Reviews (2)

An Authentic Voice
Autobiographies are at the same time the best and the worst sources of life stories. You get the authentic voice, but that voice tells you only what it wants you to believe. Both these characteristics are particularly strong here because Cody's voice is such a distinctive one and because of his status as a supreme self-promoter. So this book will not give you the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but it will give you a real insight into the mind of a man who in many ways epitomizes the culture of the historic American West. Some of it may shock you; Cody describes how he shot a mule who had annoyed him by running away, and boasts of how he scalped his fallen enemies. Hardly the stuff of popular myth. If you want to know how the west was really won, then reading this book (some of it 'between the lines') will tell you much.

You can almost smell the buffalo cooking in the camp.
The Wild West was an even more heroic epoch than is commonly understood. While Buffalo Bill became a self-promoter, basic facts are clear: he was a superior plains guide and scout and Indian fighter. He really was the master hunter of buffalo from horseback. He was a Pony Express rider, with all that entailed. He was friends with Wild Bill, Custer, and other notables. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery on the battlefield (though sadly it was removed many years later because of a bureaucratic technicality of how he had been employed by the Army, not because of any change in the evaluation of the heroic deeds.

A most fascinating book. It gives one a different perspective to hear it from a participant.END ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Interesting story; not an easy read
I bought the book due to my interest in the period it covers -- early Alpine mountaineering. Edward Whymper was an interesting guy, and certainly one of the foreign pioneers of mountain climbing (including the first climb of Matterhorn). I found him to be less inspiring as an author -- the book's pace is slow, punctuated by various tangential discussions, e.g. geology of glaciers.

It failed to capture my imagination, as other more receint mountaineering books have done -- try Gaston Rebuffat, Walter Bonatti, Chris Bonnington instead.

Whymper's writing achieved the summit of excellence.
As one of the early mountain climbers, Whymper was not only a dedicated climber but also an astute observer of human nature and the natural environment. His writings reflect a strong will and great intelligence. The artistry of his mountain scenes vividly illustrate his book and combined with his witty prose make for a mountaineering classic ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Translated for the first time into English from Garibaldi’s original manuscripts, these memoirs provide an authentic reading of the life and times of one of the most remarkable figures in history. With a Foreword by Tim Parks.

The life of Giuseppe Garibaldi—distinguished by superhuman courage, personal tragedy, and tireless struggle in the name of freedom—has remained a source of fascination for generations. In this engrossing first–person narrative, Garibaldi charts his extraordinary adventures, from his early seafaring exploits and his flight to South America, to his return to Italy as a conquering general. Now in its first English translation, My Life reveals all of Garibaldi’s strength of character, his visionary outlook, and his unfailing idealism. Adventurer, reformer, military figure, and novelist, Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807­82) was a hero of the Risorgimento, the movement for Italian unification. ... Read more

Book Description

When Admiral Richard E. Byrd set out on his second Antarctic expedition in 1934, he was already an international hero for having piloted the first flights over the North and South Poles. His plan for this latest adventure was to spend six months alone near the bottom of the world, gathering weather data and indulging his desire ?to taste peace and quiet long enough to know how good they really are.? But early on things went terribly wrong. Isolated in the pervasive polar night with no hope of release until spring, Byrd began suffering inexplicable symptoms of mental and physical illness. By the time he discovered that carbon monoxide from a defective stovepipe was poisoning him, Byrd was already engaged in a monumental struggle to save his life and preserve his sanity.

When Alone was first published in 1938, it became an enormous bestseller. This edition keeps alive Byrd?s unforgettable narrative for new generations of readers.

?Better than most modern explanations, Byrd?s book shows why men and women still cast themselves into danger in remote parts of the world.?
?The Los Angeles Times Book Review
... Read more

Reviews (13)

Stunning...
If you are looking for a book on an Antarctic adventure, perhaps there are better choices to be made. But if you want to understand the struggle and hardship of being physically and mentally isolated, or experience the terror of dealing with an unknown adversary, then I can recommend no better book than this one. Byrd takes what could have been an extremely dry subject and makes it read like a classic adventure novel. And it's all the more exciting because it's true!

Alone
Richard E. Byrd's "ALONE" gets off to a slow start, but as soon as Byrd is left alone, 123 miles from the nearest humans at Little America, during the Antarctic winter, the real drama begins. In 1934, long before science ascertained the real effects of constant darkness on the human psyche, Byrd, in this autobiographical expose, makes it very clear how the lack of sunlight, isolation, and carbon monoxide poisoning can push a man to his utmost mental and physical limits. To top it off, Byrd has a writing style so descriptive and soulful that it makes the reader feel as if he were right there with him as an invisible observer. Anyone who likes to explore the dormant, but always present, dark recesses of the human mind has to read this book. As a result, Byrd unintentionally takes us also on an exploration of the mind, not just the brutal conditions of the Antarctic. Great book.

