Banks

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Very Good
Publisher: ABC Books
Publisher Place: Sydney
Publisher Year: 2020
Edition: First Edition

Description: 484 pages. Book and Jacket are both in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: Lust, science, adventure - Joseph Banks and his voyages of discoveryThe extraordinary life of one of the worlds most famous and notorious adventurers Sir Joseph Banks was a man of passion whose influence spanned the globe. A fearless adventurer, his fascination with beautiful women was only trumped by his obsession with the natural world and his lust for scientific knowledge. Fabulously wealthy, Banks was the driving force behind monumental voyages and scientific discoveries in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and the Arctic. In 1768, as a galivanting young playboy, he joined Captain James Cooks Endeavour expedition to the South Pacific. Financing his own team of scientists and artists, Banks battled high seas, hailstorms, treacherous coral reefs and hostile locals to expand the worlds knowledge of life on distant shores. He returned with thousands of specimens of plants and animals, generating enormous interest in Europe, while the racy accounts of his amorous adventures in Tahiti made him one of the most famous and notorious men in England. As the longest-serving president of Britains Royal Society, Banks was perhaps the most important man in the scientific world for more than half a century. It was Banks, one of the first Europeans to set foot on Australias east coast, who advised Britain to establish a remote penal settlement and strategic base at Botany Bay, and he eventually became the foremost expert on everything Australian. Early governors in the colony answered to him as he set about unleashing Australias vast potential in agriculture and minerals. For decades, major British voyages of exploration around the globe only sailed with his backing. By award-winning bestselling writer Grantlee Kieza, Banks is a rich and rollicking biography of one of the most colourful and intriguing characters in the history of exploration.

ISBN: 9780733340505