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Books > Sport & Leisure > Travel & holiday > Travel writing > Expeditions
The first time journalist Jon Lurie meets Jose Perez, the smart,
angry, fifteen-year-old Lakota-Puerto Rican draws blood. Five years
later, both men are floundering. Lurie, now in his thirties, is
newly divorced, depressed, and self-medicating. Jose is embedded in
a haze of women and street feuds. Both lack a meaningful connection
to their cultural roots: Lurie feels an absence of identity as the
son of a Holocaust survivor who is reluctant to talk about her
experience, and for Jose, communal history has been obliterated by
centuries of oppression. Then Lurie hits upon a plan to save them.
After years of admiring the journey described in Eric Arnold
Sevareid's 1935 classic account, Canoeing with the Cree, Lurie
invites Jose to join him in retracing Sevareid's route and
embarking on a mythic two thousand-mile paddle from Breckenridge,
Minnesota, to the Hudson Bay. Faced with plagues of mosquitoes,
extreme weather, suspicious law enforcement officers, tricky border
crossings, and Jose's preference for Kanye West over the great
outdoors, the journey becomes an odyssey of self-discovery.
Acknowledging the erased native histories that Sevareid's
prejudicial account could not perceive, and written in gritty,
honest prose, Canoeing with Jose is a remarkable journey.
This richly illustrated book takes a different angle on Robert E.
Peary's North Pole expedition. By shifting the focus away from the
unanswerable question of whether he truly reached 90 North
Latitude, the authors shed light on equally important stories and
discoveries that arose as a result of the infamous expedition.
Peary's Arctic Quest ventures beyond the well-cited story of
Peary's expedition and uncovers the truth about race relations,
womens' scientific contributions, and climate change that are still
relevant today. Readers will gain a greater appreciation for
Peary's methodical and creative mind, the Inughuit's significant
contributions to Arctic exploration, and the impact of Western
expedition activity on the Inughuit community. The volume will also
feature artifacts, drawings, and historic photographs with
informative captions to tell little-known stories about Peary's
1908-1909 North Pole expedition.
Two hundred and fifty years ago Captain James Cook, during his
extraordinary voyages of navigation and maritime exploration,
searched for Antarctica - the Unknown Southern Continent. During
parts of his three voyages in the southern Pacific and Southern
Oceans, Cook 'narrowed the options' for the location of Antarctica.
Over three summers, he completed a circumnavigation of portions of
the Southern Continent, encountering impenetrable barriers of ice,
and he suggested the continent existed, a frozen land not populated
by a living soul. Yet his Antarctic voyages are perhaps the least
studied of all his remarkable travels. That is why James Hamilton's
gripping and scholarly study, which brings together the stories of
Cook's Antarctic journeys into a single volume, is such an original
and timely addition to the literature on Cook and
eighteenth-century exploration. Using Cook's journals and the log
books of officers who sailed with him, the book sets his Antarctic
explorations within the context of his historic voyages. The main
focus is on the Second Voyage (1772-1775), but brief episodes in
the First Voyage (during 1769) and the Third Voyage (1776) are part
of the story. Throughout the narrative Cook's exceptional
seamanship and navigational skills, and that of his crew, are
displayed during often-difficult passages in foul weather across
uncharted and inhospitable seas. Captain James Cook and the Search
for Antarctica offers the reader a fascinating insight into Cook
the seaman and explorer, and it will be essential reading for
anyone who has a particular interest the history of the Southern
Continent.
