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The Dolphin : The Life of David LewisDiscover 'The Dolphin: The Life of David Lewis', an enthralling biography by Ben Lowings that chronicles the remarkable journey of David Henry Lewis, a groundbreaking adventurer and navigator. Dive into this detailed account of a British born New Zealander who became the first person to successfully sail a catamaran around the globe and the first to reach Antarctica solo under sail in his renowned vessel, Ice Bird. With dimensions of 156 x 216 mm and
Discover 'The Dolphin: The Life of David Lewis', an enthralling biography by Ben Lowings that chronicles the remarkable journey of David Henry Lewis, a groundbreaking adventurer and navigator. Dive into this detailed account of a British-born New Zealander who became the first person to successfully sail a catamaran around the globe and the first to reach Antarctica solo under sail in his renowned vessel, Ice Bird. With dimensions of 156 x 216 mm and a total of 288 pages, this paperback publication by Lodestar Books provides a comprehensive exploration of Lewis’s extraordinary life. Readers will appreciate Lowings' unique perspective, as he meticulously uncovers the secrets behind Lewis's determination and groundbreaking voyages across the Pacific Islands, revealing not just his professional feats but also the personal costs of his adventurous spirit. This biography also sheds light on his six tumultuous marriages and the impact of his relentless pursuit of adventure on his family and friends. Combining original research and heartfelt testimonies, it'll engage maritime history enthusiasts and adventure lovers alike. Published on 30-10-2020, 'The Dolphin: The Life of David Lewis' represents not only a tribute to a pioneering figure in sailing but also a reflective inquiry into whether the adventure was truly worth the price it exacted on those closest to him. Order now to explore the life of a true maritime legend, whose legacy continues to inspire adventurers around the world.CONDITION: Brand New
Dimensions: 156 x 216 mm
Pages: 288
Bind: paperback
Author: Ben Lowings Publisher: Lodestar Books
Publication Date: 30-10-2020
In this first biography of David Henry Lewis, Ben Lowings examines his lifetime of adventure forensically yet sympathetically, and unlocks the secrets of his determination. This British-born New Zealander was the first person to sail a catamaran around the world, the first - in Ice Bird - to reach Antarctica solo under sail, and the first to make known to Westerners how ancient navigators reached - and could reach again - the Pacific islands. His many voyages resulted in thirteen books published and translated worldwide; many were bestsellers - We, the Navigators has not been out of print since first publication in 1972. David Lewis's achievements have been acknowledged with a series of awards, including that of Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. But the price of David Lewis's adventures had ultimately to be paid by others in the succession of families he created, then broke apart; and many of his actions brought him into conflict with the feelings of friends and contemporaries. We may legitimately ask 'was it really all worth it?' For the first time his six marriages are revealed, through more than a year of original research in Britain, Australia and New Zealand - including interviews with all surviving family members, as well as friends and fellow voyagers. Events thinly-sketched or omitted in his own writings, such as his father's own failings, are investigated. His kayaking, mountain-climbing and sailing were struggles all the more difficult bec
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4.7 ★★★★★
Based on 28 reviews
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 4
Absolutely Not Nonsense
Format: Hardcover
At first glance, this book might be mistaken for "Chariots of the Gods" hokum -- it's about pyramids, it suggest prehistoric connections between widely scattered civilizations, and it has an entire chapter on planetary catastrophes. However, this is a very serious effort. Granted, it raises a lot more questions than it answers, and can be a little monotonous in spots. But as a former geology major, I didn't spot any pseudo-science (which is not surprising, given that the primary author has a Ph.D. in Geology from Yale) and I found much food for thought.
Sure, if it turns out that the whole theory of cultural diffusion is wrong, (similarities in disparate civilizations are due to migration and interconnection rather than parallel developoment) this book will be little more than an amusing footnote in the history of science. But then, plate tectonics was once a crackpot theory. This is a serious book that deserves to be read.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2003
★★★★★ 5
Great Summer Read
Format: Paperback
As an academic who spends summers reading new - well grounded - theories, this was the best read of the summer. Intriguing! Well grounded in massive amounts of data - from myth to scientific dating techniques. LOVED it!
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Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2014
★★★★★ 5
a very serious read about ongoing and proposed climate intervention
Format: Kindle
This book has a lot of serious information. If it’s honing to of any use to you , then it will require active reading, note taking etc. The complex social involvement of political and business interests that already exist with the spread of non- native species of plants and animals in North America, Australia, South America etc. Since the 19th century gives this reader a reason to pause in his quest to find the “right, simple, effective strategy” which would require an unimaginable level of cooperation between the EU, Asia,and North America. The likely scenario is that as get closer to deadlines by the year 2030 and beyond, partial programs will be launched by various combinations of government and public, and business interest’s. The result isn’t optimistic but it will be a reality.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2022
★★★★★ 4
interesting science
Format: Hardcover
Under A White Sky, The Nature of The Future, Elizabeth Kolbert, 2021
In 2015 Elizabeth Kolbert won the Pulitzer Prize for her book the Sixth Extinction. In my review of that book, I wrote: Kolbert is not a scientist but a reporter and writer for The New Yorker magazine and as such her book is structured as a series of bylines as she travels around the world reporting on scientists investigating extinctions in both the present and the past. As in that book she adopts the same format but this time investigating “how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation”.