"Alone" with his ego
The mettle and grace of the Victorian gentleman: Robert Falcon Scott, on his 1911/12 polar trek, endured incredible hardship, crushing disappointment, and approaching death -- and wrote it all down in a journal as inspiring as it is heartbreaking. In "Alone", a much better-equipped Admiral Richard E. Byrd suffers similar travails a quarter-century later, and offers up a mundane narrative of egotism, complaint and self-justification.
That Antarctic exploration has undergone a sea change since the days of Scott and Shackleton becomes apparent as Admiral Byrd faces his first crisis: the loss of "two indispensable items": his alarm clock and cookbook. Not even instructions radioed in from Oscar of the Waldorf himself can salvage flapjacks made without that cookbook. Byrd plods along, making mistakes the average boy scout would avoid, such as wandering off and getting lost. And we are left to wonder why he had not learned Morse code, his only means of communication.
The details of daily life are interesting. And the awful, majestic beauty of the Antarctic night shines through it all, despite the half-baked psychoanalysis and philosophy which Byrd ladles over everything. ("The past was gone, and the future would adduce its own appropriate liquidation", he sums up at one point.) But he fails to inspire, to ennoble, to evoke all mankind. It is all about him.
Antarctica has been blessed with chroniclers of encompassing vision, poetic insight, and literary ability. Admiral Byrd is not one of them. Read "Scott's Last Expedition" instead.

This is stamina
It never ceases to amaze me how far people will go when they have made up their minds.
This is a story about Admiral Byrd who sets up camp in Antarctica and decides to spend the winter there in a small hut in the ice. It's a story about how he manages to get from day to day, both psychologically and physically. Apart from being slightly eccentric and brave, he shows amazing self-control as even when he is close to dying he still decides to go on instead of calling for help.
It is a nice story, well readable and enjoyable.

Sometimes it's good to judge a book by its cover
The exquisite cover and beautiful print of this edition, published by Kodansha in 1995, are a suitable frame for this wonderful book. Its strength lies both in the quality of the prose, which flows naturally, at times poetically, and in the fact that this is a personal account of a true story. The pain is real, the suspense is real.

It tells the story of six long and dark months, in the winter of 1934, which Richard Byrd spent alone in Antarctica. He struggles to survive the hardships of the Antarctic winter itself, the diffuculty of being alone, and also the physical and mental sickness that nearly overcome him, illness caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

If there is a flaw in this book it is that one wishes that Byrd could have gone deeper into the psychological and philosophical themes he brings up. Still, it is a very moving account indeed. ... Read more

Book Description

More than forty years after his death, Laszlo Almasy's name would become famous in Anthony Minghella's film The English Patient.But who was he really?Was he a spy?If so, for whom-the Allies or the Germans?John Bierman's wide-ranging investigation of Almasy's life and career reveals an even more complex and enigmatic figure than Hollywood allowed. ... Read more

Book Description

By the age of 20, Brad Washburn was a mountain-climbing wunderkind who had published four books about mountaineering. Most would consider this accomplishment enough for a lifetime, but for Washburn it was only a beginning.

While a student at Harvard, he studied the pioneering field of aerial surveying and photography. Throughout his life, he would combine this skill with his passion for climbing to make aerial photographs and maps of the world’s major landforms, from Mount McKinley in Alaska to Everest. Washburn’s improvements to aerial surveying technology resulted in maps of such accuracy and definition that they are still used by climbers today. At age 78, Washburn mad yet another expedition, this time to the Himalaya, leading a scientific team that would determine Everest’s true height. Two constants gave ballast to Washburn’s life of adventure—his wife and partner-in-adventure, Barbara, and his career as director and visionary behind Boston’s Museum of Science—one of the finest educational institutions in the country.

Filled with exciting and entertaining anecdotes—including his prescient refusal of Amelia Earhart’s offer to have him co-pilot her now famous last flight—and with Washburn’s breathtaking photography and maps, On High is the first book to reveal, in his own words, the extraordinary life and work of Brad Washburn.

Reviews (2)

Beautiful photographs make On High a work of art
The biography of Brad Washburn makes a terrific yarn, even for us armchair adventurers. This is a well-told tale, with a transcribed "oral history" from Mr. Washburn, interspersed with the narrative supplied by Mr. Smith. The significance of Mr. Washburn's life, and what makes this book worth reading, is that his mountaineering adventures were part of the 20th century's final conquest of high places in this world. The high mountains were the last frontier, and Mr. Washburn lived it, wrote about it, mapped it, and (more importantly) photographed it. Fortunately, National Geographic chose to include a variety of Mr. Washburn's best photographs. His friendship with, and admiration for, Ansel Adams is apparent. Buy this for the read, but also buy it as a coffee table book.

