Books, articles, journals etc. about exploration

[Sam]

... or individual explorers. Or, indeed, by explorers.

This is for a project I've been thinking a lot about lately. Any suggestions welcome, but especially anything which can give some background on non-European, pre-Age-of-Discovery explorers. And preferably not too dry. I want to have some fun with this.

[ad hoc]

This kind of thing?


https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...uardianreview2
I should stress that I haven't read it but it's on my list

[Antepli Ejderha]

This kind of thing?


https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...uardianreview2
I should stress that I haven't read it but it's on my list

It's excellent and well worth a read.

Ryszard Kapuscinski Travels with Herodotus might also interest you.

[ursus arctos]

The Gavin Menzies books (1421 and 1434) are debatable histories, but certainly entertaining.

[Diable Rouge]

There was a Faber Book of Exploration, which Benedict Allen edited- had a wide variety of cultures and periods covered:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...Of_Exploration

[via vicaria]

This kind of thing?


https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...uardianreview2
I should stress that I haven't read it but it's on my list

I'd also highly recommend Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness. Really fascinating (and surprisingly funny in places, for a tenth century travelogue)

[Sam]

Thanks, all. Some are easier to get hold of than others (and ursus, I think I'll be largely ignoring Menzies' fabrications; if I start including alternative histories as well this will become even more unwieldy than it's already in danger of being), but all look very interesting!

[Lang Spoon]

The Worst Journey in the World is supposed to be very good in that patrician early 20th century understated pointless suffering type way. On Antarctic exploration, something I've no interest in at all, so I'm only going on the recommendation of others.

[Sam]

Yeah, I'll be checking that out at some point for sure. Being relatively late in the chronology, I've got a good while before I get to it, though (and that's if I even decide I'm definitely going to do this, which is decidedly up in the air at present).

[ursus arctos]

Sam, there are a number of more scholarly books on Zheng that might be of interest.

One here

[Sam]

Thanks, ursus. This might turn out to be a rather expensive idea if I don't make any money back on it (and I'm not really doing it with that aim).

I am also starting to think it might be something that has to wait until HOP is no more, which at least gives me plenty of time to prepare, because I have no plans to kill that off just yet.

[ad hoc]

I recently read "A history of the world in twelve maps" by Jerry Brotton which might be of interest here. Obviously it's primarily a book about maps and map-making but much of it is also about exploration since at least in earlier maps that's how they came to be made. Sadly though the subject is fascinating I found the writing quite dry and at times a bit of a slog. But it might be useful for a sort of historical context

[Sam]

Oh yes. Cartography. I've been having a look on Amazon and I've found at least one book which is available for Kindle but which clearly really has to be bought in hard copy, because it's a beautiful hardback with loads of old maps. Which means I've either got to wait for a mule, or until I next head back to the UK (which ain't gonna be this year). My girlfriend saw me looking at it earlier and showed me her phone – she'd actually been considering buying it for me through Book Depository. But although they claim to offer free worldwide postage, and charge a similar price to Amazon when you look at it in pounds sterling, which is £12, as soon as you tell them you want it delivered to Argentina, they give you a price in Argentine pesos which is equivalent to almost exactly £29. Uh-huh ... free worldwide postage, you say ... riiiiiight.

[ad hoc]

Completely coincidentally just came across this article which fits here https://www.middleeasteye.net/featur...DqeIkx2WGm5mSU

[tee rex]

I had a nil thread here on Tony Horwitz

https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...7-tony-horwitz

Doesn't fit the non-European criteria, but Voyage Long and Strange did fill in the gaps in my knowledge, in North America between Columbus and the Mayflower.

[Sam]

Thanks, ah!

Tee rex, I'm aiming more at Columbus/da Gama/Shackleton/Franklin-style exploration, as opposed to travel writers. Setting out to find new routes or new worlds previously unknown to their own communities, sort of thing.