Ice cores from the Antarctic and Greenland have shown that the last 10,000 years of earths history have been the most benign and stable climatological periods in the last 100,000 years. During this time, we have been able to develop agriculture, an amazing technological and a pervasive globe encompassing culture with a population now of almost 8 billion people. Without this unusually stable climate most of our current civilization would probably have not evolved or been possible. Up to this point we humans have taken this for granted thinking that this benign state will somehow last forever. In Kolbert’s last book she emphasized that due to our own rapacious destruction of earth’s ecosystems and our destabilization of climate stability, this situation is coming to an end and not responding is not an option.
Facing an unimaginable crisis of our own making how should we respond? When we intervene, are we smart enough not to cause newer unanticipated problems greater than the original problem we sought to solve? Kolbert travels around the world seeking an answer to this question. She visits places and examples where we historically have tried to solve problems such as sewage in Chicago or taming floods on the Mississippi only to create larger problems such as invasive species or sinking cities such as New Orleans.
The most interesting part of her book is when she addresses the people and places that are using current cutting-edge technology to save ecosystems and reverse global warming. One such example is on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, one of the most diverse and prolific ecosystems on earth, which is under dire threat from oceanic warming and acidification. Faced with the real possibility of extinction of the reef in just decades, scientists are turning to genetic modification of Corals to make them more resistant to these fast-changing conditions.
Since 2012 a new gene editing technology called CRISPR-Cas has become ubiquitous. In fact, so ubiquitous that you can buy your own “genetic engineering home lab kit” from a company in California called Odin for $1800. Kolbert buys her own kit and is able to engineer a colony of E. coli bacteria into a strain that is resistant to streptomycin antibiotic. She then inserts a jellyfish gene into yeast which then glows in the dark. Sound dangerous? Yes, what could possibly go wrong, but this is also the technology to develop new global warming resistant corals or destroy malaria carrying mosquitos, control rapacious rodents on Pacific Islands or control a plague of Cane Toads in Australia, not to mention breakthrough medical benefits. We have so altered natural systems with invasive species, with climatological chaos that the only solution is further intervention. She quotes a scientist at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory: “What people are not seeing is that this is already a genetically altered environment. Invasive species alter the environment by adding entire genomes that don’t belong. By contrast Genetic engineers, by contrast, alter just a few bits of DNA here and there”. “The classic thing people say with molecular biology is: Are you playing God? Well no. We are using our understanding of biological processes to see if we can benefit a system that is in trauma”.
Do you feel guilty about all the carbon you are emitting into the atmosphere when you drive around in your SUV or eat a filet mignon? Now there is a way to assuage your guilt. There is a now a company called Climeworks that will do just that for the price of $1000 per ton of sequestered CO2. Being that each American emits about 20 tons per year following the American way of life and to totally assuage your guilt will cost you a cool $20,000 per year. Do you feel that guilty? Kolbert purchases one ton of sequestration and then visits the place where the deed is done which turns out to be at a geothermal power plant in Iceland. There they inject CO2 into the hot molten basalt at the bottom of their well to form limestone. This is a way the earth has been doing this process for millions of years without payment. In fact, it is the very process that transpired when the Himalayas were pushed up by the Indian subcontinent million of years ago, sequestered billions of tons of carbon into limestone and enabled the ice ages to begin 3 million years ago. Is this process a feasible solution to our current crisis? According to the latest UN climate report at this point, some form of sequestration is almost certainly required to avoid a catastrophic global temperature rise above 2 degrees regardless of what green technologies are introduced. Almost certainly the cost of that sequestration will have to be drastically reduced.
Is there another way to approach the problem? Here Kolbert interviews scientists who are studying a process called solar geoengineering which involves shooting reflective compounds or crystals into the stratosphere to reflect sun light and reduce the earths albedo or heat absorption. This the same process that occurs when large volcanic explosions expel billions of tons of dust and S02 that block incoming sunlight and cool the planet. Last time a truly global volcanic eruption occurred was Tambora in Indonesia in 1815 and caused catastrophic cooling causing mass famine in various places around the world. Is this a feasible solution? Maybe, certainly not to the extent of Tambora and one side effect might be changing the sky from blue to white and hence the title of the book. Sunsets might be improved however.
This a short book and quick read and one gets the sense that it was somewhat truncated because of the pandemic restricting travel. However, there is still a lot of interesting information about the future fate of our planet and what can be done to ameliorate the damage that we have inflicted. JACK
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Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2021
★★★★★ 5
I like it
Format: Paperback
In very good condition
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Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2026