Book Description

This book paints a vivid picture of Wesley's spiritual journey, his active life, and the message he preached. ... Read more

Book Description

When John Behrendt went to Antarctica in the early 1960s as part of the United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP), the Cold War was at its height and research on the ice sheet was risky. The Antarctic air squadron VX6 had an accident rate eight times that of U.S. Naval aviation in other parts of the world, and graduate students and young scientists like Behrendt received hazard pay for their work.

In John Behrendt's memoir we relive that era of scientific exploration. He describes two seasons on the ice in Operation Deep Freeze, leading field parties, conducting scientific research, and struggling against the elements. Behrendt led an over-snow geophysical-glaciological-geologic-geographic exploration party to the southern Antarctic Peninsula and to a mountain range that was eventually named for him in recognition of his work. Behrendt pioneered in aerogeophysical surveys over the Transantarctic Mountains and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. In his reflections of the period from 1960 to 1962, he notes that time was closer to the eras of Ernest Schackleton (Endurance Voyage, 1914) and Robert F. Scott’s and Roald Amundsen's treks to the South Pole (1911–12) than to the present.

Readers who are fascinated with the twentieth-century frontier of our shrinking planet will relish his adventurous account. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

a gorgeous book....
While my husband reads a steady and salty diet of historical sailing sagas, I generally feed on fiction. But when he finished AMBASSADOR TO THE PENGUINS, he passed the book over the wicker table that sits between our armchairs and insisted I dig in. Set in 1912-13, the book intimately follows Robert Cushman Murphy who worked as a naturalist for ten months aboard a Yankee whaleship. Under the leadership of the cranky and parsimonious Captain Cleveland, the Daisy sailed for South Georgia Island in the Antarctic waters, successfully gathering blubber and spermaceti from the hapless whales it encountered along the way, unsuccessfully hoping for the valuable ambergris.

Through Murphy's meticulous observations of every albatross, cockroach, shark, and crew member, I felt as though I was on the ship with him. His delight at every encounter with the natural world---penguins, whales, leopard seals, and skua colonies---pulled me into his scientist's mind. I worried about the marooned prisoner colony on the islands of Fernando de Noronha, the slaughter of elephant seals, and the ferocious storms Murphy braved on solo trips in his dory to gather specimens. I fretted over the crews' symptoms of beriberi late in the voyage, and the disappointments at ports when Murphy got no word from home. Fortunately for all readers, the young naturalist had made the difficult decision to leave his new bride, Grace Emeline, to leave on the chance-of-a-lifetime trip. The resultant letters to Grace, from which the author (his granddaughter) produces many of his quotes, are full of celebration, despair, and humor. This gorgeous book with plenty of photographs, illustrations, and excellent writing, held me spellbound. It may take me a few days to get my land legs back under me and start to live in our "easy" century. ... Read more

Book Description

Strange as it may seem today, William Clark-best known as the American explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis in leading an overland expedition to the Pacific-has many more claims to fame than his legendary Voyage of Discovery, dramatic and daring though that venture may have been. Although studies have been published on virtually every aspect of the Lewis and Clark journey, Wilderness Journey is the first comprehensive account of Clark's lengthy and multifaceted life.

"No one is better able to treat in a comprehensive way William Clark's public life than William Foley. Foley knows, and has skillfully used, the massive store of archival materials. He has written a balanced, solidly researched biography of a major American figure. The great strength of this biography is Foley's unparalleled command of the sources and his broad understanding of the West in the early Republic. William Clark shaped the early West and was shaped by it."-James P. Ronda

"Bill Foley's book on William Clark deserves a place alongside Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage on every scholar's bookshelf.It comprises a thorough and lively tour through the life of one of the most complex and vivid personalities ever produced in the United States."-Bob Moore

"Bill Foley has written a compelling biography of William Clark. It is significant because it provides a fresh look at the life of an important public servant who is primarily known as the partner of Meriwether Lewis and co-leader of the Corps of Discovery. Foley expertly traces Clark's early life, and he separates his leadership and achievements from Lewis's with clarity and insight, thereby enabling the reader to better understand his role in the expedition across the continent. Foley's study of William Clark should serve as the standard biography of the man for at least a generation."-R. Douglas Hurt ... Read more

Book Description

The extraordinary story of Sir Percy Sykes and his unique role in preserving British interests in Persia between the 1890s and World War I—offering a valuable insight into Iran today and its edgy relations with the outside world. ... Read more

Book Description

This enthralling life of the legendary fifteenth-century Portugueseprince, Henry the Navigator, is the first comprehensive biography in more than a century.Examining the full range of the prince's activities as an imperialist and as a maritime,cartographical, and navigational pioneer, Peter Russell shows that while Henry wasfirmly rooted in medieval times, his innovations set in motion changes that altered thehistory of Europe and regions far beyond. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A World Changed
Peter Russell has written an excellent book on one of Europe's most complex historical "star" personalities. The bottom line is that Prince Henry had a heart driven, albeit somewhat twisted, ambition that dramatically changed how the world was viewed forever.

By the way, good reveiw Mr. Putnam. Only one problem, it is not "Portuguese and Europeans", but "other Europeans". The Portuguese, if you would like to check are: Roman, Celtic, Swabian, Visigoth and Arab for the most part, just like most other Southern EUROPEAN peoples. Thank you.

