Geographical discovery and exploration Books

1200 products


  • Captain Cooks Merchant Ships

    The History Press Ltd Captain Cooks Merchant Ships

    Book SynopsisWhile the story of Endeavour is widely known, Captain Cook sailed with eight ships, which began their lives as merchant vessels. This detailed illustrated history tells the story of these vessels and the people who sailed in them.

    £21.99

  • Into Africa The Epic Adventures of Stanley

    Crown Publishing Group (NY) Into Africa The Epic Adventures of Stanley

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £15.30

  • McClelland & Stewart Inc. The Prophets Camel Bell

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisWhen Margaret Laurence set out for Somaliland with her engineer husband in 1950, she confronted the difficulty of communication between peoples of vastly different cultures. Yet she came to know the skilled orators, poets and craftsmen of the country, and to share the vision of a people’s struggle for survival in a barren land.The Prophet’s Camel Bell is part travelogue, part autobiography, part celebration of human nature, and essential reading for anyone who has ever been a stranger in a strange land.

    10 in stock

    £15.26

  • The Character of Meriwether Lewis

    Washington State University Press The Character of Meriwether Lewis

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisMeriwether Lewis commanded the most important exploration mission in the early history of the United States. Clay Jenkinson takes a fresh look at Lewis, not to offer a paper cutout hero but to describe and explain a hyperserious young man of great complexity who found the wilderness of Upper Louisiana as exacting as it was exhilarating.Table of ContentsFOREWORDINTRODUCTIONFRACTURED SOULCHAPTER I Getting There FirstCHAPTER II Meriwether Lewis's Bad DayMapCHAPTER III Birthdays, Holidays, AnniversariesCHAPTER IV Damn You: Lewis and Clark at the ConfluenceMapTHE CHARACTER OF MERIWETHER LEWIS : Paintings by Michael HaynesCHAPTER V The Problem of SilenceTIMELINECHAPTER VI What a Falling Off Was ThereMapCHAPTER VII Why? ACKNOWLEDGMENTSBIBLIOGRAPHYNOTESINDEX

    7 in stock

    £24.65

  • Voyages of Discovery Captain James Cook

    Academy Chicago Publishers Voyages of Discovery Captain James Cook

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisOn each of his three voyages, James Cook kept a log and his reputation rose steadily with each voyage largely because Europeans were fascinated with the romance of discovery as well as reports of sexual licence in Tahiti and other Polynesian islands. This work features an introduction by Robert Welsch.

    15 in stock

    £15.26

  • Titanic

    Academy Chicago Publishers Titanic

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisTwo survivors' accounts of the sinking of the Titanic. Colonel Gracie provides details of the final moments, including names of passengers pulled from the ocean and of those men who, in a panic, jumped into lifeboats as they were being lowered. John Thayer’s account, The Sinking of the S.S. Titanic, is meticulously detailed.Trade Review[A] definitive account." –– L.A. Times

    7 in stock

    £16.16

  • £7.50

  • Race to Hawaii

    Chicago Review Press Race to Hawaii

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"A page-turning account of 'the precarious, pioneering flights to Hawaii' during the late 1920s." Kirkus Reviews"Sputtering engines, empty fuel tanks, failed radios, never-ending foglots went wrong when early aviators tried to steer the first planes across the Pacific....Jason Ryan thrillingly recounts each pitfall as he details American airmen's ultimate triumph over the world's mightiest ocean." WINSTON GROOM, author of The Aviators and Forrest Gump" Race to Hawaii takes you on a wild ride over 2,400 miles of storm-tossed skies to a tropical paradise. Painting a mural of America's quest to reach Hawaii by air in lush, vivid colors, Jason Ryan breathes life into the death-defying pioneers of aviation's golden age." JONATHAN W. JORDAN, author of Brothers, Rivals, Victors and American Warlords"Beautifully captures the excitement, wonder, and tragedy of the pioneering age of aviation. Combining masterful research with his gift for storytelling, Jason Ryan has brought to life a thrilling story of adventure filled with an incredible cast of characters. This is, without a doubt, one of the best books I've read in ages. Race to Hawaii simply soars!" JAMES M. SCOTT, 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Target Tokyo"Jason Ryan's expertly told Race to Hawaii tells the fascinating, thrilling, and sometimes tragic story of the first flights to Hawaii in the 1920s, and the fearless pilots who risked everything for a chance at fame and money." CATE LINEBERRY, author of Be Free or Die"We all know Lucky Lindy conquered the Atlantic. But the Pacific was much wider and the goal just some distant specks of land. Learn who accomplished this impossible feat and how they did it in Jason Ryan's Race to Hawaii ." JAMES BRADLEY, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys"The characters in this book are so colorful you think you're reading fiction. . . . Ryan has uncovered a simply amazing tale." SKIP HOLLANDSWORTH, author of The Midnight Assassin"This is a tremendous read and a meticulously researched historical account of American aviators who embodied the courage to fly into the unknown. Not to be missed." JOHN BRUNING, author of Indestructible: One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII

