff. You know PO'B wouldn't disappoint.
---
Just finished the Joseph Banks biography.
POB's last paragraph of Ch 11 is this:
"And so, eighteen days later, he died as he had lived so long, President of the Royal Society.
Yet to leave Joseph Banks on his deathbed, with the usual remarks about his will and his funeral, and extracts from the obituaries would not only be sad but also misleading; there was such a fund of life there, such a zest and eager intelligent curiosity that no one who has dwelt with him long enough to write even a very small biography can leave him without wishing to show him in his vigour. So after the conventional last pieces of information, I propose a few letters that will give the varying sounds of his living voice again."
he then briefly and succinctly writes the necessaries, who the collections went to, what happened to the people closest to Banks etc etc, and then he gets to the letters, which he quotes in full. The last letter (one to a young William Hooker) ends on a PS.
"the ladies beg to be Remembered to you. I get better daily but very Slowly"
I think I like closing this book with a slowly revalidating Banks. :)
My favourite bits read today were him talking about his wife's obsession with china porcelain; young midshipman Parry's fanboi visit; Banks' letter to his sister when he was 23; and the one to Hooker.
I love the one to Hooker especially. Hooker wanted to go naturalising, but his family was against it. Sir Jo advises:
"Let me hear from you how you feel inclined to prefer Ease & Indulgence to Hardship and activity I was about 23 when I began my Peregrinations you are somewhat older but you may be asured that if I had Listend to a multitude of voice that were Raisd up to dissuade me from my Enterprise I should have been now a Quiet countrey Gentleman ignorant of a multitude of matters I am now acquainted with & probably have attained to no higher Rank in Life than that of a countrey Justice of the Peace
adieu my dear Sir
Very Faithfully yours
Jos: Banks"
July 2, 2019
Reading a history by a writer I know well as a novelist raises inevitable questions about the historical process. I’ve read half of the Jack Aubrey series (10 out of 20) each one being something special I save for a time when I have a few days spare to immerse in O’Brian’s artful historical plots and superb characters. I know the power he has to create characters who are compelling and real.
So an inevitable question in the back of my mind as I read this biography was “do O’Brian’s considerable skills for creating character add to the historical record or undermine it?” It’s a naive question to the extent that any history that goes beyond the most basic chronological collation of primary sources involves a degree of characterisation - both of the individuals and the events portrayed. The historian is separated from the archivist largely by this capacity for characterisation: the ability to form a coherent narrative and shape materials to make characters who are credible and alive in the minds of a reader.
This Joseph Banks then is very much O’Brian’s Joseph Banks and so much the richer for it. O’Brian brings to life a Banks who is personable, complex, flawed and highly credible. O’Brian is clear about his sources and clear about what is missing in the record and whilst affection for Banks is also clear, he goes out of his way to show Banks’ many sides and his failures.
But most importantly and enjoyably for a reader, O’Brian’s necessary distillation of the vast archive of materials is achieved with a novelists’ touch and the story is compelling.
So an inevitable question in the back of my mind as I read this biography was “do O’Brian’s considerable skills for creating character add to the historical record or undermine it?” It’s a naive question to the extent that any history that goes beyond the most basic chronological collation of primary sources involves a degree of characterisation - both of the individuals and the events portrayed. The historian is separated from the archivist largely by this capacity for characterisation: the ability to form a coherent narrative and shape materials to make characters who are credible and alive in the minds of a reader.
This Joseph Banks then is very much O’Brian’s Joseph Banks and so much the richer for it. O’Brian brings to life a Banks who is personable, complex, flawed and highly credible. O’Brian is clear about his sources and clear about what is missing in the record and whilst affection for Banks is also clear, he goes out of his way to show Banks’ many sides and his failures.
But most importantly and enjoyably for a reader, O’Brian’s necessary distillation of the vast archive of materials is achieved with a novelists’ touch and the story is compelling.