A very thorough and somewhat deflating biography
This is the definitive English language biography of Prince Henry of Portugal, known as "The Navigator." The author, a retired former director of Portuguese studies at Oxford, has researched his subject as thoroughly as the source material allows. As is the case with other exhaustively researched biographies, this one makes its subject appear less heroic than legend implies. Though Henry did sponsor the early Portuguese exploration of the West African coast, his motives were commercial and religious rather than scientific. Russell, describing Henry's failures as well as his successes, concludes that the Prince was essentially a man of the late middle ages, not the Renaissance. Nonetheless, Henry initiated the astonishing adventure of a small country extending its reach around the world.

Into the Unknown......
Prince Henry 'the Navigator' provides the reader an intricately detailed account of the life of this crusader, geographical visionary, and aggressive entrepreneur. Seeking an end around the Saharan caravan trade, Henry pushed maritime exploration down Africa's Atlantic coast into a region shrouded in myth and mystery. Ostensibly claiming a crusader's fervor for the conversion of the barbarous, Henry initiated the Afro-Atlantic slave trade, charted Africa's western shoreline, commercially developed the Azores, battled desperately for control of the Canaries, and, as time and events allowed, launched invasions of Morocco with varying degrees of success.

Henry thrust medieval Europe into the Atlantic providing the impetus for empires to come. Like any mortal, he was imprisoned by the consciousness of his times, yet unfettered in his drive to explore the unknown. Both flawed and famous, P.E. Russell's Prince Henry is placed firmly within the chronological context. He can be detested for his commerce in flesh, his cynical exploitation of faith, and his innate impulse to conquer, but he would then be measured not by the standards of his day, but of our own. In settling this score, Russell admirably adheres to objectivity.

Despite spotty source material, P.E. Russell has presented a comprehensive, entirely readable account of Henry the Navigator. This is a solid and satisfying book which easily merits a rating of 4 stars.

Great book, but don't take this one to the beach !!
Mr. Russell's book is superb in many ways: the prose is very elegant, even to a French speaking reader, the author's erudition is impressive and any amateur historian will find here a fascinating introduction to a side of European history which he or she is most unlikely to have been familiar with prior to acquiring Mr. Russell's book. That "the navigator" hardly ever set foot on a ship of any kind, I must confess I didn't know! His cupidity, pettiness in certain ways and magnanimity in other are very intriguing. The context is beautifully described. In other words, here is a splendid book by a very gifted historian. One word of caution, though: this is not an easy read! Don't take Mr. Russell's book to the beach after a stressful few months at the office. It takes a relaxed and attentive mind to really enjoy the book. I read it whilst in a yoga camp on a carrot juice fast. Both were perfect!

Henry the Navigator: Debunking or Hatchet Job?
In 1385, when Henry the Navigator was born, Europe was a Eurasian backwater--fragmented and poor, inferior to China in marine technology, and far behind the Islamic world in geographic scope and cultural achievement. Two centuries afterward, Europeans dominated the world. Henry was one of the individuals at the root of this turnaround.

As Peter Russell's biography is at pains to point out, Henry himself had no such grandiose vision. As a younger son of King John I of Portugal, he helped lead an attack on the Moroccan port of Ceuta in 1415, and was given responsibility for governing and supplying the enclave afterward. In the course of this work he seems to have devloped an appreciation for the special capabilities of Portuguese sailing caravels, and to have seen how they might be used to promote Portuguese expansion overseas.

Beginning in the 1420's, Henry sent out a series of state sponsored voyages of exploration and commerce. As Russell relates, his motives were not always clear and were sometimes contradictory. At various times his captains sought uninhabited land to colonize, pagans to convert and enslave, allies to fight against Islamic North Africa, and new markets in which to trade. At times Henry seemed to relish fighting for its own sake, since the medieval culture in which he had been steeped required worthy enemies against whom to perform chivalric deeds of valor.

In the 1430's Henry's captains began charting the coast of Africa south of Morocco, which had previously been unknown to Europeans. By his death in 1460 they had reached as far as Sierra Leone and had established profitable trading relationships with many of the kingdoms of West Africa--with slaves, sadly, as one of the principal commodities. After Henry's death the project continued until Portuguese ships had rounded Africa and reached India and the Far East. Henry took time off from these endeavors to sponsor further (unsuccessful) attacks against Morocco and to intrigue against his fellow Christians in Castile and Aragon.

Russell, however, emphasizes Henry's medieval mindset so much that he almost misses what was unique about Henry's life and work. No other ruler of his time thought to direct state resources to maritime expansion. No other prince required his captains to keep such careful charts and records so that discovery might be cumulative. No one else, a century before Columbus, saw the potential for improved sailing ships to revolutionize commerce and warfare.