    £21.56

  • One Cabin One Cat Three Years

    Green Writers Press One Cabin One Cat Three Years

    Book Synopsis

    £24.79

  • Hawthorne Books Joy Ride A Bike Odyssey from Alaska to Argentina

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £15.96

  • Spaceman

    Crown Archetype Spaceman

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NASA astronaut Mike Massimino shares incredible true stories from space—a rare, wonderful world where science meets the most thrilling adventure. “Mike is a spaceman through and through; he tells how hard work can take you out of this world.”—Bill Nye the Science Guy Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself strapped to a giant rocket that’s about to go from zero to 17,500 miles per hour? Or to look back on Earth from outer space and see the surprisingly precise line between day and night? Or to stand in front of the Hubble Space Telescope, wondering if the emergency repair you’re about to make will inadvertently ruin humankind’s chance to unlock the universe’s secrets? Mike Massimino has been there, and in Spaceman he puts you inside the suit, with all the zip and buoyancy of life in microgravity.Massimino’s childhood space dreams were born the day Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Growing up in a working-class Long Island family, he catapulted himself to Columbia and then MIT, only to flunk his first doctoral exam and be rejected three times by NASA before making it through the final round of astronaut selection.Taking us through the surreal wonder and beauty of his first spacewalk, the tragedy of losing friends in the Columbia shuttle accident, and the development of his enduring love for the Hubble Telescope—which he and his fellow astronauts were tasked with saving on his final mission—Massimino has written an ode to never giving up, revealing just what having “the right stuff” really means.

    10 in stock

    £23.19

  • Mercury Rising  John Glenn John Kennedy and the

    WW Norton & Co Mercury Rising John Glenn John Kennedy and the

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA riveting history of the epic orbital flight that put America back into the space race.Trade Review"[Mercury Rising] brings Glenn’s story alive again with both nostalgia and a riveting, fast-paced narrative ... Shesol does an excellent job of embedding Glenn's story into the wider Cold War context." -- Douglas Brinkley - Washington Post"The perfect book for anyone who wants to read about real life adventures and learn what makes heroes tick ... It will help you understand how some families stay together in the face of existential challenges, how American politics and industrial technology converge, and how the United States won the Cold War competition with the USSR." -- Walter Clemens - New York Journal of Books"What a fresh and refreshing look at a familiar subject, now seen through an important geo-political lens rather than a scientific, technological, and nationalistic one. The new context is exciting, the usual characters made more vivid and dimensional. Bravo." -- Ken Burns"I loved this book. From the opening lines, I was riveted—I couldn’t put it down. Even though we know the ending, Jeff Shesol somehow creates a cliffhanger—immersive history that lifts us out of the moment we’re in and transports us to a time of genuine heroes. As this book reveals, John Glenn—stoic and selfless, but also restless and ambitious—embodies what we hold most dear about being American." -- Matt Damon"If there’s such a thing as a white-knuckle read, this is it. But Mercury Rising is a twofer. Jeff Shesol interweaves heart-racing renderings of the dread and adrenaline of the earliest space flights with keen analysis of the geopolitical rivalry that drove the arc and pace of the space race. John Glenn emerges as both homespun hero and Cold War cat’s-paw, as well as a flesh-and-blood human being—and one hell of a pilot." -- David M. Kennedy, professor of history emeritus, Stanford University, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for History"This is a story for the ages—the best account, ever, of the flight of Friendship 7. Shesol presents the Mercury Seven and their storied competition in a fresh and even provoking new light. Brilliantly researched and written, Mercury Rising is the book to read on the Cold War collaboration between John Kennedy and John Glenn." -- Kris Stoever, author, with her father, Scott Carpenter, of For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of an Astronaut"I had the privilege of knowing John Glenn well—I helped select him and train him as an astronaut—and Jeff Shesol has rendered the most compelling portrait I’ve seen of Glenn since the real thing. This gripping book captures the fast pace and high stakes of the space program and shows how Glenn helped win the struggle to surpass the Russians." -- Robert Voas, astronaut training officer, Project Mercury"This book amazed me. It brought back such memories that I felt like I was reliving the events." -- Jerry Roberts, guidance and control systems engineer, Projects Mercury and Gemini"Entertaining and deeply researched…readers will savor the hair-raising ride." -- Publishers Weekly"A welcome retelling of a significant piece of the Cold War saga and the opening of the space frontier [and] a good choice for readers interested in the Cold War, the space race, and the 1960s American political landscape." -- Kirkus Reviews"This well-researched and exciting read is recommended for those interested in the history of the space race or the Cold War." -- Dave Pugl - Library Journal"Shesol chronicles the early days of the space program with a historian’s attention to detail and a novelist’s flair for interesting storytelling." -- Gary Day - Booklist