January 18, 2015
A sympathetic, witty, and charming biography of one of Britain's great naturalists and patrons of what was still called "natural history". Perhaps a few too many at-length extracts from Banks' journals, but a fine life of a man who was a leading light of the Royal Society and who went off to the South Seas to cast that cool mid-Georgian eye on what would become Australia and New Zealand. Needless to say, O'Brian brings his own style to the book--- meaning that "Joseph Banks: A Life" is filled with the same clever asides and lifted eyebrows that made the Aubrey/Maturin novels so brilliant. A very enjoyable tale--- and not just for O'Brian fans.
February 6, 2017
I read this biography of the famous botanist at the time of its publication, but only because it was written by Patrick O'Brian and because I'm an Australian who'd heard his name all my life. I'm now much better informed about the era and its science, society, politics and personalities so I no longer skimmed over what I had considered the less interesting bits. I relished the extracts from Banks's Endeavour Journal with its descriptions of the mortal cold he and his comrades experienced in Tierra del Fuego, the horrible time the Endeavour had on the Barrier Reef and the very good time everybody had in Tahiti.
O'Brian, an intellectual transplant from the eighteenth century himself, is an enthusiastic narrator and adopts the tone of the age - an age in which Banks, with his wide interests and enormous circle of influence, was a prominent and mostly benign actor. His biographer tries to convince us that Joseph Banks had many faults , e.g. he very mistakenly thought he knew more about fitting out the Resolution than Cook did, but a sample of the adjectives O'Brian consistently employs to describe his subject leaves me unconvinced of them:
cheerful, eager, kind, hospitable, good-humoured, bucolic [manners], active ....
Banks had a finger in many pies. A favourite project was the founding of a British colony in New South Wales.* He died in the office to which he had been elected annually for forty-two years - President of the Royal Society. O'Brian concludes: "...to leave Joseph Banks on his deathbed....will....obituaries....would not only be sad, but also misleading; there was such a fund of life there, such a zest and eager intelligent curiosity ..."
*O'Brian doesn't mention it but I have come across Horace Walpole expressing his scornful dislike of European colonisation, specifically with reference to Banks. Samuel Johnson was also inimical to such invasions, but he died 3 years before the First Fleet set out. They both knew and seem to have got along with Banks - probably their opinions were out of step with those of the age.
December 23, 2016
I've managed to avoid reading any of O'Briens maritime novels and the film version of Master & Commander doesn't encourage me but this is a pretty well written biography. Banks was the fourth generation of wool merchants and land owners and although thet had no aristocratic titles they were well connected to the local nobs in eastern England with a huge estatate at Revesby in Lincolnshire. I was brought up on a small farm which my grandfather had bought in 1934 and which my father farmed from the age of 14. It was in a neighbouring village and I knew Revesby well (played cricket in the village team, etc) but it was only when we moved to Australia that I realised the linkage to the early years of the colony. Banks became an amateur botanist and decided to go on a bit of an adventure and being young and rich, he sailed on Cook's 1st voyage of discovery together with a party of 8 servants, painters and fellow botanists. It made him famous and he went on to become a major figure in London society - friend of the King, president of the Royal Society, Privy Councillor and frequent adviser to the government. It was his recommendation that led to the creation of the penal colony in Sydney and he also oversaw the development of Kew Gardens. He had a hand in many pies and a vast network of friends, mainly fellow scientists across Europe even during the long wars with France. A very good read.
June 3, 2013
Joseph Banks is probably the most important personality in British history in the 18th century. His influence was so far reaching and knowledge so broad that there were few people of merit who he did not know, from the King down. If you read a biography of any other personality (particularly scientific) of the age Banks will no doubt feature in it somewhere.
He gained his contemporary celebrity from voyaging with Cook of course, but also from inheriting one of the largest fortunes in the kingdom. He then spent the rest of his life (and his fortune) directing and coordinating the course of scientific discovery at a time when it was exploding. And of course occasionally dabbled in politics.
From collecting (and returning) natives of Tahiti with Cook, to organizing raids on Spain to steal Merino sheep, to being indirectly responsible for the Bounty Mutiny, to running covert intelligence networks, through founding Kew and the Royal Society, proposing and pushing the settlement of Australia and draining the fens of Lincolnshire, there is almost nothing the man was not intimately involved in.