Nevertheless, for all its flaws, this is a ground-breaking and carefully researched biography, marked by judicious evaluation of source material. One only wishes that Russell had not been so anxious to debunk his subject as to make him seem like just another medieval grandee, rather than the remarkable innovator which he was. ... Read more

Book Description

Wilderness adventure books are popular, for good reason. But some of the world's most heart-pounding and heart-rending stories don't involve super-fit athletes scaling Tibet's highest mountains, enduring Antarctica's cold or the like. Sometimes the most compelling adventures involve people like you and me-or like Martin McCorkle, a man with a genetic disability that shouldn't allow him to even enter the wilderness, much less master it and survive to tell the tale. This is a beautiful book, more full of real life, personality, and the romance of the outdoors than many a best-seller about climbing Everest or leading famous voyages of exploration. I've read those books. They were exciting, but this book captured my heart. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

WOW!
This is an AMAZING book. I couldn't put it down. I laughed, I cried, and I learned about a very special man. You can't go wrong with this book! ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (6)

Captivating
This book is a describes a man's struggle to break from the "creature comforts" world to live and fish in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It told a story that was captivating because when reading, you always wanting to know what was going to happen next. The story tells of a man who achieves having the best of both worlds ands puts the utimate dream to the test. I would highly recommend this book to all adventurists and those who would like to "escape" to the alaska frontier; if not in reality, then through this book.

Leave the philosophy in Syracuse
This is a great little book and a fun read. It takes a lot of guts to do what Bob Durr did. His descriptions of the Alaskan bush and the people who live and work there are wonderful. Everyone should meet a person like Pope at least once in their lives. The philosophical discussions on board the fishing boat were sometimes tedious and less than believable, but somehow it all works. I hope Durr will write another book about the rest of his life in Alaska.

Down in Bristol bay
Bob Durr has done what many of us blue blooded males mearly dream of. He actualy takes you on his fishing trips, you feel cold, you feel wet and you feel the emotions that only come with his experiences. Bob Durr is telling his reader "follow your dreams" and have a ball doing it. A great read.

Not Bad
Not a great book but a good book and very enjoyable reading. Writing style makes for easy reading and understanding. I don't quite know how Durr's family takes to his exploits, but he seems to be having a good time chasing his dream. More power too him. Would recommend it to anyone wanting to read about a guy doing his own thing.

Enjoyable anecdotes; Story lacks depth at times
I agree wholeheartedly with Bob Durr's assertion that the appeal of the frontier is a mainstay in the American psyche. As a result, I looked forward to his perspective as a transplanted academic in the blue collar wilderness world of Alaska. The anecdotes he shares are enjoyable, although not particularly enlightening, as are the discussions with Pope in which Bob waxes philosophic at times. These are not enough. How was the emotional transition from the East coast academic world, and its associated creature comforts, to the Alaska frontier? What is the daily routine in the frontier aside from the salmon fishing? Yes, we know you drank a lot. Share some of the background and insight into your friends and associates to get a better sense of the Alaska fabric.

For what it is, a story of Alaska salmon fishing, Bristol Bay is an enjoyable read. For those readers looking for more than this, wait until Mr. Durr's next book in which he suggests he will share the trials and stress of raising a family in Alaska. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A vivid, original, fascinating and informative work.
To read The Apache Diaries by Grenville (1907-40) and son Neil Goodwin is to enter a portal to another dimension. Through a dialogue of contemporary and historic diaries and related photographs, a vivid landscape haunted by blood, pain, fear, suffering, passion, and ancient enmities emerges. In this world all tales are entwined by tones of sorrow, loss, and a relentless quest for the understanding and peace of the dead. There is also fascination, pride, and great heroism. The plight of the Sierra Madre Apaches intrigues the youthful Grennie, destined to become a singular if short-lived ethnographer who partially chronicles their ambiguous fate. That unfinished life task is taken up by his son Neil in the research and writing of The Apache Diaries. In an effort to reach out and perhaps even touch the father who died when he was only two months old, the author recreates the journeys made by his father when he wrote the original diary entries in the 1930's. The Apache Diaries is, as intended, a dialogue built between Neil and Grennie in an exploration of the dual enigmas of the nature of the man himself and the mysterious fate of the Sierra Madre Apaches he studied. It is as though Neil, the son, hopes to uncover a mirror experience of both the true life essence of his father and the inconclusive, mysterious fate of the "wild" Sierra Madre Apaches. It is fitting that he is joined in his quest by his wife, son and his son's future wife. The Apache Diaries is a classic quest riddle, filled with real unquenchable anguish and courage mixed with evil and cowardice. It is bitterly poignant. True to life, it never resolves completely; but there is a partial lifting of the veil. The key to experiencing this strangely compelling, haunted world of the blood- feuding Mexicans' and Apaches' history is, perhaps, acceptance of the pain and wrong, the incredible wrenching anguish that is called forth again and again. But there is a second step that is as yet unfinished. One quickly learns to guess at an outline of forgiveness, perhaps ? a future resolution that still may loom yet several generations away. The deaths and the kidnappings are so brutal and vivid. Though Grenville Goodwin was a respected ethnographer and Neil Goodwin is an accomplished film-maker of Native American documentaries, the reader does not need to be fluent in either medium to appreciate the depth and complexity of The Apache Diaries. It resonates in the heart. It breaks the heart. Perhaps it remakes the heart, or the heart's vision. This is a profoundly moving book. Perhaps the book reflects the spirit of the crown dance of the Chiricahua, a holy ritual Neil witnesses in 1987 when he accompanies two grandsons of one of Geronimo's warriors on a commemorative visit to the location of Geronimo's near surrender to General Crook:

