A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccanneer : The Life Of William Dampier by Preston, Diana and Michael Preston - 2004

Toronto: Viking Canada, 2004. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 8vo. Quarter black cloth, grey cloth boards. Map endpapers. ix, 372 pp. B&W illustrations in-text. Very light rubbing to spine ends, else fine in fine jacket. At a time when surviving a voyage across the Pacific was cause for celebration, William Dampier journeyed three times around the world, sailing more than 200,000 miles in his lifetime and witnessing places, people, and phenomena no European had ever seen. His powers of observation were astonishing. He was the first to deduce that winds cause currents and the first to produce wind maps across the world, surpassing even the work of Edmund Halley. His insights on land were equally astute--he introduced the concept of "sub-species" that Darwin later built into his theory of evolution, and his description of the breadfruit was the impetus for Captain Bligh's voyage on the Bounty. Dampier reached Australia eighty years before Cook. To trace his colourful life, the Prestons followed his footsteps around the world.