    10 in stock

    £21.84

  • Mercury Rising

    WW Norton & Co Mercury Rising

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA riveting history of the epic orbital flight that put America back into the space race.Trade Review"[Mercury Rising] brings Glenn’s story alive again with both nostalgia and a riveting, fast-paced narrative ... Shesol does an excellent job of embedding Glenn's story into the wider Cold War context." -- Douglas Brinkley - Washington Post"The perfect book for anyone who wants to read about real life adventures and learn what makes heroes tick ... It will help you understand how some families stay together in the face of existential challenges, how American politics and industrial technology converge, and how the United States won the Cold War competition with the USSR." -- Walter Clemens - New York Journal of Books"What a fresh and refreshing look at a familiar subject, now seen through an important geo-political lens rather than a scientific, technological, and nationalistic one. The new context is exciting, the usual characters made more vivid and dimensional. Bravo." -- Ken Burns"I loved this book. From the opening lines, I was riveted—I couldn’t put it down. Even though we know the ending, Jeff Shesol somehow creates a cliffhanger—immersive history that lifts us out of the moment we’re in and transports us to a time of genuine heroes. As this book reveals, John Glenn—stoic and selfless, but also restless and ambitious—embodies what we hold most dear about being American." -- Matt Damon"If there’s such a thing as a white-knuckle read, this is it. But Mercury Rising is a twofer. Jeff Shesol interweaves heart-racing renderings of the dread and adrenaline of the earliest space flights with keen analysis of the geopolitical rivalry that drove the arc and pace of the space race. John Glenn emerges as both homespun hero and Cold War cat’s-paw, as well as a flesh-and-blood human being—and one hell of a pilot." -- David M. Kennedy, professor of history emeritus, Stanford University, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for History"This is a story for the ages—the best account, ever, of the flight of Friendship 7. Shesol presents the Mercury Seven and their storied competition in a fresh and even provoking new light. Brilliantly researched and written, Mercury Rising is the book to read on the Cold War collaboration between John Kennedy and John Glenn." -- Kris Stoever, author, with her father, Scott Carpenter, of For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of an Astronaut"I had the privilege of knowing John Glenn well—I helped select him and train him as an astronaut—and Jeff Shesol has rendered the most compelling portrait I’ve seen of Glenn since the real thing. This gripping book captures the fast pace and high stakes of the space program and shows how Glenn helped win the struggle to surpass the Russians." -- Robert Voas, astronaut training officer, Project Mercury"This book amazed me. It brought back such memories that I felt like I was reliving the events." -- Jerry Roberts, guidance and control systems engineer, Projects Mercury and Gemini"Entertaining and deeply researched…readers will savor the hair-raising ride." -- Publishers Weekly"A welcome retelling of a significant piece of the Cold War saga and the opening of the space frontier [and] a good choice for readers interested in the Cold War, the space race, and the 1960s American political landscape." -- Kirkus Reviews"This well-researched and exciting read is recommended for those interested in the history of the space race or the Cold War." -- Dave Pugl - Library Journal"Shesol chronicles the early days of the space program with a historian’s attention to detail and a novelist’s flair for interesting storytelling." -- Gary Day - Booklist

    10 in stock

    £14.24

  • The Viking Heart

    Mariner Books The Viking Heart

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis“An absorbing and humane account . . . Mr. Herman is at pains to remind us that the Viking world was never just a stage for mayhem. It was, he says, ‘about daring to reach for more than the universe had gifted you, no matter the odds and the obstacles.’ In short: We might all take our own life’s cue from the Viking heart.”—The Wall Street JournalFrom a New York Times best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, a sweeping epic of how the Vikings and their descendants have shaped history and America Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers—including the most famous, the Vikings—would reshape Europe and beyond. Their ingenuity, daring, resiliency, and