An extraordinary life portrayed in an extraordinary book...
In this pictoral autobiography of Bradford Washburn, an adventurous life is experienced firsthand by the reader. The photographs of ice and rock are breathtaking as are the more personal images of life and love at it's fullest. Anyone interested in the classical era of mountaineering (when unclimbed peaks danced in the dreams of world-class climbers), nature photography of the highest caliber or an excellent work to add to their library, this book is for you. A National Geographic classic in every sense of the word. ... Read more

Book Description

BORN TO HEAL takes you from mystical green jungles and the overwhelming crush of humanity in India's crowded cities to the stark beauty of Arizona's high desert.The authorfollows one woman's lifelong, haunting quest for spiritual and professional growth.

Beloved mother, wife and physician, Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey has inspired this uplifting chronicle that follows her search to expand her knowledge and undestanding in the healing arts as well as the art of life. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Pioneer Woman of Purpose
Pioneer women still exist and the story that unfolds of the life of Gladys McGarey is just one such story in the modern day. In a world that seeks 'purpose' as a guiding life principle this woman's story shines out. Her life unfolds in the writing in a beautiful way, modest, yet bold and strong. Analea McGarey's writing comes from the heart and the hearth where stories of Gladys' life abound and she has woven them together into a beautiful tapestry which is both evocative and inspiring.
The narrative takes the reader from her birth in India and the inborn love for healing through her life today. A pioneer woman on the front of women in medicine, holistic medicine, balancing family and vocation, internatial lecturing and always willing to live her life in the faithfulness that carried her through all of life's challenges.
This is a book to inspire women and men of all ages to live their life to the fullest seeking always to be in line with God's will for their lives. Not the typical story for there are many challenges along the way.
As I write this review of my sister-in-law's book Gladys is preparing for another adventure going to a 3rd world country to continue to share her healing hands with people in need.
After you read this book you won't be surprised, but grateful to live in the world the same time she is here and challenged to live your own life to the full. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Life on the Frontier
This book provides an authentic view of life on the Tennessee frontier in the period from 1848 to 1880.The author not only captured the day to day life of a farm family but the humor and warmth that went with the hardships and heavy labor they endured.In addition, the book is historically accurate in describing actions and life during the Civil War and the aftermath, with the coming of the railroads and civilization.
Based upon family stories, the author has woven a tale in a novel format but with great accuracy and has included the names of the various families in the area at the time.
I was sorry when I put I reached the end and put it down.I wished that she had continued with more stories.

More about Home in the Wilderness
Home in the Wilderness is a novelized family history covering the years 1848-1880 in West Tennessee. Effie wrote the book in the 1930s and 40s in Dresden, Tennessee, but it was not published. In 2000, the Meek and Maiden families began to check the facts in the manuscript and to prepare it for publication, complete with end notes to confirm facts, a few old photos, and family trees of all the descendants of James and Mary Meek. Now everyone interested in this period and region can read this fascinating account from an author who grew up hearing legends and lore around the family dinner table.

Civil War buffs may find the descriptions of movements with General Nathan Bedford Forrest of particular interest, and the book includes an authentic letter from William Meek describing the Battle of Brice's Crossroads.

Home in the Wilderness contains historical vignettes of Marshall County, Chapel Hill, Nashville, Memphis, Weakley County, the Duck River, and Martin--all in Tennessee. There are also references to Hickman, KY; Columbus,KY; and Hernando and West Point and the Battle of Brice's Crossroads, MS.

Surnames in the book include MEEK, HENLEY, WILSON, HOPKINS, HAWLEY, MAIDEN, RALSTON, SIMS, HENDRIX, WAGGONER, COOK, ATKISON, MARTIN, HARPER, TREVATHAN, TREVILLION, CULBERTSON, WOOD, COLE, FREEMAN, BALDRIDGE, HOGARD, HAWKINS, LEFFLER, and MAHON.

Most of the facts in the manuscript are accurate, for example, the early street names in Nashville (1848); the buildings, locations, and roads named in Memphis (1864); and the battle reports regarding Columbus, KY, Brice's Crossroads, MS, Forrest's raids on Memphis, and the fighting at Union City, TN.

