New Zealand Explorers: Great Journeys of Discovery

I didn't read this cover to cover, but I dipped into it, reading parts of each chapter, and used it to fill in the small bits of knowledge around these people that I have. Most are remembered in place names, streets and suburbs in NZ.
Briefly, the books describes each biography in a chapter, giving each explorer a title:

The Missionary William Colenso and the Ruahine

The Scientist Ernst Dieffenbach and Mount Egmont

The Surveyor Thomas Brunner and Westland

The Farmer Nathanael Chalmers and Central Otago

The Prospector ‘George' Barrington and the Olivines

The Bushman Charles Douglas and the Waiatoto

The Mountaineer William Spotswood Green and Mount Cook

It is probably not the most engaging of narratives, but is detailed and varied, and there a plenty of photographs, maps and sketches to marvel at.
3 stars.