When Otto Ecroyd embarked on a voyage to sail a broken boat from
Norway to France - and failed - he decided to do what any other
hapless adventurer would do: cycle from Alaska to Mexico. But, as
Otto says, he 'had never ridden further than across town.' So, with
no experience, the wrong type of bike and with panniers overflowing
with lentils, Otto pedals across vast American landscapes, cowers
from juggernaut RVs, and all the while wonders when he will next
meet a grizzly bear. En route, Otto's wit and self-deprecating
charm ensure he wins many friends, from an array of regional
characters, to a cosmopolitan mix of fellow long-distance cyclists,
each with their own motivation for riding the hard miles. With
some, he cycles leisurely in tandem; with others, in lungbusting
sprints; and with others still, in bedraggled pelotons. But then,
this is no grand depart from the daily grind to the upper echelons
of sport, for Otto is not in it for the competition - just the
adventure of a lifetime. Northbound and Down isn't Ranulph Fiennes
crossing Antarctica, or 'The Man Who Cycled the World'. It's more
entertaining than that. Three months in North America, 100km a day
on a bike. The places, the people, the misadventures of the
journey. Like a Bill Bryson book if Bill stayed out of the pub once
in a while. The local wildlife in the northern frontier. The moose,
the bears, the refugees from 'The Lower 48' states. The characters
in cowboy country. People who defy any stereotype of heartland
America, and those who definitely don't. Down the Pacific Coast,
redwood forests, hippie surf towns, mansions and homeless camps.
Californian plastic perfection and the weirdness of the American
dream. The preparation for cycling 5,000 miles was questionable at
best. The furthest Otto had ridden before landing in Anchorage was
from London to Brighton. He rode through a golf course and along a
motorway, did laps of Gatwick airport and rolled into Brighton two
hours late, ready for bed. He learned how to fix a puncture from
YouTube and discovered that not all Porsche drivers are dickheads.
Otto's touring skills start from a low base. The steep learning
curve and daily struggles with reality on the road bring humour to
the book. The challenge and the shared experience with people along
the way leads to a lasting sense of the rewards of adventure.
Otto's motivations for embarking on this adventure were relatable
ones. He was bored at work, too old to get wasted in every hostel
in Latin America and too poor for a proper mid-life crisis. This is
the story of a normal guy breaking out of the daily grind. Cheryl
Strayed's 'Wild', but inspired by a struggle against a life on
autopilot rather than a life collapsing. A whole middle class,
middle career and middle fulfilled generation is in a similar
position. They are searching for inspiration. Northbound and Down
gives them a taste of this, without having to miss a mortgage
payment. Northbound and Down is the everyman's take on breaking the
everyday.
Animal Explorers is a wonderful picture book series that will
inspire all budding travellers and explorers to follow their
dreams. Lola the polar bear has a passion for plants. She's
determined to find the rarest ones on the planet. So Lola makes a
grand decision: she's going to trek to the Amazon jungle! It's hard
work for a polar bear, but nothing holds Lola back. And there's a
prize for her at the end of it, when she discovers the elusive
Singing Orchid! Animal Explorers is a witty, entertaining
picture-book series that will inspire children to follow their
dreams. Sharon Rentta's glowing illustrations are packed
withfabulous characters and funny details to point out and share
Mini biographies at the end of the book tell the amazing stories of
three real-life explorers Also in the Animal Explorers series:
Stella the Astronaut, in which an adventurous squirrel dreams of
being the first of her kind in space. Toby the Deep-Sea Diver, in
which a young tiger longs to explore the deepest, darkest depths of
the ocean. Praise for Sharon Rentta's books: "Rentta's
illustrations are first class . . . destined to become a
favourite." Carousel "full of colour and joy . . . great to read
out loud" Books for Keeps
From the earliest migrations to the dawn of space tourism,
experience the excitement of travel throughout the ages in this
gloriously illustrated book! The quest for adventure has defined
human history since the beginning of time. Whether it be for food,
pilgrimages, trade, or scientific curiosity, people have been
compelled to set forth into the wild for centuries. Trace their
incredible journeys in this beautifully illustrated book! From the
first trade networks in ancient Sumer, to the Crusades, the Grand
Tour, and the Voyager missions in outer space. This enthralling
visual history of travel includes maps, paintings, photographs, and
journal entries to fascinate every armchair traveler. Be
transported through space and time with the only comprehensive and
fully illustrated book on the history of travel. Inside it you'll
find: -Stories of great exploration, migration, and scientific
discovery, accompanied by historic maps, paintings and photographs.
