Search results for ""author robin hanbury-tenison""

As featured on ITV News and Radio 4's Today programme'This book could not come at a more appropriate moment . . . Matchless man: hugely important book' Joanna Lumley'A great champion of environmental activism . . . His extensive travels have given him many insights' Sir Ranulph Fiennes'This is a fabulous book . . . It's like pumping a mountain stream through your head' Sir Tim SmitA powerful polemic on the major threats facing the world today and how they can be overcome. Our world is facing catastrophes of many kinds, from the climate crisis to global outbreaks of deadly diseases. But could we look back at the collapse of previous civilisations to see what lessons might be learned?The explorer and campaigner Robin Hanbury-Tenison believes we urgently need to tackle the four harbingers of catastrophe:The White Horse of Pestilence and Pandemics – many remote tribal societies have lives that are healthier than ours – what can we learn from them?The Red Horse of War – can we avoid conflict through promoting prosperity and renewable energy for all?The Black Horse of Famine – is now the time to use technology we’ve had since World War II to influence the weather?The Pale Horse of Death – will geoengineering help to undo the appalling pollution we are inflicting on the planet, especially the oceans?The lessons of Taming The Four Horsemen are clear: if we humans are to survive we need to make transformative changes now.

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Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, David Livingstone, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong: these are some of the greatest travellers of all time. This book chronicles their stories and many more, describing epic voyages of discovery from the extraordinary migrations out of Africa by our earliest ancestors to the latest voyages into space. In antiquity, we follow Alexander the Great to the Indus and Hannibal across the Alps; in medieval times we trek beside Genghis Khan and Ibn Battuta. The Renaissance brought Columbus to the Americas and the circumnavigation of the world. The following centuries saw gaps in the global maps filled by Tasman, Bering and Cook, and journeys made for scientific purposes, most famously by von Humboldt and Darwin. In modern times, the last inhospitable ends of the earth were reached – including both poles and the world's highest mountain – and new elements were conquered. With evocative photographs, paintings and portraits, The Great Journeys in History reveals the stories of those who were there first, who explored the unexplored and who set out into the unknown, bringing alive the romance and thrill of travel.

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Once described by Joanna Lumley as “the man with no fear”, Tristan Voorspuy spent his life living up to the legend. From his epic Cairo to Cape Town motorbike ride, to extraordinary wildlife encounters and many death-defying light aircraft near misses, Life on the Edge tells the extraordinary story of an adventurer and horseman determined to live life to the full. This was a life defined by a love of Africa, often shared with appreciative clients on Offbeat riding safaris, famous for lifechanging adventures and innumerable close shaves with dangerous big game. But Life on the Edge is also the story of compassion, conservation and, ultimately, tragedy. In the last two decades of his life, Voorspuy helped transform the overgrazed and drought-blighted Sosian Ranch in Northern Kenya into a celebrated game reserve, acclaimed tourist destination and successful cattle ranch. True to form, it was while defending this property that an unarmed Tristan was gunned down and killed, a murder that sent shockwaves around the world.

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Exploration has never been more popular and any idea that there is nowhere left to explore is instantly disproved by the contemporary explorers who are showcased here. Most of the accounts are written by the explorers themselves, and they all vividly describe challenging and extraordinary expeditions to some of the remotest parts of the world, in extremes of temperature and aridity, often alone and on the edge of danger. Some of these explorers are very experienced and are already celebrated worldwide, others are young and less well known and just starting to make their mark; all are driven by ambition, aspiration and passion.With 25 illustrations

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In Distant Snows, mountaineer John Harding recollects his worldwide adventures spanning sixty years across Europe, Iran, East Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Arctic. He climbed many classic peaks including Mont Blanc, Mount Kenya, and Mount Cook, explored obscure ranges, and pioneered ski mountaineering expeditions in Turkey, Spain and Greece.Written with candour, a sharp eye for the tragicomic and with a sympathetic insight into the history and culture of indigenous mountain peoples, Harding’s compelling narrative proclaims the power of nature, the glory of landscape and the spirit of the mountains. Distant Snows is a window into the mind and passions of a mountaineer while faithfully preserving the memory of the many characters who accompanied him on his mountain odyssey.With a foreword by the celebrated explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, Distant Snows offers tales of serious undertakings as well as more leisurely exploits, complemented by Harding’s personal photographs and hand-drawn maps. This is a must-read for mountaineers, lovers of the natural world and those with aspirations of adventure.

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