The Oxford Book of Exploration - Softcover

Hanbury-Tenison, Robin

3.67

27 ratings by Goodreads

9780192823960: The Oxford Book of Exploration

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192823965 ISBN 13: 9780192823960

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 1994

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Selected by explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, this is a comprehensive anthology of the writings of explorers through the ages. These are the words of those who changed the world through their pioneering search for new lands, new peoples, and new experiences. The anthology does not aim to include every moment of discovery, but to give a flavour of the emotions and motives of those who took part in the major events of exploration. Divided into geographical sections, the book takes the reader to Asia with Vasco da Gama, Edmund Hillary and Wilfrid Thesiger; to the Americas with Cortes, Frobisher and Cabot; to the Pacific with Drake, Banks and Bougainville; to Africa with Burton, Livingstone and Stanley; and to the Poles with Peary, Amundsen and Scott. All of the explorers in this book share a fortitude and self-awareness which carried them through the severest hardships - cold, heat, illness, hunger or starvation. Their failures are often as illuminating as their successes, revealing what it was that drove them to go beyond the possible, and so merit the name explorer. Other works by Robin Hanbury-Tenison include "Mulu: The Rainforest", "White Horses over France", "A Ride Along the Great Wall", "The Rainforests: A Celebration" and his autobiography, "Worlds Apart".

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Review:

[An] enthralling archive. (The Times Summer Reading)

boasting a glorious cover this book offers thrills galore (The Independent)

Without doubt, this is still the best compendium of pioneer travellers' tales for any explorer's rucksack - and is likely to remain so for a long time to come. (TLS)

About the Author:

About the Editor: Robin Hanbury-Tenison is Vice-President and Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographical Society. He has been on over twenty expeditions, including the first land crossing of South America at its widest point and (as leader) the Royal Geographical Society's scientific mission to the rain forests of Sarawak. A founder and President of Survival International, he is also the author of many books.

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