Hope you enjoy the book! ... Read more

Amazon.com

While novelist Ian Fleming is best known for bringing adventurer James Bond to life, his writer brother Peter Fleming, a reporter for The Times of London, survived South American misadventures so challenging they make 007's high-risk existence seem placid in comparison. Lured by a mysterious newspaper ad, Fleming sails with an expedition to Brazil in the 1930s, attempting to answer unresolved questions about a team of explorers, headed by a British Colonel Fawcett, that disappeared in 1925. Once arrived in Brazil, Fleming's expedition falls apart, being equipped with few provisions, erroneous maps, and a despotic leader who proves to be less than fearless in the Amazon jungles. The team soon splits, with former colleagues battling the elements and competing with each other in a race for time and a search for truth. A finely crafted travel tale, with prose that's sometimes as dense and colorful as the jungles it's set in, Brazilian Adventure manages to turn the harrowing into cheeky commentary and barely contained comedy. --Melissa Rossi ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Engaging, witty and a must read!
Every so often I have to buy a new copy of Brazillian Adventure because I lend my copy to someone and they flatly refuse to return it again. This is one of the most engaging and good-humoured travel books ever. It was Fleming's first adventure and his first book - yet it became a classic work going into several editions early on and being used in schools as a study piece. It is seriously well written, and seriously engaging.

It starts with his blandly describing how he got involved in the expedition in the first place- answering an advertisement in the paper to go on a 'Fawcett hunt" (as he later called it). He thought he would go on a grand expedition to find the missing explorer Colonel Fawcett and get a little hunting done at the same time. There have been numerous books and studies done on the disappearnce of Fawcett in Brazil in the 1920's - to this day no one quite knows what happened to him, and as it turns out the expedition that Fleming was joining was not going to throw new light on matters either.

In fact the trip deteriorated badly the moment they hit Brazil, and Fleming's dry wit turns it all into a hilarious read - although it must have been desparately uncomfortable for them all. The expedition Leader was incompetent, the expedition split into two warring factions and they all ended up in a race back down the Amazon to try to get the banks in time.

Peter Fleming, in case you didn't know, is the brother of the 'James Bond' author Ian Fleming - a talent for writing seemed to run in the family. Peter continued his travels and writing career but I think this first book is the best of them all. There is also a wonderful biography on his life available but I think that is now out of print.

Good Old Fashion Adventure Still Works
This is contemporary American adventure: buy an SUV, watch game shows based on Lord of the Flies, try the risotto recipe Martha Stewart used on her ascent in the Himilayas. Please! Brazilian Adventure is the real thing for those who don't own their own snowshoes. Sure, the author and his companions set off with pith helmets worthy of Ralph Lauren and more elaborate gear than they'll ever use; true, Fleming is something of a good old boy circa 1932 Oxford style. Skin to be shed. When reality hits, which it does early in the adventure and continues to the bedraggled end, he rises to the occasion. The narrative is suffused with clear-eyed wit, honesty and optimism. I hope there are other Peter Fleming books out there.

Funny Exciting Travel
Imagine a book co-written by Redmond O'Hanlon and Noel Coward: Funny, exciting, literate, a period piece that still works. Flemming, a young corespondant for the London Times, goes on a half-baked expidition to the heart of Brazil with a group of men both over- and underprepared for the adventure. I enjoyed the book immensely, although his light tone occasionally got to me.

a wonderful read
I can't believe nobody else has reviewed this book- it is a classic travel book and a wonderful read. It was his first book and very much a young man's piece of writing- a humorous, true account of an expedition to locate the famous explorer Col. (or was it Major?)Fawcett who vanished in the Amazon. I can't really do the book justice- just read it for yourself! Trivia: Peter was Ian Fleming's brother, Fawcet was the inspiration for Doyle's "The Lost World". ... Read more

Book Description

Sir Peter Blake was the outstanding sailor/adventurer of his time. In a 30-year sailing career, he won every significant blue-water race on the planet, including the America's Cup and the Whitbread Round the World Race, and slashed the record for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of the world under sail. Knighted for his achievements and accorded celebrity status in many countries, Sir Peter turned away from competitive sailing in the last years of his life to pursue a passion to help protect the environment that he had enjoyed so much.

Alan Sefton traces Blake's extraordinary life, from the rigors of ocean racing around the world, to the high drama of the America's Cup triumphs, where the egos of the world's greatest sailors clash. Sefton describes those controversial years in vivid detail. Blake made the decision to devote his life to saving the world's oceans, using SEAMASTER as his classroom. Finally, defending his ship and crew, he was tragically murdered by pirates on the Amazon River. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (7)

A trip worth taking...
A fascinating read! The satisfaction comes not in finally putting to rest the historical debate whether Sir John Mandeville ever made his epic pilgrimmage but rather in going along with Milton as he makes his journey. Settle into your favorite armchair and take off on a most engaging travel narrative. Along the way you will decide for yourself the truth about Sir John's narrative, which is exactly the way all such quests should be pursued.

