What do readers think of The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley? Write your own review.

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.

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.

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.

I couldnt finish this book, I lost interest, I felt like I was reading a highschool textbook.

The very BEST parts of this novel were Chapters 8 and 9; these chapters absolutely told the story I thought I was reading - the story of Jeanne Baret...a good read. Ridley held my interest with those two chapters; however, the other chapters, although well researched and detailed, were frightfully boring. I felt as though I was reading the bio of botanist, Bougainville - not a good read. I got lost in the wealth of information that Ridley presented to me.

I wish I could give this book a better review because Ridley has done extensive research; unfortunately, as even she admits, there is simply not enough to be found about Jeanne Baret. The result is a book about 18th century botanical exploration and research, with a good dose of the expected role of women of that time. I almost felt the frustration of Ridley trying to work Jeanne's story in. ..there is so little to tell. Almost every reference to her is prefaced by a "we could assume" or "we might imagine." I guess I felt cheated - the book did not live up to its title. The story or Jeanne would have made an interesting magazine article; perhaps botanists will enjoy the book-length treatment.