-Themed spreads and feature panels explaining developments in
history, geography, religion, and science -Catalog pages showcasing
the evolution of transport networks across the globe -A foreword
written by adventurer and New York Times bestselling author, Simon
Reeve -An optional 80-page illustrated directory profiling great
explorers and expeditions Voyage with vikings, and pursue
plundering pirates! From the ancient travels of Odysseus, to
Pizarro's conquest of Peru, follow the biographies of pioneering
travellers, intrepid explorers, and cruel conquerors. Gripping
eye-witness accounts transport you to former times, bringing
pivotal moments of historical, scientific, and religious discovery
to vivid life. Ever wondered what it would feel like to be the
first in flight? Or to be a part of The Great Northern Expedition?
Learn all of the technological innovations in railways, ships,
cars, and aviation that facilitated the greatest journeys of
humankind. This book is sure to take you far away from the confines
of your living room. Prepare for the journey of a lifetime, perfect
for anyone interested in history, migration, and human adventure!
From the author of INTO THE SILENCE, winner of the Samuel Johnson
Prize for Non-Fiction In 1941, Richard Evans Schultes took a leave
of absence from Harvard University and disappeared into the
Northern Amazon of Colombia. The world's leading authority on the
hallucinogens and medicinal plants of the region, he returned after
twelve years of travelling through South America in a dug-out
canoe, mapping uncharted rivers, living among local tribes and
documenting the knowledge of shamans. Thirty years later, his
student Wade Davis landed in Bogota to follow in his mentor's
footsteps - so creating an epic tale of undaunted adventure, a
compelling work of natural history and a testament to the spirit of
scientific exploration.
'A collection of intimate and heartfelt confessions of what love
means, each with a wonderfully expressive colour portrait' Guardian
'Will restore your faith in the world' New York Post Award-winning
journalist and documentary maker Stefania Rousselle had stopped
believing in love. She had covered a series of bleak assignments,
from terrorist attacks to the rise of the far right. Her
relationship had fallen apart. Her faith in humanity was shaken.
She decided to set out alone on a road trip across France, sleeping
in strangers' homes, asking ordinary men and women the one question
everyone wants to know the answer to: what is love? From a baker in
Normandy to a shepherd in the Pyrenees, from a gay couple estranged
from their families to a widow who found love again at 70, Amour is
a treasure trove of poignant and profound stories about love,
accompanied by beautiful photographs. 'Astonishing. Beautiful.
Extraordinary. A couple of times I gasped and choked up. This was
really worth reading' A Guardian reader response 'This is one of
the best things I have read for a very long time. These wonderful
stories really bring out what is important in life' A Guardian
reader response 'Beautiful. Made me cry a little. Thank you for
such honest, diverse and open stories' A Guardian reader response
On a bright July morning in 1870 the British explorer George
Hayward was brutally murdered high in the Hindu Kush. Who was he,
what had brought him to this wild spot, and why was he killed? Told
in full for the first time, this is the gripping tale of Hayward's
journey from a Yorkshire childhood to a place at the forefront of
the 'Great Game' between the British Raj and the Russian Empire,
and of how, driven by 'an insane desire', he crossed the Western
Himalayas, tangled with despotic chieftains and ended up on the
wrong side of both the Raj and the mighty Maharaja of Kashmir. It
is also the tale of the conspiracies that surrounded his death,
while the author's own travels in Hayward's footsteps bring the
story up to date, and reveal how the echoes of the Great Game still
reverberate across Central Asiain the twenty-first century.
Henry 'Birdie' Bowers realised his life's ambition when he was
selected for Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the
Antarctic, yet he also met his death on the journey. Born to a
sea-faring father and adventurous mother on the Firth of Clyde,
Bowers' boyhood obsession with travel and adventure took him round
the world several times and his life appears, with hindsight, to
have been a ceaseless preparation for his ultimate, Antarctic
challenge. Although just 5ft 4in, he was a bundle of energy;
knowledgeable, indefatigable and the ultimate team player. In
Scott's words, he was 'a marvel'. This new biography, drawing on
Bowers' letters, journals and previously neglected material, sheds
new light on Bowers and tells the full story of the hardy naval
officer who could always lift his companions' spirits.
