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There are currently 30 member reviews
for The Discovery of Jeanne Baret
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Denice B. (Fort Bragg, CA)
At Sea
I was so hopeful about this book, but having taken three weeks to wade through only 30 pages, I cannot continue reading it, especially with the mounting pile of bed-side books beckoning!
The author and her subject are admirable and each do an expert job in her field, but slogging through the material was too much work. I'll continue to open random pages over time, gleaning what I can in that way.
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Krista H. (Grayslake, IL)
didn't discover much
I struggled about halfway thru the book. While it seemed like it should interest me, I never could get into the flow of the story. If you are interested in Botany, I am sure this would be of interest to you. Jeanne Baret's life is remarkable, but the book didn't catch my interest enough to complete it.
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Katherine Y. (Albuquerque, NM)
Interesting book, but not really a biography
Glynis Ridley did an excellent job with researching the time period and the history of botany, so if those topics interest you then this would be a good book for you. But if you are looking for a biography of a woman adventurer breaking out of the roles prescribed for women at the time, this book doesn't really deliver because so little is known about Jeanne Baret. The book is well written and so held my attention even though botany is not a a particular interest of mine.
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Susan R. (Dublin, NH)
The Discovery of a Soporific
Jeanne Baret's is a story of pioneering, romance, intrigue, adventure and science. It deserves fleshed out characters and settings. This book doesn't deliver.
At a time when people of her class seldom ventured farther than their feet could carry them in a day, Jeanne Baret not only left home, she was the first woman to sail around the world. When the only "profession" open to woman was the oldest one, she had a working knowledge of plants in the wild and how they could be used. She didn't travel in relative luxury as the wife of an expedition captain, but as the strong and knowledgeable assistant to the trip's botanist--disguised as a man.
PBS, please do your thing.
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Carolyn S. (Decatur, GA)
The Discovery of Jeanne Baret Glynis Ridley
Ridley’s book about Jeanne Baret, woman herbalist, is very well researched and contains very interesting material about the day and the history of the period. I think this historical background is the strong point of the book and as interesting as the story of the young woman herself.
For a historical work, with only the facts to work with, the blanks are filled with conjecture backed up with diligent research, almost taking away from the story of Jeanne who remains a bit fuzzy with some of the other characters taking over due to the fact that no personal diaries were found for Jeanne.
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Madeline M. (Sarasota, FL)
The Discovery of Jeanne Baret
I thought this sounded like a fascinating story about an amazing woman. And it is, except I felt it got a little lost in too much background and too much exposition. I also felt sort of like I was being lectured at. But I want to stress that I don't read a lot of nonfiction so others might enjoy this more than I did.
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Tamara S. (Wenatchee, WA)
Boring
I couldnt finish this book, I lost interest, I felt like I was reading a highschool textbook.
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