Honestly, it's so long since I read this book that I can't comment on the writing style, but it left enough impression on me that even over 10 years later I can still remember thinking how amazing it was that this man was barely known outside a few specialist history books.
He gained his contemporary celebrity from voyaging with Cook of course, but also from inheriting one of the largest fortunes in the kingdom. He then spent the rest of his life (and his fortune) directing and coordinating the course of scientific discovery at a time when it was exploding. And of course occasionally dabbled in politics.
From collecting (and returning) natives of Tahiti with Cook, to organizing raids on Spain to steal Merino sheep, to being indirectly responsible for the Bounty Mutiny, to running covert intelligence networks, through founding Kew and the Royal Society, proposing and pushing the settlement of Australia and draining the fens of Lincolnshire, there is almost nothing the man was not intimately involved in.
Honestly, it's so long since I read this book that I can't comment on the writing style, but it left enough impression on me that even over 10 years later I can still remember thinking how amazing it was that this man was barely known outside a few specialist history books.
March 6, 2011
As a fan Of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series I enjoyed this book very much. The author is opinionated, witty and passionate about the subject which makes for an interesting read. Even after Banks' travels were over and he was leading a mostly sedentary life, O'Brian managed to make such exciting topics like sheep breeding and the administration of the Royal Society very readable. If you are interested in history and english history in particular this is a good book for that.
September 25, 2017
It's really an odd thing to compare the O'Brian of the Aubrey/Maturin series to the O'Brian of ... everything else. His other novels (Richard Temple, Unknown Shore, etc.), short stories, and biographies (Banks and Picasso) are aggressively mediocre.
With Banks I'm convinced that O'Brian literally lost a bet or something; the research is impeccable, the prose is good as always, but this is somehow the most boring book ever written. I have a strong interest in Banks and the time period but even that was not quite enough.
The problem with Banks and Picasso may just be that you get too much O'Brian, as it were? He's really not a very pleasant man, so when he's not effacing himself behind fictional characters (and doesn't need to move the plot along), you get a lot of his rambling subjectivity.
With Banks I'm convinced that O'Brian literally lost a bet or something; the research is impeccable, the prose is good as always, but this is somehow the most boring book ever written. I have a strong interest in Banks and the time period but even that was not quite enough.
The problem with Banks and Picasso may just be that you get too much O'Brian, as it were? He's really not a very pleasant man, so when he's not effacing himself behind fictional characters (and doesn't need to move the plot along), you get a lot of his rambling subjectivity.
March 26, 2018
I guess you have to have an interest in that age ... when as one author described it ... we were seeking the knowledge of the natural world when many still believed in unicorns. I found this interesting on many levels. As it spoke of the discoveries and Europe's fatal intrusion into the South Pacific world, as it spoke of English society of the time, and European society and politics of the time. And yet, I felt, it managed to let you see the spirit of the man, often torn between his loyalty to his nation and his own moral doubts. I think the author did a fine job of bringing the late 1700's and early 1800's in England and Europe to light.
August 30, 2009
Every time I read Patrick O'Brian I'm quickly reminded why I dislike him -- pompous, dense and, especially in this book, meandering. I know, everyone loves his Captain and Commander stuff and I feel stupid for not appreciating him, but he's just not my cup of tea. I may abandon this book.
I did abandon this book. I cannot read Patrick O'Brian; his writing in this book is rambling, unintelligible and downright obscure with references to long dead nobility (numbering in the hundreds). Joseph Banks deserves a better biographer. Does anyone know one?
I did abandon this book. I cannot read Patrick O'Brian; his writing in this book is rambling, unintelligible and downright obscure with references to long dead nobility (numbering in the hundreds). Joseph Banks deserves a better biographer. Does anyone know one?
September 24, 2009
Patrick O'Brian is a writer who can convey masses of facts and information in a way that doesn't bore, condescend, or frighten. This bio of Joseph Banks, who shows up repeatedly in his Aubrey/Maturin series as one of Stephen's most important London contacts, is just such an example. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during the entire reading. Then went back to Robert Hughes' 'The Fatal Shore' to reread those excerpts where Banks was referenced.