Entertaining -- but what's new? --
This book wears two faces: 1) a travel book, and 2) an attempt at some serious historical research. The author, Giles Milton, a professional writer/journalist, sets out to retrace the path of the legendary fourteenth-century traveler and writer, Sir John Mandeville. Milton's ostensible goal is to rehabilitate Mandeville's controversial reputation.

Sir John Mandeville was the alleged author of one of the most famous early-renaissance books. From about 1350 to 1800, his "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" was incredibly popular and influential, rivaling the Bible and Euclid's Elements. Then, about 1800, scholars began to question whether "Mandeville wrote Mandeville" -- or indeed whether there ever was such a man. His book is still in print (see Penguin Classic, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville), and is even making something of a comeback,

Mr. Milton is a good writer, and as a travel book his work is quite entertaining. Minimally, it gives us a chance to compare the Middle-East-now with what it was in Mandeville's time. For those who like travel books, that might be enough to make the book worthwhile. Some woodcuts taken from a 1481 edition of Mandeville are real gems. (Penguin should have included these.)

But as serious historical research I have problems with the book. Mr. Milton tries to convince us that Sir John Mandeville really did exist. The historical evidence he presents is weak, at best, and consists chiefly of a barely legible epitaph in St. Albans Abbey. But even here some rigorous scholarship is missing. (What is the earliest mention of this epitaph? To whom is it attributed? Have other scholars noted the inscription, and at what dates? What are their opinions regarding its authenticity?)

My overall impression is that Mr. Milton was not able to gather the evidence he was hoping for, and so had to temporize. I was particularly disappointed that the second edition does not address any of these weaknesses.

P.T. Barnum, Ripley¿s Believe It Or Not and the nightly news
A fairly irritating book about an important subject, this book is loaded with a collection of traveling non-sequiturs that are collated and vaguely related to findings of the author as he makes the same trip that Sir John Mandeville made starting in 1322. Mandeville wrote a book after his 34-year journey called The Travels that influenced many important people after him. For example, Christopher Columbus, influenced by Mandeville's book, proposed his voyage to the new world to Queen Isabella of Spain and was turned down. Months later, after Isabella had read Mandeville's book she was approached again by Columbus and she changed her mind, funding his history making voyage to the new world. Mandeville's book was used by many others as a reference for hundreds of years until somewhere in the 1800's when he and his book were discredited and Mandeville generally became known as a fraud, never having actually traveled to the places he claimed to have visited. In The Riddle and the Knight, Milton's trip to all the same places starts off with the promise of getting to the bottom of a very old debate, "Did Mandeville actually take the trip he claimed he took? By actually making the same trip today, what could be found to either prove or disprove Mandeville once and for all?" That's a great idea but the writer got bogged down including almost everything that happened to him on his 20th century journey whether it added to proving Mandeville's journey or not. On page 189, Milton is staying in a monastery in Egypt and two U.N. peacekeepers stumble upon the ancient institution. One of them is an American who is remarkably like Gomer Pyle. Halfway through this jewel, I paused and thought, "This episode will have no bearing whatsoever on what Milton is doing with his story." True enough, it didn't. It was simply a loud and colorful, intrusion into the quiet life of the monastery Milton was staying in. "What the heck. Let's put it in the book." Milton was fair in citing the frequent number of times that almost every ancient author would plagiarize one another and that Mandeville was not much different. Unlike the book's title, The Riddle and the Knight, any references to a riddle somewhere in the book were sparse, casual, and hugely unfulfilled. The author also missed the opportunity to properly observe that all early discoverers and travelers were at some point liars who all knew that keeping the attention of those who listened would sometimes require mention of the strange men foreign lands who have no heads, or really giant women from another distant land or strange elixirs that have remarkable healing powers. It's all part of giving the audience what they want or need to hear, from P.T. Barnum to Ripley's Believe It Or Not to the nightly news.

The Riddle .....Still left Wondering
What a disappointment . After reading one of Milton's other books I was excited to get this for Xmas. The book is a soft introduction to some of the history of both the Middle Ages, the Middle East, but thats it . I felt that the author had stumbled onto a possible winner but in the end it didnt pan out but had to publish a book to justify his travels ( and perhaps his advance ). Best I can say about the book is the bibliography. This alone was worth one star , otherwise I would have only given a rating of one star. Not a recommended buy

Fascinating
Even more than Marco Polo, Sir John Mandeville was considered the most renowned traveler and chronicler in medieval Europe. In 1322, Mandeville left England on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, returning over three decades later. Sir John claimed to have journeyed to the Holy Land, India, China, Tibet, and modern day Indonesia. He detailed his trek in "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" that became the Kerouac of his generation. However, Mandeville was written off in the nineteenth century due to his vivid descriptions of encounters with monsters and strange peoples that were at odds with Darwin.