Later during that trip the Chiricahuas conducted their holiest of rituals, the spellbinding crown dance. It begins with an immense leaping bonfire. There is a line of drummers and chanters. Shockingly, out of the darkness, come the dancers. They circle the fire wearing masks with high, antlerlike crowns, short kilts, painted bodies, a thousand tiny bells, a sword in each hand - they reel, hover, sway, and as they do, they become the mountain gods. The assembled Apaches are witnessing the first crown dance held in these mountains for a very long time. It is at long last a dance for the peaceless dead, and it is overdue by a hundred years or more. (page 236)

Nancy Lorraine Reviewer ... Read more

Amazon.com

In November 1910, a ship called Terra Nova left New Zealand on its way south to Antarctica. On board was an international team of explorers led by Robert Falcon Scott, a man determined to be the first to reach the South Pole. A year and a half later, Scott and three members of his team died during a brutal blizzard. Their dream of reaching the Pole first had already been dashed by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, and now on their return trip--slowed by ill health and bad weather--Scott's party found themselves trapped in a tent without sufficient provisions, while the wind howled endlessly outside. Even in his final hours, Scott found the strength to continue the journal he'd started at the beginning of his adventures; the diary was found beside his frozen body.

Scott's Last Expedition: The Journals is the explorer's detailed account of his time in Antarctica. The team's daily progress towards their final goal is recorded in Scott's vivid, personal narrative, as well as his impressions of the harsh conditions, the stark beauty of the tundra, and his own increasingly desperate ambition to beat his rivals to the Pole. Shortly before he died, Scott wrote: "Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman." Robert Falcon Scott and his men died, but their story lives on in his journals. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Flawed -- But buy it anyway
It's really too bad that "Scotts Last Expedition" was heavily edited by Sir J.M. Barrie, the talented author of Peter Pan. We'll never get to read Scott's real diary, which, I suspect, is a good deal more forthcoming on his feelings about Lt. Teddy Evans (his No. 2), Cecil Mears (his dog driver), and perhaps his own flawed self.

Still, "Scott's Last Expedition" belongs in every collection on Antarctic exploration, regardless of whether you feel Scott is a hero or a buffoon. An original copy from the 1920s will set you back $300 or more, so this paperback reprint for $10 or so from Amazon isn't a bad deal at all. True, it doesn't look or smell the same, but it still has all of that great source material on diet, clothing, equipment and the officers and crew.

in spite of scott's mistakes, it was a haunting book
Having read Beryl Bainbridge's "The Birthday Boys" first, I was curious to read the actual journals by the leader of this ill-fated expedtion to the South Pole. Yes, the diary format can be monotonous, but in a certain way it also serves to drive home the daily -- sometimes hourly -- struggles against every possible obstacle, from weather to poor planning to inappropriate equipment and animals to short rations to frozen oil. Scott strikes me as one of that vanished breed of Englishmen whose likenesses hang in the National Portrait Gallery who undertook all sorts of adventures in the name of science and exploration at the turn of the century and attempted to claim various "firsts" for the crown and greater glory of God and country. Wrongheaded though he may have been, this book really gripped me. When Scott and his disappointed, starving and sick companions freeze to death only miles from their last camp, it is truly tragic. Perhaps the factual nature of his journals makes the fate of this expedition even more poignant. The image of these men in their tent has been with me for several days now so the writing and the story clearly get to one. Amundsen wrote somewhere that Scott would be more remembered for what befell him that he himself would be for getting to the South Pole first. in fact, he was right.

Scott¿s was the greater achievement
About halfway through this diary account of the Terra Nova expedition, it becomes clear why Amundsen made it first to the pole ... and why Scott's was the greater achievement. The Norwegians focused completely on getting to the pole and back: no fuss, no elaboration, no scientific spin-offs. Amundsen cared not a whit about paleobotany, the discovery of a new parasite in fish livers or pony psychology. (More to the point, Amundsen kept to dogs.) Scott took an interest in everything, and he was willing to experiment. The diaries brim with accounts of sledging diets, weather balloons, penguin dissections, ice crystal formation, geologic strata and killer whales. He writes of what it is like to be without the sun for four months, of feelings stirred by the aurora australis, and of the colors of ice and sea and sky. He describes camp life and daily routines and the antics of ponies and dogs. And, knowing he has failed in his goal, he speaks movingly of his obligations to his country ... and to science. Among the items dragged to their final camp by three exhausted, half-frozen dying men were 35 pounds of fossils - fossils which would help rewrite geologic history.

Dress warmly to read this one
While the story is known to most armchair explorers, nothing beats the saga right from the horse's mouth. Yes, the journal does drag in places, but so do long days of waiting in the Antarctic. It makes us impatient and edgy, wondering if the storms will ever end or what equipment will break next. Knowing the climax detracts nothing from how they got there--or didn't. This and Shackleton's own story really have to be read if one enjoys this kind of tale.

