The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
The chain of events for my relationship with this book look something like this: Cute little hardcover that looks amusing shows up in book sale. Crazy Book Lady gladly forks out $1, for some reason thinking that her husband would probably like it too. Book makes it home and is handed to husband. Later, book ends up on shelf because it is too cute to be banished to the boxes in the closet. A couple of years later, Crazy Book Lady pulls the book's name out of a hat(box) and takes it from the shelf. Husband insists that he read the whole thing. CBL is pretty sure that he only read parts. As CBL reads, she cannot help but read the best bits out loud causing Hubby to insist, repeatedly, that he has read the book. The spouses decide on a whim to rewatch Lost and tiny little book takes way too long to read and, as usual, CBL regrets not taking the time to read it in the mythical one sitting. CBL is also really excited by the appearance of a pirate ship on the show AND thinks that she needs to watch all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies for some reason. Rum sounds nice.A sailor's life for me, yo!Basically, if you cannot tell, I was absolutely delighted by this book. It was ridiculous. Hijinks were had. The characters were not well developed. Blah, blah, blah. It made me laugh. It made me walk around the house singing "What Would You Do with a Drunken Sailor." I have no regrets.When our tale begins, Pirate Captain and his crew are on vacation after their last adventure and they are feeling a little restless. Luckily, a rival pirate invites them aboard his ship for a feast, with ham! The pirates attend the feast and the rival pirate informs Pirate Captain of a ship carrying vast amounts of gold called the Beagle. Happy to find themselves on an adventure, the pirates enthusiastically locate the ship and fire at it with cannonballs. It is only when they attempt to loot the ship that they realize there is no gold, only some scientist, one of which being Darwin, and a monkey, Mr. Bobo. To make up for sinking the ship, Pirate Captain offers to take them aboard and help to save Darwin's brother from the evil Bishop.Did I learn anything from this book? Only that the Berlin zoo is much better than the London zoo which has too many hoofed animals. Also, that knot tying is an exhausting business.I didn't realize this was first in a series when I picked it up. I want to keep reading them. I am so glad this nonsense exists.Also, don't skip the reading comprehension questions.
Pirates dressing up as scientists dressing up as women, hanging out with Charles Darwin on the Beagle, having adventures and discovering evolution. Monty Python meet Gideon Defoe! Don’t look for a plot because there is none. Don’t look for anything redeeming, social or other, because there is nothing. It’s a light hearted slapstick romp through Pirate lore. And Pirate-speak. “Har!” It wasn’t satirical enough for me but the silly parts made me laugh. You can read it quicker than watching a movie. And it’s wittier than most movies.This little commentary applies to the second Adventure, it’s the same thing I’d write for the first Adventure. I think I’ll not read the third. Unless I am stuck at an airport and need to laugh out loud every once in a while.
What do You think about The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (2004)?
This book had a lot of style. I really enjoyed the writing style for about the first 5 pages. After that it was just too much style and not enough substance to the story. There was some nice comedy in there, but it was overshadowed by too much general silliness, like the way too long conversation about the proper way to cook ham.This book just didn't work for me. Perhaps if the general silliness had been spaced out a bit more, the author gone a bit lighter with the style, and the plot advanced quicker (perhaps leaving out conversations about ham), it might have worked for me.
—Kari Chapman
Ah, pirate comedy. In Gideon Defoe’s novel, his pirate crew debates the best part of pirating (grog or cutlasses), delights in anachronisms like Post-It notes and dental floss, and accidentally attacks Charles Darwin’s ship, the Beagle. The Pirate Captain (yes, that’s his name) decides to spare Darwin’s life in exchange for a boat ride back to London. Darwin put the pirates up at the swank Royal Society and passes them off as scientists. Soon the pirates are the toast of the town and are up to their eye patches in schemes and plots involving the big mean Bishop of Oxford, Drawin’s kidnapped brother Erasmus, and a trained chimp named Bobo who is best known for acting the part of the perfect British gentleman. Silly, droll, Monty Python-esque, delightfully absurd and unabashedly juvenile, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists is the most fun you’ll ever have with a pirate crew. Until, that is, you read The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab (2005), The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists (2006), and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon (2009).
—Kali
'That's enough of that, my beauties!' he roared. 'Let's set a course' - at this point the Pirate Captain paused in what he hoped would be a dramatic and exciting fashion - 'for adventure!'The crew just gave him a bit of a collective blank look. The Pirate Captain sighed.'All right.' he said with a pout, 'south.'Oh, but it IS adventure the pirates blunder into as they help Charles Darwin and his Man-panzee get accepted by Victorian high society and everything.Here's the hilarious account of their nautical hijinks - from sleeping in hammocks that leave a criss-cross pattern on your buttocks to a visit to the Royal Society strip club - these pirates know how to live (and sometimes die!)Join the fun as they sing shanties and occasionally dress as ladies.As an added bonus, the book is chock full of sciency-stuff and mostly factual footnotes.Aarrr.' roared the Pirate Captain, because it seemed a good way to end the conversation.AND, the book review.
—Melki
