
s/t: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches When the Beaglesailed out of Devonport on 27 December 1831, Charles Darwin was twenty-two and setting off on the voyage of a lifetime. It was to last five years and transform him from an amiable and somewhat aimless young man into a scientific celebrity. Even more vitally, it was to set in motion the intellectual currents that culminated in the arrival of The Origin of Speciesin Victorian drawing-rooms in 1859. His journal, reprinted here in a shortened version, is vivid and immediate, showing us a naturalist making patient observations, above all in geology. As well as a profusion of natural history detail, it records many other things that caught Darwin's eye, from civil war in Argentina to the new colonial settlements of Australia. The editors have provided an excellent introduction and notes for this Penguin Classics edition, which also contains maps and appendices, including an essay on scientific geology and the Bible by Robert FitzRoy, Darwin's friend and captain of the Beagle.
Dana's Two Years Before the Mast[1] is another good voyage book. Dana is a recent Harvard grad that makes his way out round Cape Horn to California in last days of the Ranchero era. Any SV people will recognize the place names, but not the places, so to speak. His young, but refined, voice is very special on a long distance fur trading ship.
[0] http://www.myharvardclassics.com/downloads/20120213_14/downl... Free here
[1] http://www.myharvardclassics.com/downloads/20120213_8/downlo... Also free here
Homer "The Odyssey"
If you haven't tried it, pick up the ebook of "Voyage of the Beagle" and trace Darwin's travels with google earth and wiki. I assure you that the time you spend "distracted" looking at pictures of Patagonia will be a great time.