Where are the other reviews?
I wanted to point out that there are supposed to be five reviews accessible and I can only view the one from Austin, Texas. Where are the others? ... Read more

Book Description

Everett Ruess--a bold teenage adventurer, artist, and writer--tramped around the Sierra Nevada, the California coast, and the desert wilderness of the Southwest between 1930 and 1934. At the age of 20, he mysteriously vanished into the barren Utah desert. Ruess has become an icon for modern-day adventurers and seekers. His search for ultimate beauty and adventure is chronicled in two books that contain remarkable collections of his writings, extracted from his journals and from letters written to family and friends. Both books are reprinted here in their entirety. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Unsolved mystery
This is a hard book to sum up in a few words. Fascinating and compelling, yes; heartbreaking, often; hair-raising sometimes; exasperating, occasionally. Mostly, it is a vivid reminder of what it is to be still very young, naive, and adventuresome. It's also a book that's very hard to put down.

The reader, of course, knows from the start that Everett Ruess disappears at the age of 21 while on a walkabout somewhere near the Colorado River, in the remote 1930s wilderness of southern Utah. Gifted, bright, and almost painfully sensitive, he writes letters home that are sweetly poignant, thoughtful, opinionated, and rapturously descriptive of the natural environment he loves. Starting at the age of 16, while still a high school student in Hollywood, California, he journeys to Carmel, Arizona, and the Sierras. Leaving UCLA after one unhappy semester, he returns to the Four Corners region of Arizona and drifts northward into Utah where he follows the Escalante down to the Colorado and then vanishes.

A lover of classical music, a reader of books, poet, writer, water colorist, and block print maker, he considers himself very much a misfit in a world of conformity, where people live lives of quiet desperation, pursuing material goals that make them unhappy and unfulfilled. Torn between his desire for companionship and his love of wilderness solitude, he appreciates warm and welcoming company wherever he happens upon it, and seeks it out when he can, sometimes introducing himself to established artists, such as photographers Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. During visits to the home of painter Maynard Dixon, in San Francisco, he is befriended and photographed by Dixon's wife, Dorothea Lange. One of these photographs eventually appears in a missing persons report in a publication of the Los Angeles Police Department.

It's easy to go on and on about this book. The letters provide such a rich psychological portrait of this young man, full of interesting contradictions and curious prophecies of his eventual fate. Meanwhile, there is the mystery of his disappearance and the various theories and speculation about what may have happened to him, which are also included by the book's author.

I am happy to recommend this book to anyone interested in the West, stories about coming of age and self-reliance, rhapsodic descriptions of nature, personal adventures, the desert, Native Americans, and unsolved mysteries. As companion volumes, I'd also suggest Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" and Eliot Porter's excellent collection of photographs, "The Place No One Knew: Glen Canyon on the Colorado."

Tree Huggers Unite
In a word - boring.In two?Boring and dull.Not particularily interesting, not particularily insightful.Blah, blah, blah - it never seems to end.My friend's mother must have been high on crack to recommend this to me.Several hours of my life I'll never get back.I'm a bright guy, PhD, well read, enjoy camping and the outdoors - not as shallow as this review might suggest - but honestly, this book [stink].

Great Book....
I throughly enjoyed this book.

Being from No. Az. I was able to comprehend, location wise, Everett's travels and understand his artistic descriptions.Well written in chronological fashion, Rusho challenges readers to speculate on Everett's demise w/o overburdening with his own opinions.

Buy this book and be ready; Everett's a fellow that I think we would all truly like to meet and would appreciate.

Everett Ruess The Man who inspired my love of the outdoors.
This is a great book for those who love solitude in the mountains. It speakes of a boy who leaves his family in search of himself and to follow his love of the outdoors and painting. It speakes of his trials andfeeeling as he is alone on the trail sometimes with only his mule. Thebest thing about this book is it is not some persons view on what happenedto Everett. But it is Everetts letters to his family and friends. As hetalked about his life and what is happening. He talkes of love andbeauty. As he travles the mountains of Utah, the vallys of Arizona, theroads of New Maxico, and he speakes of the Majestic beauty of the Ocean ofCalifornia. He Lived a life most of of just dream of. As people nowdays we tend to live the lifes of others. But by reading this book itinspired me to live my own life and live it to the fullest and take fulladvantage of the beauty of nature. Before it is gone. This book is puttogether very well and it holds your attention as you read. You becomeEverett. I recomend this book to anyone who has any sort of love for theoutdoors and soitude. I promise your love for nature will increase.Scott Spencer Anderson

yippie for the hippie
This book is a great chronical of the last days (?) of everett ruess.It consists entirely of letters written by everett about his life wondering through the wilderness of the southwest.This is the closest that i havecome to someone explaining what life is like on the trail.the blockpringsincluded in the book are supurb. A great book for those who detest the citybut love the earth. ... Read more

Book Description

This is that rarest of books, the one you grab when the house is on fire. Sven Hedin was not only one of the greatest explorers of the 19th century, he was also a brilliant storyteller. Nowhere does the Swedish author tell a tale of excitement, adventure, danger, travel, and hair-raising escape like he does in this book.