    10 in stock

    £24.00

  • Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes

    Random House USA Inc Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisAt the heart of this landmark collection of essays rests a single question: What impact, good or bad, immediate or long-range, did Lewis and Clark’s journey have on the Indians whose homelands they traversed? The nine writers in this volume each provide their own unique answers; from Pulitzer prize-winner N. Scott Momaday, who offers a haunting essay evoking the voices of the past; to Debra Magpie Earling’s illumination of her ancestral family, their survival, and the magic they use to this day; to Mark N. Trahant’s attempt to trace his own blood back to Clark himself; and Roberta Conner’s comparisons of the explorer’s journals with the accounts of the expedition passed down to her. Incisive and compelling, these essays shed new light on our understanding of this landmark journey into the American West.

    10 in stock

    £15.30

  • Beyond Possible

    National Geographic Society Beyond Possible

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £24.00

  • Never Give Up

    National Geographic Society Never Give Up

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £22.40

  • The Lost City of the Monkey God

    Time Warner Trade Publishing The Lost City of the Monkey God

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £16.99

  • Arcadia Publishing (SC) Dude Ranching in Wyoming Images of America

    Book Synopsis

    £21.24

  • £21.24

  • CAPTAIN WILLIAM HILTON  THE FOUNDING OF

    GLOBAL PUBLISHER SERVICES CAPTAIN WILLIAM HILTON THE FOUNDING OF

    Book Synopsis

    £18.69

  • The 50 Greatest Explorers in History

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd The 50 Greatest Explorers in History

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis is a book about one of the first recorded pilgrims who climbed Mount Sinai; it's about Amelia Earhart, the famous American aviator whose story and disappearance continues to capture the world's imagination. It's the story of a doomed expedition to discover the North West Passage, and the tale of Marco Polo, who remained at the court of the Kublai Khan for an incredible 17 years. 'Great Explorers' brings to life the pioneers in aviation flying thousands of miles with the most basic of maps in open cock-pits, exposed to the elements and the unrelenting smell of petrol fumes. They travel by steamboat, on horse-back, by rickshaw, motorbike, train, swim with piranhas, embark into black nothingness in new space craft, explore by jeep, yachts, tea boats and elephants, disguise themselves as men, take canoes and use innovative, advanced technological scuba equipment. Going where in many cases, no man or woman had ever gone before, some women featured in 'Great Explorers' were often denied respect, acknowledgement or recognition and they determined to break the 'mens club' mentality of global exploration from which they were excluded. Marco Polo: "This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end; and at the narrowest point it takes a month to cross it. It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat."