In the winter of 1739, Georg Steller received word from Empress
Anna of Russia that he was to embark on a secret expedition to the
far reaches of Siberia as a member of the Great Northern
Expedition. While searching for economic possibilities and
strategic advantages, Steller was to send back descriptions of
everything he saw. The Empress's instructions were detailed, from
requests for a preserved whale brain to observing the child-rearing
customs of local peoples, and Steller met the task with dedication,
bravery, and a good measure of humor. In the name of science,
Steller and his comrades confronted horse-swallowing bogs, leaped
across ice floes, and survived countless close calls in their
exploration of an unforgiving environment. Not stopping at lists of
fishes, birds, and mammals, Steller also details the villages and
the lives of those living there, from vice-governors to
prostitutes. His writings rail against government corruption and
the misuse of power while describing with empathy the lives of the
poor and forgotten, with special attention toward Native peoples.
What emerges is a remarkable window into life—both human and
animal—in 18th century Siberia. Due to the secret nature of the
expedition, Steller's findings were hidden in Russian archives for
centuries, but the near-daily entries he recorded on journeys from
the town of Irkutsk to Kamchatka are presented here in English for
the first time.
On December 17, 1922, Andre Citroen sent an expedition of Citroen
half tracks or autochenilles to follow the camel tracks across the
Sahara desert from Algeria to Timbuktu on the banks of the River
Niger. This was the first motorized crossing of the Sahara and took
twenty-one days. It permitted the establishment of a land
connection between North Africa and the Sudan, at that time
extremely isolated, and opened the way for the exploration of the
heart of Africa. This first crossing was the culmination of the
long, slow penetration of the Sahara by car and plane between 1910
and 1921. During this time, the courageous drivers and pilots of
the French military squadrons based in Algeria and Tunisia explored
the dunes of the Grand Erg and Tanezrouft, sometimes losing their
lives, but they paved the way for this first, victorious Citroen
expedition. To reconstruct the history of this Crossing of the
Sands, Ariane Audouin-Dubreuil has delved into the diaries and
archives of her father who was one of the pioneers of the
exploration of the Sahara during those years. Along with Georges
Marie Haardt, Andre Citroen's close collaborator and partner, he
planned and led the expedition which succeeded in reaching
Timbuktu, and then returned by a different route to Algeria. The
book is rich in wonderful period photographs and vividly recounts
the dangers and difficulties of exploration in those times. First
published in French in 2005, the book has now been translated into
English by Dalton Watson Fine Books.
The first full biography of the Antarctic hero who accompanied
Robert Falcon Scott on his celebrated expeditions This first full
account of the last exploration artist traces his life from
childhood to his tragic death. Edward Wilson (1872-1912)
accompanied Scott on both the Discovery Expedition of 1901-1904 and
the Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-1913. Wilson served as junior
surgeon and zoologist on "Discovery" and, on this expedition, with
Scott and Ernest Shackleton he set a new Furthest South on December
30, 1902. He was chief of scientific staff on the Terra Nova
Expedition and reached the South Pole with Scott, Lawrence Oates,
Henry Robertson Bowers, and Edgar Evans on January 18, 1912,
arriving there four weeks after the Norwegian explorer Roald
Amundsen. Wilson and his four companions died on the return
journey. Trained as a physician, Wilson was also a skilled artist.
His drawings and paintings lavishly illustrated both expeditions.
He was the last major exploration artist; technological
developments in the field of photography were soon to make cameras
practical as a way of recording journeys into the unknown.
Ernest Coleman has led or participated in four expeditions to find
out the fate of the Franklin expedition. 129 men were lost from the
two ships the Erebus and the Terror, looking for the North-West
Passage. Many theories have been put forward - and some of them, in
the author's opinion, have been shaped by political bias. 'The
whole subject has been taken over by academics and politicians,
both for questions of Canadian sovereignty and academic advancement
- all at the cost of Franklin's (and the Royal Navy's) reputation.'
In this work, Coleman is determined to set the record straight: ' I
have provided answers to all their machinations (including the
"lead poisoning" tripe, and the "cannibalism" nonsense), cracked
the code in the writings of Petty Officer Peglar (bones found and
wallet recovered), and given new answers to all the many smaller
mysteries that continue to be reproduced by others. I have also
revealed the possible site of Franklin's grave, the biggest mystery
of all.' No Earthly Pole is an adventure set within an adventure.
