In an author’s note at the back of The Great Ages of Discovery (that really should have been at the front) Stephen J. Pyne—author of several books on exploration (and fire)—notes that: “This is an idea book…. The organizing idea is a simple one: exploration is a cultural activity that displays the same kind of movement and rhythms as its sustaining society” (295). Pyne’s coverage is broad and his intent is to divide exploration by Western civilizations (Europe and Euro-American) into three Great Ages of Discovery. The First Age runs from the sacking of Ceuta in 1415 to the death of William Dampier in 1715; the Second Age from 1735, the French Academy’s expeditions to Lapland and Ecuador, to Shackleton’s 1916 expedition to Antarctica; and the Third Age began with Operation Highjump to Antarctica in 1946 and continues to the present (281-282). Pyne then analyzes and defines each age’s spirits, motives, and effects.

Pyne’s work is definitely “an idea book,” meant to give a general outline of exploration and discovery by the West since the 1400s. In-depth description and detail of the expeditions, explorers, conquistadors, scientists, and empire is lacking. Pyne’s purpose is to offer an overview and analysis of discovery in these time periods, how they both reflect society and change society at the same time. Many times Pyne mentions how encounters and entanglement not only altered native societies, but exploring- and colonizing-societies as well, for good and ill. Offering some perspective in an epilogue, Pyne believes that the three ages of discovery lead to “a vast ecological reorganization of the planet,” industrialization, colonization, and scientification, with all their attendant virtues and evils (293). Pyne calls exploration “Western civilization’s quest narrative,” full of “triumphalism but equally tragedy,” exhibiting “the best and worst of the civilization.” “The enterprise,” he concludes, “has made humanity more knowledgeable, if not wiser” (294). The Great Ages of Discovery may help scholars of discovery to think about the wider implications of the field, but would also offer thoughtful insights to students and laypeople. It is a quick, interesting read, with sparse endnotes and a few illustrative illustrations. The selected bibliography is quite useful and points readers to many representative and important publications. Pyne’s categorization and ideas about discovery in three great ages is a useful paradigm for thinking, researching, and writing about the history of exploration. ( )