European discoveries are much in question these days and in this well researched book Collingridge takes on an 18th-century British hero and his discovery of Australia. Nevermind that the English bucanner William Dampier had already landed on Australia well before Cook in 1688, Collingridge looks into the long-forgotten research of a distant cousin that showed that Portuguese explorers mapped Australia in the 16th century. The author, a journalist and British televison news anchor, intercuts elequent chapters on Cook's explorations with the tale of George Collingridge (who she rescues from obscurity) and a nice account of her own travels. Like Cook, the author ends her book on the shores of Kaelakekua bay.  (PAC125, $14.95)

Captain James Cook