Adventure is made so much easier these days with accessibility to low fares and more welcoming countries.
So, it’s incredible to think that a boy from a remote home in the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century, was able to travel around the world and achieve so much.
Archibald Menzies was best known for being an accomplished botanist, but author Graham Menzies has unravelled tales of a life crammed with adventure and risk.
A remarkable product of the Scottish Enlightenment, Archibald was a boy sponsored by his clan chief to study in Edinburgh and using his talent, curiosity, perseverance and circumstance, became one of the top medical doctors and social raconteurs of Victorian London.
Writer, researcher and storyteller, Graham Menzies has compiled a fascinating book which reveals all about Archibald’s experience as a Royal Navy surgeon and his encounters with the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the islands of Hawaii.
Archibald was known for his life-threatening experiments in the nascent field of virology and his post navy life in London and the book also explores his attitude towards issues such as slavery, human rights, religion and the opportunities and dangers of European contact with the indigenous people, which reveal a man of intelligence, compassion and wisdom.
The reader can delve into Archibald’s relationship with Sir Gilbert Blaine and the renowned and influential Sir Joseph Banks, as well as encounters with the half mad Lord Thomas Pitt, friendship with Hawaiian King Kamehameha and Nuu-cha-nulth chief Maquinna and the influence of John Hope, the King’s botanist in Scotland.
It’s a fabulous read by an author with real talent at delving and probing into a truly remarkable life to produce an entertaining and factual book.
Graham Menzies is an international marketing and communications professional, plus a writer, researcher and storyteller and his expertise brings Archibald’s colourful years alive, providing a gripping read for all.
Published: 21st October 2024
ISBN 978-184995-591-1
UK Price: £17.99
Format: 240 x 170mm, Paperback
Pages: 164 pages, illustrated with 23 photographs, painting and 3 maps and colour section
Bones – The Life and Adventures of Doctor Archibald Menzies (1754 – 1842)
By Graeme Menzies
Published by Whittles Publishing
Bones – The Life and Adventures of Doctor Archibald Menzies is available to buy on the Whittles Publishing website and from WH Smith.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.
Book cover courtesy of Whittles Publishing and top image by Kel Krehbiel from Pixabay
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