Ernest Coleman's lifetime quest for the truth at the ends of the
earth is an extraordinary tale of determination in itself. The
story of Franklin's expedition remains one of the greatest and most
tragic events of the age of exploration.
Armed with a toilet trowel and a converted Mazda Bongo called Roxy,
self-styled 'ordinary' ultrarunner, Gavin Boyter, embarks on his
latest long-distance challenge: to run the 3400km from Paris to
Istanbul along the route of the world's most illustrious railway
journey, the Orient Express. And, despite work on Roxy having
hampered his training programme, Gavin remains undeterred and plans
to run through eight countries, to cross 180 rivers and to ascend
16,500 metres, through forests, mountains, plains and major cities
- aided all the way by temperamental mapping technology and the
ever encouraging support of his girlfriend, Aradhna. En route,
Gavin will pass through urban edgelands and breathtaking scenery,
battlefields and private estates, industrial plants and abandoned
villages, and on through a drawn-back Iron Curtain where the East
meets West. He will encounter packs of snarling, feral dogs, wild
boar, menacing cows, and a herd of hundreds of deer. But he will
also meet many fascinating characters, including a German,
leg-slapping masseuse, music-loving Austrian farmers, middle-class
Romanians, itinerant Romanies, stoic soldiers, and boisterous
Turks. However, confined to the cramped conditions of Roxy, and
each other's company, Gavin and Aradhna's journey is not only a
test of the endurance and stamina required to put in the hard
miles, but of their relationship, too. After all, if they can
survive this challenge, they can survive anything. But will Gavin's
legs make it all the way to Istanbul, where he has planned a
special surprise for Aradhna?
LIFE IN THE ANTARCTIC Photographs by the Scottish Antarctic
Expedition,. William Bruce's Voyage of the 'Scotia' 1902 - 1904
Antarctic Expedition The publishers beg to draw particular note to
the fact that the illustrations in this little book are all
reproductions of genuine photographs from life, taken by the Leader
and Staff of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, during the
voyage of the 'Scotia' 1902 - 1904. Practically all of them are
unique, many of the mammals and birds never having been previously
photographed. They were taken under conditions of climate which
made photography extremely difficult and often impossible. They are
not touched up in anyway by the engravers, and may be implicitly
relied upon as correct representations of the actual environments
of Antarctic mammals and birds. This Facsimile has been created
from the original 1907 first edition, each photo professionally
scanned.
In a book that has been called "a love song to nature," the author
documents the latest decade of his explorations of the Baja
peninsula and the Sea of Cortez. While much of the book narrates
his experience as a writing professor taking undergraduates on sea
kayak expeditions to the Isla Espiritu Santo archipelago each year
during spring break, the book also reflects on experiences with a
condor restoration project in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, and an
altogether different teaching experience based in a field station
on Bahia de los Angeles. While the author's intent is to evoke Baja
ecologies in fresh ways, the reader comes to realize that he's also
describing how education can become a transformational experience.
A retired scuba instructor who turned to academics and went on to
receive his college's highest teaching award, Dr. Farnsworth
believes that education should be a lifelong adventure, and that
explorations of the natural world should be animated by reverence
and delight.
NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2017 Over two full years,
Dromgoole, the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare's Globe
Theatre, and the Globe players toured all seven continents, and
almost 200 countries, performing the Bard's most famous play. They
set their stage in sprawling refugee camps, grand Baltic palaces
and heaving marketplaces - despite food poisoning in Mexico, an
Ebola epidemic in West Africa and political upheaval in Ukraine.
Hamlet: Globe to Globe tells the story of this unprecedented
theatrical adventure, in which Dromgoole shows us the world through
the prism of Shakespeare's universal drama, and asks how a
400-year-old tragedy can bring the world closer together.
Join Karen as she takes a life-changing trip to the Antarctic which
leads to her making an impulsive decision to leave the corporate
world behind. As she lives on a Russian base in the Antarctic
dealing with angry sea lions, living and working in remote
conditions and surrounded by stunning scenery, Karen discovers the
courage to find a different way of living her life. With a foreword
by polar explorer Robert Swan OBE.
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