"My Life as an Explorer" regales the reader with almost more adventure than one can bear to read. Hedin raids the burial grounds of a secret Asian sect. He courts disaster with the Emir of Bokhara. He climbs accursed mountains in China, discovers lost cities in the Gobi desert, infiltrates Tibet, outwits Torgut bandits, and of course becomes close friends with royalty from Peking to London, including the rulers of both the Russian and British empires. In short, Hedin lived a life so full of adventure and escape that merely reading about it is exhausting. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

The Last Great Explorer
The Swede Sven Hedin was the last great explorer we will see on this well-traveled planet. Hedin was born in 1865 and this autobiography describes his life up until 1908.Hedin's career was hardly finished, however, as he continued to traipse down the old Silk Road in Central Asia until the 1930s when he was 70 years old.

In a happy trait that should be copied by more auto-biographers, Hedin doesn't spend much time on his childhood.By the third page of his narrative he is 20 years old and off to the Caucasus Mountains which only whets his appetite for the little-known peaks and deserts of Tibet and Central Asia.He spent the years between 1893 and 1908 exploring these regions and filling in blank places on the map.

National Geographic's "Traveler" magazine put this book on its list of 100 best adventure books and, truly, the tales of Hedin's adventures make for good, exciting reading.Hedin displays both charm and generosity in his account.He traveled without the company of other Europeans and he enjoyed the companionship of his local helpers and the dogs he adopted along his way.He draws many clever portraits of the people he met in his travels.Hedin, however, was no mere adventurer.He was a serious, sober scholar who produced dozens of scientific studies of his findings.

One of the most hair raising tales in the book concerns Hedin'sfirst expedition into the sands of the Takla Makhan (desert) of China in which he and his companions nearly died of thirst.A second high point of the book is the account of his attempt to visit Lhasa, the forbidden capital of Tibet.He failed after getting nearly to the gates of the city and was denied the honor of becoming the first foreigner to visit Lhasa in half a century.Amidst the plethora of adventures, the stoic Swede brushes over incidents others would consider high -- or low -- points of their lives. "Fever kept me in Kashgar a long while" is his complete description of one serious illness.

The book is illustrated with many of Hedin's drawings, including his hand drawn maps.I suggest that you read the book with a good modern map at hand so as to trace his routes with more precision as his constant tooing-and-froing can be confusing.

Smallchief

A well written, great adventure book
(This refers to the National Geographic Reprint edition)

This is truly a great book, full of the amazing adventures of an incredible explorer. You have to admire Hedin's determination and stubborness, although sometimes I wonder about his planning. It seems like every trip all his animals die, and the men are on the verge of starvation. And as for his trips in the desert, I would have thought the concept of "take some extra water" would have occured at some point!
Hedin is a fine writer, and his descriptions are not only accessible to the average reader, but often quite poetic as well.
Nevertheless, I only reluctantly give this a full 5 stars, because I feel that National Geographic missed a great opportunity to make this an almost perfect book, and it wouldn't have been that difficult to do. As a previous reviewer mentioned, some good maps could have helped. There's almost no excuse for NG not to have included some decent maps of Central Asia in their edition. Furthermore, one tends to forget (although Hedin mentions in the text), that he also took photographs on many of his travels. These might have been included as well. (To see some, refer to the Photos section of the website of the Sven Hedin Foundation, "http://www.etnografiska.se/hedinweb/htmsidor/organi.htm"). Aside from the simplistic drawings that are included, Hedin also did many detailed sketches and potraits on his travels. Now one can assume that none of these were included in the original, and this is only a reprint, but nevertheless, it is a missed opportunity. The introductory chapter by A.Brandt also adds little insight, and might as well have been left out as well.
However, despite the lost opportunities, this book is highly recommended.

An Adventure Story Like No Other
This is a tale wonderfully told of an explorer's quest to fill in the blank spots on the map of Asia.Not only does Hedin present a clear and highly entertaining view of his travels, but he also gives us a portrait of his character.He shows us that he is a man with high goals and is undeterred in achieving those goals, even when all odds are against him.He shows us that he is also a very caring man, very much concerned about the welfare of his men and his animals.He also is a man that is awestruck by nature and is very concerned about not unduly intruding upon it or unnecessarily destroying it.

But most of all, this is an adventure story that is just plain fun to read.

A suggestion to readers who are not very familiar with the geography of central Asia would be to have on hand some good maps as the ones Hedin draws are quite limited and often fail to give the perspective that may be desireable.

The best travel book I have read too.
I concur with NDylanRay@aol.com.This book is exceptional.I could hardly put it down.You feel the excitement and intensity of his adventures, you begin to understand the force that drives him (and yourespect him for it), and you meet the people and the places that makeTurkestan and Tibet 100 years ago like no place that you could everimagine.

The best journal of exploration I have ever read
Sven Hedin's "My Life as an Explorer" is an exceptional work.Stylistically situated somewhere in between scholarly works such as those by Aurel Stein and pure "adventure for its own sake" works such as those by Thesiger, Hedin's explorations are astounding and wonderfulstories.His bravery and thirst for adventure are unmatched--he seems tohave a total inability to turn back from his goals.Yet the goals arenoble, and his methods meticulous and scholarly, so one is not left withthe impression that he is simply a daredevil seeking thrills.Hesinglehandedly filled in, in a fairly detailed manner, one of the lastwhite spaces of "terra incognita" on the map of the world.