    10 in stock

    £24.32

  • Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century

    PublicAffairs Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £24.00

  • Feral: Losing Myself and Finding My Way in

    Amazon Publishing Feral: Losing Myself and Finding My Way in

    Book SynopsisA bracing memoir about self-discovery, liberating escape, and moving forward across an adventurous and volatile American landscape. One year. One national park at a time. This is it. No more California. I’m sifting into the underbelly of where the nomads go. After a decade as an assistant to high-powered LA executives, Emily Pennington left behind her structured life and surrendered to the pull of the great outdoors. With a tight budget, meticulous routing, and a temperamental minivan she named Gizmo, Emily embarked on a yearlong road trip to sixty-two national parks, hell-bent on a single goal: getting through the adventure in one piece. She was instantly thrust into more chaos than she’d bargained for and found herself on an unpredictable journey rocked by a gutting romantic breakup, a burgeoning pandemic, wildfires, and other seismic challenges that threatened her safety, her sanity, and the trip itself. What began as an intrepid obsession soon evolved into a life-changing experience. Navigating the tangle of life’s unexpected sucker punches, Feral invites readers along on Emily’s grand, blissful, and sometimes perilous journey, where solitude, resilience, self-reliance, and personal transformation run wild.Trade Review“The author’s unflinching honesty and the boldness of her inner and outer journeys are the two great strengths of a book…[that] succeeds in offering a moving portrait of a woman who came into her own by learning to let go.…Fierce, candid reading.” —Kirkus Reviews “Pennington lyrically describes the wonders of the natural world, and she examines her solo life on the road with unsentimental insight. Readers will relish this hopeful portrayal of personal growth.” —Publishers Weekly “In this visceral memoir, travel writer Pennington depicts a year devoted to visiting 62 U.S. national parks…Pennington’s story of personal growth is told with unflinching insight and immense awe at the natural wonders she encounters; her expressive storytelling is sure to engage and inspire readers.” —Booklist “We can only aspire to the curiosity, pluck, and delight exhibited in Emily Pennington’s Feral despite the boulders and storms life might have tumbled at her.” —Nick Offerman, author of Where the Deer and the Antelope Play and Paddle Your Own Canoe “Emily peels back the superficial layers of van life with unflinching honesty to reveal the beautifully frustrating reality that is life on the road, while also gifting readers with important epiphanies set in our beloved national parks. This is a must read for anyone who values public land, our environment, and compelling storytelling.” —Craig Grossi, author of Craig & Fred and Second Chances “Please read Emily Pennington’s brilliantly written story about her year visiting our national parks. It is filled with the savage beauty, historical depth, and existential joy nature has to share with all of us. Do not miss this extraordinary adventure.” —Lyn Lear, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and environmental activist “Self-improvement, but also connection. The rush of new challenges, but also the tranquility of quiet moments. Emily Pennington travels for all the right reasons, and we’re so lucky she’s brought us along on the adventure of a lifetime.” —Sebastian Modak, editor-at-large at Lonely Planet and former New York Times 52 Places Traveler “Emily’s vivid memoir is for anyone seeking what could be, rather than accepting what is. Her national park journey is a testament to life-changing relationships, finding oneself, and the transformative power of the outdoors.” —Heather Balogh Rochfort, adventure journalist and author of Women Who Hike “Emily was facing major obstacles as she set out on a huge adventure to visit every US national park, from a breakup to the onset of COVID-19. In an awesome Eat, Pray, Love approach to the natural world, she sets out on the adventure of a lifetime, dodging grizzly bears and hiking in some of the world’s remotest places. There’s no one I’d rather go on this journey with.” —Mary Turner, deputy editor, Outside magazine “Emily Pennington knows America’s park system better than most people know their own backyards—it is a privilege to get an intimate glimpse of how that relationship has shaped her.” —Megan Spurrell, senior editor at Condé Nast Traveler “On paper, a plan to visit all sixty-two US national parks in one year sounds like a fun trip—what makes Feral an adventure story worth reading, though, is everything that wasn’t in the plan.” —Brendan Leonard, author of The Camping Life and Sixty Meters to Anywhere “A timely travel memoir that melds together stories of our national park system and the author’s life. This is a book about themes that touch us all: exploration, discovery, and home. Packed with vivid details and brutal honesty, to read Feral is to know Emily.” —Abigail Wise, digital managing director, Outside magazine

    £18.99

  • BookBaby Once Upon a Shelter

    7 in stock

    7 in stock

    £15.29

  • 7 in stock

    £32.79

  • 4 in stock

    £12.90

  • Farcountry Press Heroes of the Bob Marshall Wilderness

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £17.05

  • Farcountry Press Along the Trail with Lewis & Clark: A Guide to

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £18.00

  • Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret

    Kodansha America, Inc Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisFor nineteenth-century adventures, Tibet was the prize destination, and Lhasa, its capital situated nearly three miles above sea level, was the grandest trophy of all. The lure of this mysterious land, and its strategic importance, made it inevitable that despite the Tibetans’ reluctance to end their isolation, determined travelers from Victorian Britain, Czarist Russia, America, and a half dozen other countries world try to breach the country’s high walls.In this riveting narrative, Peter Hopkirk turns his storytelling skills on the fortune hunters, mystics, mountaineers, and missionaries who tried storming the roof of the world. He also examines how China sought to maintain a presence in Tibet, so that whenever the Great Game ended, Chinese influence would reign supreme. This presence culminated in the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s, and in a brief afterword, Hopkirk updates his compelling account of "the gatecrashers of Tibet" with a discussion of Tibet today—as a property still claimed and annexed by the Chinese.Trade Review"Hopkirk’s wonderfully vivid book describes the...always thrilling efforts of explorers, spies...to plumb Tibet’s secrets."—Philadelphia Inquirer"Hopkirk handles the storytelling with infectious enthusiasm...[with] great and obvious love for the subject, and is one of those British writers who cannot write an awkward of boring sentence."—Bruse Colman, The San Francisco Chronicle"A lament for a country that, wanting only to be left alone, was hauled unceremoniously into the twentieth century, and is now an unwilling satellite of Communist China."—Richard E. Nicholls, The Philadelphia Inquirer

