The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, (Paperback)

from svetlanagrobman

"The Discovery of Jeanne Baret" (Crown Publishers, 2010), by Glynis Ridley, describes another fearless woman. Jeanne Baret became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. To do that, she disguised herself as the male assistant to a plant-hunter - also her lover - and they both sailed on a Fre...

from mcelhra

In 1765, King Louis XV ordered the first French expedition around the world. Philibert Commerson was appointed the voyage's botanist and charged with discovering medicines, spices and other resources. No women were allowed on ships on this kind of voyage but Commerson's mistress, twenty-six year ...

from debnance

Maybe it is because I now have many wonderful followers of my blog or maybe it is because so many wonderful fellow bloggers leave wonderful comments on my blog posts...well, honestly, I don't know why, but for some reason I now receive many, many offers of free books to be reviewed. And now, unli...

from katekf

When I began this book, I was quickly drawn in by the story of Jeanne Baret who was an herbwoman in France who circumnavigated the globe with Bouganvillea's expedition. The writing is well researched and Ridley knows how to make the past approachable, yet I finished this book feeling unsure. My u...

from JBD1

A basic biography of Jeanne Baret would have been excellent, but Ridley's speculative readings of many of the source documents goes a bit too far for my taste; she leaps to certain conclusions that I'm just not sure the original materials warrant, even if read with a (much-warranted) skeptical eye.