Atcertain moments in the book, especially (in my opinion) the discussions ofthe Lama Rinpoche, who vows to remain walled inside his cave for his entirelife, Hedin's narrative reaches the heights of great literature, placinghis work, I believe, among the greatest travel or exploration writings everproduced. ... Read more

Book Description

Miles and Beryl Smeeton were the most accomplished traveling and adventuring couple of the 20th century, living a charmed existence filled with passion.Armchair travelers will embrace their exceptional story, which visits exotic locales ranging from Poona and Patagonia to Alexandria and Cape Horn. With maps and photographs. ".a remarkable book.intimate and affectionate.engrossing.A life told here in such poignant and well-described detail that it has something of the luminous quality of a myth."--Jonathan Raban.
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Reviews (3)

This is a book that will change the way you look at life!
I saw High Endeavors first recommended by a couple of sailing magazines and picked up a copy.

The book goes far beyond a sailing adventure, which is a component of this couple's lives but by no means the whole story.

Miles Clark, the author, is the stepson of Miles and Beryl Smeeton, the subjects of the book. He has told this story with as much accuracy as records and personal experience would provide, along with the affection of a loving son who knew this story had to be told.

It's really about Beryl. She walks/trains/hitches across India, through the Middle East, Europe and back t the UK. In the 30's!

Later she decides that she has to ride horseback through Patagonia, by herself.

During WW II they served separately in Asia, ending up together in Burhma.

It is only after Miles retires from the Army that they bought a sailboat and set out for British Columbia.

Just an amazing story and it's true!

A unique true life combination of love and travel.
The book describes the interesting lives of Miles and Beryl Smeeton who spent their lives travelling across several continents, fighting in wars, sailing around the world and protecting endangered species in Canada. This is not a book to be missed. The biggest problem with the book is that you will begin to feel that you haven't really lived a full existence!

A tremendous story that is only enhanced by its truth!
Highly recommended- I wasn't sure this book would take my fancy, I had read travelogues before, but this novel and the adventures of the principal characters are so awe-inspiring and humor filled that the book is a must read. The quality of the travels, combined with the history that was being made during this period make the book informative and gripping. As amazing as it is- along with the 2nd world war, circumnavigation, and treks through all of the worlds continents, there is a lovely romance that is not contrived or annoying in the slighest. "Joie de Vivre!&quot ... Read more

Book Description

He set polar flight records, organized a series of daring wartime air operations, and became a leader in Arctic aviation. But despite these achievements, Norwegian-American aviator Bernt Balchen saw his public image and military career repeatedly undermined by his one-time mentor, the famous and influential Admiral Richard Byrd.

Glines describes how Byrd's respect for Balchen's talents gradually eroded even as Balchen steadily gained a wider reputation for courage and technical skill. Glines contends that Byrd derailed Balchen's postwar promotion to brigadier general, forcing his retirement from the military in 1956. He also documents how Balchen's publisher bowed to pressure from Byrd's supporters to remove material from a 1958 autobiography. Balchen had argued that Byrd's claims to have been the first to fly across the North Pole in 1926 could not be supported by speed and distance calculations. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

From a pleased Norwegian
The existing review of this book that appears on the Amazon site is an excellent one that gives great details about the book. All I wanted to say is that as a fellow author, and of Norwegian descent, I regretted every time I had to put this book down.
There is a song by the late Canadian Stan Rogers that includes the line: "Now you know what it is to scale the heights and fall just short of fame, and have not one in ten thousand know your name."
That was written about someone else, but it sure fits in Balchen's case. A man always on the verge of being at least as famous as Admiral Byrd. A man of incredible courage, inventiveness, and grace in the face of hostilities, both of nature and of Byrd himself. This is an awesome biography that ought to be the catalyst for the re-writing of every history textbook. I thank Carrol Glines for making the enormous effort.

A long overdue recognition of a true hero.
Bernt Balchen is perhaps the most underappreciated hero of our times. A master flyer, an artist, a negotiator, and most of all, a soldier, Balchen's unassuming personality belied the fact that he had one of the most fascinating careers in aviation history. Balchen, unfortunately, was the victim of a vendetta by a man for whom he had done much, Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Byrd feared that Balchen would reveal that Byrd's famous first flight over the North Pole was in fact a fraud, and waged a life-long war against Balchen. Glines is a highly skilled biographer (Jimmy Doolittle, Roscoe Turner) and he makes the most of his talents here. His research is excellent, and he portrays Balchen in his true colors as a patriot who fought the Russians with the Finns in the First World War, then conducted clandestine operations with the Norwegian underground in the second. He was the confidant of the great flyers of the era, including Amelia Earhart, and was among the first to be capable of true instrument flight. Bernt Balchen Polar Aviator would make a fantastic movie, for it has everything--exploration, romance, combat, skullduggery, and most of all, heroism. Balchen was a strong, handsome man who would have been an Olympic boxer for Norway if he had not elected to learn to fly with the Norwegian navy. He became an expert in Polar matters, saved many lives, was important during the Cold War, and had thousands of friends who knew just what a hero he was. The United States government, however, allowed Senator Harry Byrd to block Balchen's promotion to general, forcing his retirment, and at one time, deported him! This is a great biography of a great man, done by a great biographer! ... Read more