    10 in stock

    £14.40

  • Alone on the Colorado

    University of Utah Press,U.S. Alone on the Colorado

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisHarold Leich set out on a westward journey in the summer of 1933. His travel narrative details his river trip down the Yellowstone River and the first descent by boat of the upper Colorado River from Grand Lake, Colorado, through Cataract Canyon, Utah. He was the first to push through this entire upper section, running rapids that had never known a paddle, rebuild­ing his kayak along the riverbanks, camping rough, and meeting ranchers and railroad workers in these remote regions. Leich's sudden change of fortune in Cataract Canyon, in the most isolated part of Utah, and his soul searching as he worked his way out of a perilous situ­ation, will speak to anyone who has ventured beyond roads and trails and faced potential tragedy alone.Alone on the Colorado takes readers on the adventure of running rivers and riding the rails, while painting a unique and optimistic portrait of Depression-era America.Trade ReviewLeich has a wonderful, lively style of writing that never gets boring. This book fills an important gap in the river running history of the Colorado. His vivid, first-person account is a great contribution to the overall story of people and rivers. His photographs add to the authenticity of the narrative as well."" - James M. Aton, author of John Wesley Powell: His Life and Legacy""This is not just a river story, though that is the highlight. It also details Depression-era experiences, both urban and rural Leich's tales of riding the rails are fascinating. Besides being an adventure story, it is also a literary work."" - Richard Quartaroli, librarian emeritus, Northern Arizona University, and river runner and historian

    2 in stock

    £17.56

  • Queen of the Mountaineers: The Trailblazing Life

    Chicago Review Press Queen of the Mountaineers: The Trailblazing Life

    Book SynopsisFanny Bullock Workman was a complicated and restless woman who defied the rigid Victorian morals she found as restrictive as a corset. With her frizzy brown hair tucked under a helmet, Workman was a force on and off the mountain. Instrumental in breaking the British stranglehold on Himalayan mountain climbing, this American woman climbed more peaks than any of her peers and became the first woman to map the far reaches of the Himalayas and the second to address the Royal Geographic Society of London, whose past members included Charles Darwin, Richard Francis Burton, and David Livingstone. Her books—replete with photographs, illustrations, and descriptions of meteorological conditions, glaciology, and the effect of high altitudes on humans—remained useful decades after their publication. Paving the way for a legion of female climbers, Workman's legacy lives on in scholarship prizes at Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe, and Bryn Mawr.Author and journalist Cathryn J. Prince brings Fanny Bullock Workman to life, revealing how she navigated the male-dominated world of alpine clubs and adventure societies as nimbly as she navigated the deep crevasses and icy granite walls of the Himalayas. Queen of the Mountaineers is the story of one woman's role in science and exploration, breaking boundaries and charting frontiers for women everywhere.Trade Review"In Queen of the Mountaineers, Cathryn J. Prince transports readers to an era when explorers traversed continents by yak and goatskin boat, when mountains were still unmapped and unmeasured, when climbers braved the elements with rudimentary gear, and when the hard-earned, high-altitude triumphs of those like Fanny Bullock Workman were presented with the caveat the climber was a woman." Carolyn Porter, author of Marcel's Letters"Cathryn J. Prince presents legendary adventurer and climber Fanny Bullock Workman, a fascinating champion for women's rights who resisted expectation and refused to conform to gender roles. Through Fanny's fascinating story, Prince beautifully archives the heights achieved by our foremothers." Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray and Salt to the Sea"This very well researched and written biography brings Fanny's trail-blazing accomplishments to a new generation of climbersboth women and menas well as to armchair mountaineers." Arlene Blum, author of Annapurna: A Woman's Place and Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life"Cathryn J. Prince digs into original journals, manuscripts, and photos to reveal a woman whose ambitions broke boundaries for mountaineers in general and women climbers in particular." Elizabeth Rynecki, author and documentary film director of Chasing Portraits"[This] engaging and rigorously reported account of Fanny Bullock Workman's impressive life invites the reader to follow this brave and restless woman up the world's tallest mountains, both geological and cultural. What a read!" Ben Montgomery, author of Grandma Gatewood's Walk and The Leper Spy" Queen of the Mountaineers will inform scholars and delight mountaineers and armchair travelers with its rich and detailed descriptions of local people, global customs, and the dangers of traveling abroad at the turn of the twentieth century." -- Foreword Reviews