August 31, 2016
This is a model biography. It presents a sharply-detailed picture of an extraordinary man. O'Brian quotes extensively from Banks's journals and letters, letting his voice and personality communicate directly. The book is well-researched and well-written, with O'Brian's usual warmth and clarity. Admirable and a deep pleasure to read in an unhurried way. It's like sipping fine whisky: to be taken slowly and savoured.
July 22, 2014
I think I've decided that Banks is one of my heroes. Smart, urbane, charming, a polymath, president of the Royal Society, confident...he could've been a 20th century man. And O'Brian is such a great writer, the 18th century comes alive. (A little research going on here...)
August 7, 2022
Patrick O'Brien writes with authority and deep knowledge not only of the life of Banks, but of the times of his life. I loved the insight into British history, and found it fascinating that Banks had such an influential role in many areas I thought I already knew about. I never knew he was responsible for smuggling Merino sheep from Spain on behalf of George III. I never knew he was then to blame for the Merinos going to Australia where they did so well: the basis of my grandparents' wealth. I never knew he was behind the promotion of the disastrous Captain Bligh, not just once but on several occasions. I never knew he did so much to make Kew Gardens an economic powerhouse, or that he first promoted the idea of New South Wales as a penal colony with the British government. But before it became a penal colony Australia was an adventurous Botanist's dream of a southern landmass, before there was even proof that such a landmass existed. 'Botany' Bay came before the penal colony of Port Jackson. As an Australian I am so glad to have read this book.
November 22, 2023
A very readable portrait of an absolutely incredible life. It’s hard not to be a huge fan of Banks, as much for his generosity and intellectual curiosity as for his accomplishments, after reading this book.
November 9, 2022
It’s hard for us to understand how much courage it took to leave your home and sail away for months and years to chart new islands and explore new continents and gather new plant and animal species. Joseph Banks made a couple of epic journeys and then spent the rest of his life supporting younger men in similar endeavors while he kept their discoveries catalogued at home. Very interesting book.
December 19, 2021
Joseph Banks: A Life by Patrick O’Brian is, according to his biographers and step-son, is a book that absorbed much of O’Brian’s time and one suspects his passion. O’Brian, whose real name was Richard Patrick Russ had a fascination for the self-taught botanists and early semi-amateur enthusiasts for identifying and classifying the many new life forms discovered as Europeans voyages of discovery brought them to new parts of the world. Joseph Banks was one such explorer cum botanists. O’Brian also has a fondness for ladling on the Latin terms, and various other hard to penetrate period names and references. He expected his readers to struggle through and could be very much the intellectual snob. All of this is apparent in this book.
I came to read it as a longtime fan of his novels and short stories. Joseph Banks is my first look at his several nonfiction works. Ordinarily I am also a fan of biography. In this case I am taking it on trust that this is a better book for the better prepared. The facts of Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS life are certainly enough to sustain an interesting biography. He was something of a name in his field of botany when he was selected to sail with Captain Cook. Banks would explore plant, insect and various life forms from early trips into Newfoundland then to very remote parts of just discovered Australia and the southern polar regions. He helped to introduce several plants from various parts of the world into others, some with little more than esthetic value others in efforts to spread food crops. Keeping in mind there was no appreciation for the problems of what we now call invasive species. He was a founder of the Royal Academy of Science and spend decades as its president.
Banks was a very social person with a fine eye for the potential of people to become accomplished as gardeners or scientists. Unfortunately, the reader is presented with many names for which we are to provide identifying information. By context we are to understand these people are major leaders in any of several associated fields, but is it on us to be able to properly place them.