Giles Milton chronicles his own journey that traces the steps claimed by Sir John. Readers will sense that Mr. Milton wants to believe in his "hero" by finding historical items to support Sir John's claims. The travels through Europe and the Middle East will fascinate those fans of historical travelogues as Mr. Milton supports the notion that Sir John was there, but he stops short of visiting China and Indonesia. Instead, Mr. Milton seems disappointed that he must agree with the Victorians that Sir John never made it to the Far East. The writing at that point loses its enthusiasm as Mr. Milton rationalizes that the latter part of "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville" is a comparative allegory on Christianity. Overall this book will interest those readers who enjoy a historiographical look back at an influential fourteenth century person whose writing has gone out of favor.

Harriet Klausnr ... Read more

Book Description

Tom Crean was a key figure and colorful member of three of the most famous polar expeditions and has had a glacier and a peak named after him.

·Will appeal to Shackleton buffs and fans of historical explorations
·Great for armchair adventurers who enjoy a ripping good yarn
·Popularity of this subject will stay fueled by media attention to big-budget television mini-series (A&E) and big- screen movie (Columbia Pictures) currently in the works

After this engaging, well-written biography sold more than 18,000 copies in Ireland in its first year, The Mountaineers Books jumped on the U.S. rights for its customers. Tom Crean was with Ernest Shackleton on the famous Endurance trip-and was one of the survivors of that phenomenal tale of, well, endurance. He was also on Robert Scott's two earlier polar explorations and he was key to the survival of his fellow explorers each time out. What is engaging about Crean--and this book--was that he was not unmoved by the hard decisions and hardships he and the rest of the crew faced, nor did he blindly follow orders, but he did what had to be done, and was loyal to his captains and his crewmates in the process.

The story of all three adventures of incredible courage and survival are told in this one 352-page volume. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Finally, the rest of the story
Having read about Amundsun,Scott and Shackleton,this entry on Crean[and the Biography on Worsley],complete the elusive details on a host of characters who chose to go where no others had gone before. Isolated and at the unrelenting mercy of the elements,these thoroughly detailed accounts evoke the best of the human spirit.

A 4.5 STAR RATING
A captivating read and even more than a book about Tom Crean.
Michael Smith assembles a intriguing chronology that reveals
a compelling perspective of the times and lives of the Polar
Explorers. An insightful character analysis into the leadership and the crews.
My only complaint is,after Smith's meticulous documentation of names,dates,latitude/longitude, and geographic locations,
the book offers only a few rudimentary maps. But you can easily remedy this(inconceivable oversight)by obtaining the USGS Topographic Index Map of Antartica(free)and a beautiful Satellite Image Map($7 US)scale 1:5,000,000 mapI-2560.I plotted as I read and ended up with a great reference souvenir.

Not much new here folks
Tom Crean's life deserves to be told, but may never get fleshed out fully. There is just not enough material available for a good in-depth biography. Crean wrote few letters and left no interviews or diaries for a biographer to use. He was mostly uneducated in the sense of a few years of schooling. The author of this book has admitted in a past interview that due to these limitations, as well as until recently the forgotten Shackleton & Endurance saga, Crean didn't warrant a biography! The information about Crean and his polar experiences with Scott & Shackleton have been covered before in many books. A few years after the Endurance expedition ended in 1917, Crean retired from the seas, got married, and opened a pub in Ireland, the South Pole Inn. He apparently never spoke much of his polar days. I was mildly disappointed with this book, expecting more than I received. It's worth a read- the story of that heroic age of polar exploration is amazing and absorbing no matter how many times you read it, and you are left with much respect for Crean and his fellow explorers who lived through such incredible experiences.

A Real Hero
I've read almost every book I can find on Antarctic exploration and without a doubt, this is one of the finest. Tom Crean is always mentioned in books about early Antarctic epics but we've never really got to know him and what kind of a man he was. Michael Smith has done a fine job in tracing Crean's life from his early days in the Navy, his subsequent trips with Scott and Shackleton right up to his final days as a Pub owner is his home in Ireland. This is the kind of man you'd want whatever your expedition might be. He was brave, strong, honest, trustworthy and humorus, no matter what the circumstances. A great story about a real hero!

