Cringemaking

The story of Banks has been well researched and I enjoyed learning about his life and achievements. Whilst the narrator was clear with his annunciation, his pronunciation of many names of towns, surnames and words in general was somewhat lacking and cringemaking and it is disappointing that this wasn’t adequately checked during the process of recording.

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The detail is Amazing

Well, I knew of Joseph Banks. I had no idea of how long and how detailed a contribution to knowledge in science he had made.

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Splendid biography of a great man

I have enjoyed two other biographies by Grantley Kieza, those of Macquarie and Paterson, and this one is of the same high standard. It was not quite as interesting as the others because I knew so much about Captain Cook's voyages, and Banks' important part in them - but all that had to be told of course. I found the non-Cook sections, before and after the voyages, more interesting, and they certainly showed what a major figure Banks was, not only in science but in public affairs generally, and as a wealthy benefactor for many people and organizations. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Australian and British history. The narrator made quite a few howlers in pronunciation. Is there no producer present to make sure the narrator gets these things right? - surely it would be easy, with search engines, to say place names properly. If they are wrong, they lessen our trust in the narrator. But generally, Patrick Harvey was a good narrator of the story.

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2 people found this helpful

Thoroughly enjoyable

What a life. Banks certainly got around. This is an adventure story that is full of excitement but also a scholarly well researched tale as well.

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2 people found this helpful

A truely fine history

This is an excellent and humain history of a man whose contribution to understanding botany is an important one regardless of his personal flaws and those of his time.

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1 person found this helpful

Brilliant narration and story

Interesting, detailed, reachable and brilliantly read. Highly recommended. Great to hear such a balanced story, sensitive to all those impacted by colonialism.

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1 person found this helpful

Outstanding

It’s so nice to hear a behind the scenes account of the exploration and foundation of modern Australia. I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book

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Joseph Banks, an uncommonly unique thinker .

I loved this book. I felt like I ate each chapter with vigor because it cross-hatched so well with all the other books I have read on the circumnavigation of Australia, voyages of discovery and science. It brought out the uniqueness of the man Sir Joseph Banks, the thinker, the scientist and the philanthropic activity of his scientific persuit.

The narration at times was a little irritating. I felt there were a number of misprononcuations and hurried sentences which obscured the meaning slightly.

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Scholarly book,monotonous reading.

A well-researched and scholarly book, but the reading was dull and monotonous, with some mispronounced words,especially foreign names.

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extremely interesting

What an interesting book. I had no idea how interesting Sir Joseph Banks was. Found some mispronunciations in the narration, but overall this book was fantastic!

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