My conclusion is that a full appreciation for Joseph Banks: A Life is not going to be achieved by a general reader. If you have background in botany, and especially its history and early advocates, this will be a more than satisfying read
I came to read it as a longtime fan of his novels and short stories. Joseph Banks is my first look at his several nonfiction works. Ordinarily I am also a fan of biography. In this case I am taking it on trust that this is a better book for the better prepared. The facts of Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS life are certainly enough to sustain an interesting biography. He was something of a name in his field of botany when he was selected to sail with Captain Cook. Banks would explore plant, insect and various life forms from early trips into Newfoundland then to very remote parts of just discovered Australia and the southern polar regions. He helped to introduce several plants from various parts of the world into others, some with little more than esthetic value others in efforts to spread food crops. Keeping in mind there was no appreciation for the problems of what we now call invasive species. He was a founder of the Royal Academy of Science and spend decades as its president.
Banks was a very social person with a fine eye for the potential of people to become accomplished as gardeners or scientists. Unfortunately, the reader is presented with many names for which we are to provide identifying information. By context we are to understand these people are major leaders in any of several associated fields, but is it on us to be able to properly place them.
My conclusion is that a full appreciation for Joseph Banks: A Life is not going to be achieved by a general reader. If you have background in botany, and especially its history and early advocates, this will be a more than satisfying read
September 28, 2020
Very readable. The biography of a truly extraordinary man, rendered with affection but not, as the author says, a hagiography. We get him warts and all, and there certainly were some, but we are in no doubt that he was brilliant, highly personable, and astoundingly energetic. I did find the very long extracts from his journals a bit on the tiresome side, especially since he rarely mentions in them anything of a personal nature. It's all about what plants and animals he finds. Oh, and the weather.
Banks' influence on undertakings as diverse as the importation (read: smuggling) of Merino sheep from Spain to England to improve the English flocks, the creation and development of Kew Gardens, the draining of the fens, the establishment of the penal colony at Sydney, Australia, the scheme to bring breadfruit from Polynesia to the slave colonies in the Caribbean (cue Captain Bligh), and the fostering and guiding of the development of scientific endeavour itself is staggering. His trip as a young man with Captain Cook is packed with astonishing adventures; their near-disastrous encounter with the Great Barrier Reef (uncharted and virtually unknown to Europeans at that time) had me on the edge of my seat. Well worth reading.
Banks' influence on undertakings as diverse as the importation (read: smuggling) of Merino sheep from Spain to England to improve the English flocks, the creation and development of Kew Gardens, the draining of the fens, the establishment of the penal colony at Sydney, Australia, the scheme to bring breadfruit from Polynesia to the slave colonies in the Caribbean (cue Captain Bligh), and the fostering and guiding of the development of scientific endeavour itself is staggering. His trip as a young man with Captain Cook is packed with astonishing adventures; their near-disastrous encounter with the Great Barrier Reef (uncharted and virtually unknown to Europeans at that time) had me on the edge of my seat. Well worth reading.
January 13, 2023
I started reading this book wanting to learn more about Joseph Banks. I think I picked the wrong biography of Banks. I should have read the other Goodreads reviews before picking this one, because, despite the high 3.5+ average star rating in Goodreads, all the red flags that make this an unfinishable book for me are right there in the other reviews: denseness, long sections of quotations from Banks' contemporaneous diaries from his voyages, day-by-day accounting of sample collecting, etc.
I could not finish the book. I could not make it past Banks' visit to New Zealand. I cannot make it through more copious quotations from Banks' diaries, and so many false starts (we thought this bay would be good for replenishing our water supplies, the natives, who were friendly at first, suddenly and inexplicably became belligerent, and we had to kill one of them, so we moved to the next bay,....), not enough context from the present time,...
This may be an OK book if you are fan of Mr. O'Brian's novels (which I am not familiar with). But for someone wanting to know about Banks' life, Wikipedia is probably a better source.
I could not finish the book. I could not make it past Banks' visit to New Zealand. I cannot make it through more copious quotations from Banks' diaries, and so many false starts (we thought this bay would be good for replenishing our water supplies, the natives, who were friendly at first, suddenly and inexplicably became belligerent, and we had to kill one of them, so we moved to the next bay,....), not enough context from the present time,...