Fascinating
Tom Crean survived several famous Antarctic adventures of the Edwardian Era, and yet is hardly mentioned in most of the popular Antarctic Exploration books. Michael Smith does a fantastic job telling Crean's personal history with humor and understanding, while giving insight into the expeditions, the explorers and Antarctic History as a whole. This is a must-have for polar enthusasts (or shall we say, PolarGeeks?). ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A hero with humour
This is my favourite book about Antarctic exploration - even surpassing Mawson's 'Home of the Blizzard'. The book captures the humour, insight and stubbornness of Frank Worsley from his upbringing in Akaroa, New Zealand, to his adventures with Shackleton and maritime career.

Worsley's skills as a sailor, navigator and writer made Shackleton's story possible and the book gives a clear insight into the personal qualities of heroic era adventurers 'when ships were made of wood and men were made of steel'.

A facinating and exciting book, well written and researched, with excellent photographs - this is my most frequently loaned book! [Incidentally, Frank Worsley's diaries can be seen at NZ's Canterbury Museum.]

Great
This book was great. Finally some one has given the credit to Frank Worsley that he deserves. The book tells everything from his days as a boy to the Trans-Arctic Expedition to his death. Read this book, it's great!

A definite must for polar collections
Frank Worsley was Ernest Shackleton's captain, so he is a name that is not commonly known. A common mistake for so many biographers of secondary expeditionary characters is that they get caught up in the relationship to the major character and the biography turns out to be about them. That was my main concern when I first picked up this biograpy of Frank Worsley - that his personality and achievements would be overshadowed by those of Shackleton. Not in this biograpy though - Thomson keeps his story firmly about Worsley, and this story is every bit as interesting as Shackleton's.

Worsley, you see, was Shackleton's captain in the Antarctic expedition that almost ended in disaster in 1914/15. A dreadful summer in the south meant that their boat, the Endurance, was trapped inescapably in pack ice and so began one of the most incredible, courageous and stoic journeys in all polar exploration history. Shackleton's story has been told many times - how the men survived on Elephant Island, and how, with Worsley and some others they sailed across the wildest ocean in the world in a tiny boat to South Georgia to get a rescue craft for the rest of the crew. Even then disaster after disaster struck, they were almost smashed on the rocky coast of South Georgia, once ashore they had to cross the mountainous and glacier ridden interior to reach help on the other coast, and then they had to endure several failed attempts to reach the rest of the survivors back on Elephant Island. This story is told again, but teasing out Worsley's perspective and contributions.

Worsley's story isn't solely about this one incident, dramatic as it is. His life from his childhood to his further expeditions to the Arctic with Shackleton and his first and second world war experiences are all here. I think Thomson really gets inside the man in this book. There are numerous photos and illustrations - most of the Endurance and Quest photos of Shackelton's are widely available in other publications though. There is also a good index and a good appendix if you want to read further information on Worsley or his companions.

An interesting biography of an interesting man
Frank Worsley is best known as the captain of the Endurance on Shackleton's ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914, but he led a full and very interesting life that included searching for treasure and sinking a German U-boat during WWI. Anyone who has read "Shackleton's Boat Journey" will want to know more about Worsley, and this book will fill many of the gaps. ... Read more

Book Description

George Drouillard's service to the Lewis and Clark Expedition was long obscured by the stronger light cast on the leaders and Sacagawea. Drawing from the various journals of the expedition and from many more obscure documents, letters, and legal records, M. O. Skarsten presents not merely an account of the pursuits in which Drouillard engaged but also an idea of the kind of man he was, as a member of the famous expedition and later as a partner of Manuel Lisa in the fur trade.

The variety of responsibilities assigned to Drouillard during the expedition form an impressive list-recruiting personnel, message bearing, retrieving a deserter, pursuing strayed and stolen horses, trading for horses and canoes, horse gelding, and serving as riverboat helmsman, diplomat to the Indians, and boon companion to Lewis-in addition to the hunting and interpreting for which he was specifically hired. Skarsten also pays detailed attention to Drouillard's fur-trade activities, including his trial for the murder of Bissonette, his attempt to trade with the Blackfeet, and later his death at their hands in 1810.

Robert C. Carriker's introduction to this edition includes information on Skarsten, an evaluation of his treatment of Drouillard, and new information on Drouillard revealed since the book's original publication in 1964.

M. O. Skarsten, a professor emeritus at Pacific University, was a long-time admirer and student of Lewis and Clark affairs. Robert C. Carriker, historian of the fur trade, Lewis and Clark, and Western exploration, is the author of several books, including America Looks West: Lewis and Clark on the Missouri. ... Read more

Book Description

Sea Legsis the story of Kathleen Crane, one of the first women oceanographers out of the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. By turns personal and objective, Crane tells how her quest for freedom led her to the sea and her research of deep-sea underwater volcanoes. As research doors in the United States closed during the 1980s, Crane charted her scientific future with the Europeans and with scientists from the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. In the process she became an unwitting diplomat.

