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uhambe_nami's review against another edition
3.0
We may now think of Magellan’s expedition as a glorious achievement, but the hardships these sailors went through are unimaginable and it is a nothing short of a miracle that those eighteen men on the Victoria made it back to Spain at all. This account of Antionio Pigafetta is the main first-hand account that we have today of that historic voyage. The pages are filled with Pigafetta's anthropological and botanical observations of the places that were visited. Some of the observations are interesting, others less so, and some (such as the remark about an island called Arucheto, the men and women of which are not taller than one cubit, but who have ears as long as themselves; with one of them they make their bed and with the other they cover themselves) are quite fantastic.
Did Jules Verne read Pigafetta? At any rate, this is where the Europeans discovered that if one travels westwards around the globe, against the rotation of the earth around its axis, one day goes missing - a puzzling fact that had to be explained to the Pope on their return:
We charged our men when they went ashore in the boat to ask what day it was, and they told us that it was Thursday with the Portuguese. We were greatly surprised for it was Wednesday with us, and we could not see how we had made a mistake; for as I had always kept well, I had set down every day without any interruption. However, as was told us later, it was no error, but as the voyage had been made continually toward the west and we had returned to the same place as does the sun, we had made that gain of twenty-four hours, as is clearly seen.
The version I read has the Italian text juxtaposed with the English translation and contains some charming illustrations and maps by Pigafetta.
Did Jules Verne read Pigafetta? At any rate, this is where the Europeans discovered that if one travels westwards around the globe, against the rotation of the earth around its axis, one day goes missing - a puzzling fact that had to be explained to the Pope on their return:
We charged our men when they went ashore in the boat to ask what day it was, and they told us that it was Thursday with the Portuguese. We were greatly surprised for it was Wednesday with us, and we could not see how we had made a mistake; for as I had always kept well, I had set down every day without any interruption. However, as was told us later, it was no error, but as the voyage had been made continually toward the west and we had returned to the same place as does the sun, we had made that gain of twenty-four hours, as is clearly seen.
The version I read has the Italian text juxtaposed with the English translation and contains some charming illustrations and maps by Pigafetta.
afonso_bernardes's review against another edition
3.0
Bom livro para dar a ideia muito vaga de como as coisas se passavam naqueles tempos.
Penso que uma viagem de um mês seria mais do que suficiente para escrever um livro como este. Muito repetitivo e penso que pouco ênfase em algumas coisas que podiam ser mais bem desenvolvidas.
Contudo, 3 estrelas devido ao facto de ter sido sequer possível ter acesso a um diário tão precioso como este.
Penso que uma viagem de um mês seria mais do que suficiente para escrever um livro como este. Muito repetitivo e penso que pouco ênfase em algumas coisas que podiam ser mais bem desenvolvidas.
Contudo, 3 estrelas devido ao facto de ter sido sequer possível ter acesso a um diário tão precioso como este.
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