This may be an OK book if you are fan of Mr. O'Brian's novels (which I am not familiar with). But for someone wanting to know about Banks' life, Wikipedia is probably a better source.
July 6, 2023
Finally finished this; it was a bit of a slog. Very dense. Comprehensively and lovingly researched. I can tell O'Brian was really invested in and cared about the subject. There's a sort of glee in the colonial process though - like we should be impressed and happy Banks had the idea of "founding" New South Wales, for example. Because "no one was there??" There's almost no attention paid to the costs of such endeavors. And we're just sort of supposed to be impressed that Banks interacted with so many notable people - regardless of how reprehensible they might be (Bligh, Cook). And all of those newly discovered species... I know when historians say this they usually mean "undiscovered by Western scientists," but could there be no acknowledgement that people living in Canada (for example) were likely perfectly familiar with the local plants?
May 10, 2021
3 stars out of 5 - I read a softbound from the library over the past couple of weeks. There are parts that are stunningly well written and engrossing, but there are also a lot of tough slogs through dense prose peppered with the even denser prose of long passages excerpted from the letters of Banks himself. I expected better from a writer whose novels flow very smoothly.
December 4, 2024
I expected to love this book, after all, Patrick O’Brians Aubrey-Maturin novels are among my favorite books of all time! However, even though Joseph Banks had an amazing life, I don’t get a sense of the real man. The writing is rather boring and lots of it is just copies of his correspondence. Where is the personal? Very disappointing.
August 13, 2020
Banks and his life
A very thorough biography. After reading this book I felt I knew the man well enough. I did find the rambling letters lacking punctuation , a little tiresome. But overall a very enjoyable book.
A very thorough biography. After reading this book I felt I knew the man well enough. I did find the rambling letters lacking punctuation , a little tiresome. But overall a very enjoyable book.
May 6, 2018
Great book for anybody interested in science in 1800’s.
June 29, 2016
I became mildly interested in Joseph Banks after reading 1788 by David Hill and so when I took Joseph Banks, A Life home from the library with a great pile of other books greedily gathered, it made its way to the top of the pile. The plan was to browse through it and take it back to the library fairly promptly. Patrick O’Brian was familiar to me as the author of the nautical novels which were popularised by Peter Weir’s film, Master and Commander but on the basis of browsing some of the novels I had my doubts about his writing style.
It turned out to be more interesting than I’d expected, though there are rather too many digressions about the numerous acquaintances and associates of Banks, and some long, long slabs of correspondence and journals that I found dull. But the facts of Sir Joseph’s life are far from dull. He was an adventurous young man in the days when real adventure was to be had, and he discovered a love of botany almost by chance, for he was a dull scholar. He made expeditions not only to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and the Falkland Islands, but also to Iceland, and was the pre-eminent botanist of his day. He was an affectionate, forgiving man with such a wide network of international friends that in times of conflict between Europe and Britain, he was once considered a potential spy!
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2008/12/06/j...
It turned out to be more interesting than I’d expected, though there are rather too many digressions about the numerous acquaintances and associates of Banks, and some long, long slabs of correspondence and journals that I found dull. But the facts of Sir Joseph’s life are far from dull. He was an adventurous young man in the days when real adventure was to be had, and he discovered a love of botany almost by chance, for he was a dull scholar. He made expeditions not only to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and the Falkland Islands, but also to Iceland, and was the pre-eminent botanist of his day. He was an affectionate, forgiving man with such a wide network of international friends that in times of conflict between Europe and Britain, he was once considered a potential spy!
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2008/12/06/j...
April 2, 2017
POB, as usual, writing like an angel.
March 15, 2013
One of the best biographies that I've read! Banks was responsible for importing a wide variety of plants into England. Connections to the Bartrams in Philadelphia, Captain Cook, and Linnaeus.
March 30, 2016
Very good!
July 13, 2010
Life of the naturalist that sailed with Cook. By Patrick O'Brian no less!
April 14, 2017
Botanist and President of the Royal Society for 40 years.
An interesting picture of privileged life in 18th and 19th century England.
An interesting picture of privileged life in 18th and 19th century England.
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