From the Galapagos dives in the Alvin and the early searches for Titanic, to many of the first scientific expeditions of the Arctic, Crane offers an exclusive and compelling first-hand account as a pioneer for women in oceanography. An explorer, environmentalist, and filmmaker, Crane's story encompasses the world's oceans, politics, international relations, scientific espionage, ships, and a passion for the natural world. At its heart, however, this is a story about humanity and the forces that drive people to persevere, despite the odds, and do the things they love. This paperback edition includes a Reader's Guide, featuring questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Sail the Seas and Dive the Depths
I enjoyed traveling with Dr Crane on the high seas whilst also fathoming the challenging swells that a female scientist was required to ride out to achieve a sense of success and status in a field not yet accepting of strong intelligent women. This autobiography provides a sense of the adventure, the tedium, and the interpersonal challenge and personal sacrifice associated with the pursuit of a career in Oceanographic research. Dr Crane has thus far lived a life of true exploration and adventure. Her talents are now helping preserve the unique and threatened Arctic habitat. Via this biography, we the reader can appreciate her talents and personal sacrifices which have enhanced the field of Oceanography and aided in the preservation of delicate natural resources.

A Fascinating Page Turner
I really didn't know what to expect when I picked up Kathleen Crane's memoirs of her experiences in graduate school at Scripps and her professional life.To many, it might seem that a book on oceanography is a bit too esoteric or "niche" to be of interest to the general public.

But "Sea Legs" is a truly fascinating, deeply (no pun intended) interesting book.For the scientifically inclined, the detailed descriptions of Crane's work will be of great interest.But the general reader benefits the most from this book, as the reader accompanies Crane and her colleagues on numerous voyages of discovery to fascinating destinations."Sea Legs" is well worth your time, and beleive me, it is a real page turner.

A memorable and informative autobiographical journey
Sea Legs: Tales Of A Woman Oceanographer is the personal and inspiring story of Kathleen Crane, one of the first female oceanographers to earn her credentials at the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. From research on undersea volcanoes, to meeting and befriending Soviet Union scientists during the height of the cold war, Sea Legs is a memorable and informative autobiographical journey filled with a love of science, a respect for the sea, and the sheer joy of reaching out to embrace the world. ... Read more

Book Description

A new look at the 35th Parallel Survey through the lens of a newly discovered manuscript of John Tidball's memoirs--the only firsthand account of the "Whipple Expedition" to be discovered in nearly thirty years. Melding the observations of several diarists, this book offers a new perspective on this trek through the Southwest that focuses on the diverse personalities of the party and on the Native Americans they encountered along the way. ... Read more

Book Description

The best-known mountaineer in Britain for almost 40 years, Sir Chris Bonington is still the public face of climbing. Through his books, lectures, and TV films, he's become a great ambassador for promoting every ascent in the mountain world. At 65 years old, this self-described "climbaholic's" passion and enthusiasm remain undiminished.

Despite his high profile, Bonington essentially remains a shy, complex man with many human failings. The man high up on the Eiger, Annapurna, and Everest is a leader frequently assailed by self-doubt and often devastated by the deaths of close friends. High Achiever examines Bonington's deepest motives and reveals the joys and occasional despair of living a life at the limits of physical and mental experiences. ... Read more

Book Description

In François Vallé and His World, Carl Ekberg provides a fascinating biography of François Vallé (1716-1783), placing him within the context of his place and time. Vallé, who was born in Beauport, Canada, immigrated to Upper Louisiana (the Illinois Country) as a penniless common laborer sometime during the early 1740s. Engaged in agriculture, lead mining, and the Indian trade, he ultimately became the wealthiest and most powerful individual in Upper Louisiana, although he never learned to read or write.

Ekberg focuses on Upper Louisiana in colonial times, long before Lewis and Clark arrived in the Mississippi River valley and before American sovereignty had reached the eastern bank of the Mississippi. He vividly captures the ambience of life in the eighteenth-century frontier agricultural society that Vallé inhabited, shedding new light on the French and Spanish colonial regimes in Louisiana and on the Mississippi River frontier before the Americans arrived.

Based entirely on primary source documents-wills and testaments, parish registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, and Spanish administrative correspondence-found in archives ranging from St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve to New Orleans and Seville, François Vallé and His World traces not only the life of François Vallé and the lives of his immediate family members, but also the lives of his slaves. In doing so, it provides a portrait of Missouri's very first black families, something that has never before been attempted. Ekberg also analyzes how the illiterate Vallé became the richest person in all of Upper Louisiana, and how he rose in the sociopolitical hierarchy to become an important servant of the Spanish monarchy. ... Read more