    £23.36

  • 4 in stock

    £28.80

  • Race to Hawaii: The 1927 Dole Air Derby and the

    Chicago Review Press Race to Hawaii: The 1927 Dole Air Derby and the

    Book SynopsisRace to Hawaii is the thrilling account of the first flights to Hawaii during the Golden Age of Aviation. The Dole Derby was an unprecedented 1927 air race in which eight planes set off at once across the Pacific, all eager to reach the islands first and claim a cash prize offered by "Pineapple King" James Dole. Military men, barnstormers, a schoolteacher, a Wall Street bond salesman, a Hollywood stunt flyer and veteran World War aces all encountered every type of hazard during their perilous flights. These fearless pilots flew unreliable and fragile aircraft outfitted with primitive air navigation equipment. With so many pilots taking aim at the tiny far-flung islands in so many different types of planes, everyone wondered who would reach Hawaii first, or at all.

    £14.20

  • The Bathysphere Book: First Sight of the Ocean

    Astra Publishing House The Bathysphere Book: First Sight of the Ocean

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA gorgeous account of William Beebe's 1934 Bathysphere expedition, the first-ever deep-sea voyage to the otherworldly environment 3,024 feet below sea level. In the summer of 1934, aboard a ship floating near the Atlantic island of Nonsuch, marine biologist Gloria Hollister sat on a crate, writing furiously in a notebook with a telephone receiver pressed to her ear. The phone line attached to a steel cable that unrolled off the side of the vessel and plunged into the sea, sinking 3000 feet. There, suspended by the cable, dangled a four-and-a-half-foot steel ball called the bathysphere. Crumpled up inside, gazing through three-inch quartz windows at the undersea world, sat Hollister's colleague William Beebe. He called up to her excitedly, describing bizarre creatures, explosions of bioluminescence, and strange effects of light and color. Hollister, listening amid rocking waves, tried to get down everything she heard. The story of The Bathysphere Book springs from the original expedition logbooks-the first eyewitness account of the deep ocean. They possess a strange poetry, scientific vocabulary shot through with the thrill of the new, and an erotic charge due to the illicit affair Hollister and Beebe were carrying on. The expedition launched from an expansive, transforming America, as streetlights came on in New York City and the Great Plains baked to dust. Backers ranged from eugenicist conservatives to billionaire socialists, while the expedition staff was a ragtag team of eccentrics who socialized with iconic figures of the period, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, and Gypsy Rose Lee. The bathysphere was the subject of much media attention and made the team famous. Prefiguring NASA's blue marble photograph, the first images of the deep ocean offered a new sense of the planetary. The book will include archival images as well as a few reproductions of illustrations by expedition artists. The Bathysphere Book delights in the human drama that surrounds this groundbreaking move into the deep ocean, a story of one visionary encounter with the unknown.Trade Review"The Bathysphere Book is wonderful, in the literal sense: filled with wonder. Brad Fox illuminates the extraordinary discoveries of the ocean depths, to be sure, but also of the scientists and artists who first explored them, less than a century ago. To read this glorious and beautifully illustrated account-relayed with what its protagonist William Beebe called 'the oblique glance', the wisdom that everything is connected-is to feel again a child's awed delight at human ingenuity, and at our planet." -Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children and A Dream Life "What is this sublime, remarkable book? It's a black unreadable eye sliding past a submarine window, it's a color on an alien spectrum, it's a fish made of filaments and lit by its own light. I don't know what it is, I only know that it's luminous." -Shelley Jackson, author of The Melancholy of Anatomy and Riddance "Brad Fox has created a brilliant work of literary art-at once almanac and seance, wonder-cabinet and hallucinogen. The vigor, pluck, and compression of his language turn a linear chronicle into a time-bending, gem-laden constellation, with surprising flashes of wit, gossip, and melodrama." -Wayne Koestenbaum, author of Ultramarine and The Cheerful Scapegoat "Brad Fox knows that the descent into the deep meant a sea-change not just in science, but in aesthetics, philosophy, the sense of what it is to be human. All have been changed, become rich and strange, as this rich, strange book shows so beautifully." -China Mieville, author of The City in the City and This Census-Taker