Book Description

Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681-1741) is a towering figure in the history of exploration. In the course of two expeditions that consumed most of his adult life-and eventually led to his death-he journeyed from St. Petersburg to Siberia and ultimately to the northwest coast of America. Along with the members of his expedition (thousands participated in the second expedition), Bering greatly expanded the Russian empire, pioneered the geography of the North Pacific Ocean, and laid the groundwork for Russian trade and settlement in the American West.In the first biography of Bering written in over a century, Orcutt Frost chronicles the life of this extraordinary explorer. Drawing on a wide range of new evidence-including personal letters and archaeological evidence derived from the recent discovery of Bering's grave site-the author reconstructs Bering's personality, his perilous voyages, and his uneasy relationship with the naturalist Georg Steller, who unobtrusively guided the stranded expedition as Bering lay dying.A riveting narrative of adventure and disaster on the high seas, this biography is also a major contribution to the history of maritime exploration. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A wonderful read, new light shed on Russia in Alaska
In the age of exploration only one man surpassed Captain Cook and that was Bering of Russia. A man whose daring and exploration gave Russia claim to Alaska and gave Russians maps that would send them full throttle into Asia, from Kamchatka to the Sakhalin Islands to Port Arthur. This wonderful new book tells the story of Bering in depth from his first voyage to his tragic death. A necessary piece of history this will be of interest to anyone who enjoys high adventure and exploration as well as Russian History. A singular individual, Bering accomplished so much in his life and opened so many doors to what had been a closed Russian society. Far more then simply the Bering Strait this book sheds light on a whole era, and a whole new episode of history, usually overlooked in our bias for dashing English explorers like Cook and Scott.

Seth Frantzman ... Read more

Book Description

A popular guide to the state's canoe country from Rainy Lake east to Lake Superior tells of famous explorers, the great fur traders, voyageurs, Indians, and loggers who passed that way. Photographs and maps support the fascinating, authoritative text. ... Read more

Book Description

A Journey To Hell and Back is a gripping saga of a young woman's journey from adolescence to adulthood at an accelerated pace. This book is an exploration of a troubled teen's journey into the underworld to emerge as an independent, confident, and self-assured woman. Pitfalls, tragedy, and trials that lure a young honor student into the mean streets of Atlanta and finally, New York mark the story. Her journey to hell led her through a fiery furnace that burned 70 % of her body with 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and an over three months hospital stay where God provided personal consolation and healing. After God miraculously saved her from a life in the streets heaped with sin, her zeal for God resulted in her making additional mistakes, including renewing the abusive relationship that had almost cost her life. The story is a modern day version of Dante's Inferno. Each layer of Hell corresponds with a new low in the protagonist's life. Finally, from within the very bowels of Hell, she cries out to the Lord for salvation. This spiritual epiphany becomes a turning point in her life, thrusting her forward from Hell. The tremendous suffering and miraculous ending of this book will offer hope and comfort for anyone suffering from loneliness, heartache, or disappointment. It provides a realistic and human perspective on many social topics such as teenage rebellion and pregnancy, domestic violence, divorce, AIDS, substance abuse, prostitution, and the legal system. It is a necessity for anyone who has been a part or will work with any of these populations. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

Compelling
After over 20 years of silent suffering, author Charlotte Russell Johnson penned the details of the most shocking events of her life in her first novel, A Journey To Hell and Back. This gripping saga takes the reader to places that are only read about or seen in the movies. Through this compelling novel, Ms. Johnson opens up her soul, risking everything in hopes of reaching beyond the breaks to bring salvation to many of the souls now trapped in purgatory. Parallel to the Footprints In The Sand, Ms. Johnson was never truly alone; during the most difficult times of her journey, God picked her up and carried her. Her unwavering faith in God became the catalyst for the divine change in her life.
The Girlfriendz Book Club

Still Amazed!!!
I'm still amazed when I think about this book. How could anyone be willing to open up their life for the world to judge in this manner? Yet, this book is a reality. The author unselfishly offered her life as an example to others. However, there are many people who will not appreciate the gift of "A Journey to Hell and Back." This book is a gift to all who will read it. It's a gift from the heart of the author. I offer eternal gratitude to the one who inspired this book.

BLEESSED!
I JUST FINISH READING A JOURNEY TO HELL AND BACK. GOD HAS TRUELY BLESSED HER. IT IS A BLESSING THAT SHE LIVED TO WRITE THIS BOOK, GOD WAS TRUELY WITH HER ON HER JOURNEY TO LIFE. I HAVE THIS COUSIN THAT IS OUT THERE ON DRUGS. I HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR HER AND I KNOW GOD IS GOING TO DELIVER HER. I JUST HAVE TO BE STILL AND LET GOD HANDLE HER.

MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS YOU CHARLOTTE AND I PRAY THAT YOU CAN TOUCH A LOT OF LIVES.

Awaiting the Movie
I work at a bread store and a customer was telling me how great the first book was by Charlotte and in a few moments after her leaving in walked Charlotte. I have read the first book and am anxious to get the next two!!!! It is excellent and I have sent several of my customers to the book store to buy the books as well!! Thank you Charlotte for sharing the experiences with us. I am hoping you will make the book into a movie.

Experience the Journey
There are books tobe read. There are other books that you experince. A Journey to Hell and Back is a journey to be experienced. The book is an inspirational text to be read repeatedly. ... Read more