    10 in stock

    £22.50

  • Curve of Time: 50th Anniversary Edition

    Whitecap Books Ltd Curve of Time: 50th Anniversary Edition

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £21.32

  • Ootsa Lake Odyssey: George & Else Seel -- A

    Caitlin Press Ootsa Lake Odyssey: George & Else Seel -- A

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisFrom the 1920s to 1952, George and Else Seel lived about sixty kilometres south of Burns Lake near the small farming settlement of Wistaria on the western shore of Ootsa Lake. Like many early twentieth century settlers who migrated to BC''s Central Interior, the Seels came in search of opportunity and prosperity, but the harsh environment posed challenges they could not have imagined. The community was remote and the winters were long, but eventually, along with their fellow settlers, they learned how to live and thrive in this new world. They developed a close connection to the land; helped each other in times of need; and established collaborative relationships with the First Nations people who lived around them. The couple and their family lived at Ootsa Lake through the prosperity of the late 1920s; subsisted during the Depression of the 1930s; and experienced a rejuvenation during World War II and its aftermath. George died in 1950, but Else remained until 1952, when their property was flooded by the Nechako Reservoir as part of the Alcan project and she was uprooted, like many of the Ootsa Lake settlers and Cheslatta First Nations people. George had spent his life as a prospector and trapper and Else as a published writer. Together they documented a rich story of pioneer life in a small Northern BC community before the demand for hydro power changed their life and the valley forever.

    10 in stock

    £15.99

  • Pottersfield Press Green Ghost, Blue Ocean: No Fixed Address

    7 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    7 in stock

    £16.10

  • Out There: The Batshit Antics of the World's

    The Sutherland House Inc. Out There: The Batshit Antics of the World's

    Book SynopsisThe years 1800-1940 were the heyday of the independent explorer—free-spirited, mostly European adventurers who took incredible risks in pursuit of discovery and fame.  Some lit out for the mysterious city of Timbuktu, others the source of the Nile River, or the elusive Northwest Passage over Canada, or the fabled lost cities of Latin America, or the North or South Poles—quests that obsessed nineteenth-century explorers and hardly matter today. They were a special breed of traveller: courageous and determined, gluttons for punishment, frequently self-financed, and often horrendously misinformed and ill-prepared. While a lucky few returned home in glory, far more starved or froze or succumbed to cannibalism or died of malaria or dysentery or at the hands of angry locals or wild beasts or were simply never heard from again. In equal parts eye-opening, shocking, and hilarious, Out There is a totally original account of their extraordinary exploits.

    £18.04

  • Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH Socio-Economic Atlas of Myanmar

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £65.55

  • Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH National Atlas of Georgia

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £288.80

  • Austrian Academy of Sciences Press Magellans Boten: Die Fruhesten Berichte Uber Die

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £29.00

  • La Ciudad Perdida del Dios Mono / The Lost City

    Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial La Ciudad Perdida del Dios Mono / The Lost City

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £16.96

  • El increíble viaje de Alexander von Humboldt al corazón de la naturaleza (Novela gráfica) / The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt (Pantheon Graphic Li

    2 in stock

    £46.92

  • Edaf Antillas Primera Vuelta Al Mundo, La

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £28.71

  • Susaeta Ediciones, S.A. Atlas Ilustrado de Cristóbal Colón

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £41.70

  • El Primer Hombre. La vida de Neil A. Armstrong /

    Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial El Primer Hombre. La vida de Neil A. Armstrong /

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £30.61

  • Peeters Publishers A Curious and Convivial Traveller: Edward Roger

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn 2001 the British Museum acquired the first of two ancient Egyptian stelae from the collection of the traveller Edward Roger Pratt (1789-1863) of Ryston Hall, Norfolk, and discovered his 1832-34 unpublished journals for Greece and Egypt and the 136-page album with his own drawings, watercolours, and paper impressions of bas-reliefs from a solo Nile voyage to the Second Cataract. Pratt recorded ancient monuments and sites, many later damaged or destroyed. In Greece Pratt travelled widely and adventurously with scholarly architects and artists studying ancient Greek sites, while in Egypt his guides were the works of the French Egyptologists Jean-François Champollion and Dominique Vivant Denon. A gregarious and enthusiastic traveller, Pratt was supported by extensive consular networks, expatriate communities and other travellers. In this volume his life and travels are reconstructed from his many journals, the travel journals for Greece and Egypt are transcribed and annotated, his maps and plans reproduced, his dispersed antiquities collection reconstructed, and the album drawings are identified and published in colour.

    7 in stock

    £140.06

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