On-topic, today is the 113th anniversary of the completion of the voyage of the James Caird. I really think that if I had to draw up a list of activities which attracted the highest number of people who were perhaps a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic basket, early Antarctic exploration would be somewhere near the top. You wouldn't have got me along on one of those voyages if you'd offered me a million quid and a generous pension for life. I'd have shat myself as soon as the wind picked up a bit leaving Plymouth harbour.

[Sam]

This isn't a book, but I just watched it and it fits the broader subject of the thread (plus, it's my thread so I make the rules).

Next time you're in the mood for a psychological horror film, stick this 50-ish-minute documentary on instead. I knew the Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage failed to achieve its objective and even from the 'just come back alive' point of view was a disaster, but (my previous polar exploration reading having been around the Antarctic) I hadn't realised just how horrific it was. This video is a narrated documentary with some historic reenactments, and even so there were bits that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. As I type this I'm most of the way through part 2 (Amundsen's attempt the best part of a century later to work out what happened to Franklin), and while nothing like as terrifying it's still not exactly pleasant pre-bedtime viewing.

I've no idea how I'm getting to sleep tonight.

[ursus arctos]

While I was in law school, I spent a day most weeks working for a non-profit dedicating to finding looted works of art and returning them to their rightful owners, with a side interest in authentication.

It was an interesting and enjoyable place to work, with great people, but one of the largest benefits was that it was located https://www.thrillist.com/home/inside-the-explorers-club-an-exclusive-tour-of-a-legendary-society]in the Explorers Club[/Url], Which is a kind of Ali Baba's cave of the golden age of amateur exploration.



I now realise that I need to take you two there if and when you make it here.

[Sam]

Phwoar!

[Sam]

Oh yes. Cartography. I've been having a look on Amazon and I've found at least one book which is available for Kindle but which clearly really has to be bought in hard copy, because it's a beautiful hardback with loads of old maps. Which means I've either got to wait for a mule, or until I next head back to the UK (which ain't gonna be this year). My girlfriend saw me looking at it earlier and showed me her phone – she'd actually been considering buying it for me through Book Depository. But although they claim to offer free worldwide postage, and charge a similar price to Amazon when you look at it in pounds sterling, which is £12, as soon as you tell them you want it delivered to Argentina, they give you a price in Argentine pesos which is equivalent to almost exactly £29. Uh-huh ... free worldwide postage, you say ... riiiiiight.

Update: one of my mates is a big Spurs fan, and went to Madrid for the European Cup final (he didn't get a ticket but said it was great to be there anyway). On his way back he stopped in the UK to see family for a few days, and as he was packing light he asked whether I'd like anything bringing back. So the above-mentioned book (along with Marlon James's new novel) is now in my possession. It's by Edward Brooke-Hitching, and it's called The Golden Atlas. And it is as beautiful as expected.

[gt3]

Just finished Erebus, The Story of A Ship by Michael Palin. First Palin I've read rather than watched. Thoroughly enjoyed the book. His "voice'" is recognisable when he lets the authorial mask slip. Or when he recounts his visits to places touched by Erebus.
As for the story of Erebus. Truly moving in parts. Ghoulish in others. If you like books about exploration, triumph (and disaster) in the face of adversity and the resilience of mankind, it's a must.

[gt3]

The Worst Journey in the World is supposed to be very good in that patrician early 20th century understated pointless suffering type way. On Antarctic exploration, something I've no interest in at all, so I'm only going on the recommendation of others.

It's incredible. You will have more respect for penguins and your own teeth than you ever thought possible after reading it.

In the meantime I'm off to get a copy of The Golden Atlas.

[Sam]

Just finished Erebus, The Story of A Ship by Michael Palin. First Palin I've read rather than watched. Thoroughly enjoyed the book. His "voice'" is recognisable when he lets the authorial mask slip. Or when he recounts his visits to places touched by Erebus.
As for the story of Erebus. Truly moving in parts. Ghoulish in others. If you like books about exploration, triumph (and disaster) in the face of adversity and the resilience of mankind, it's a must.

Straight on the list! That looks cracking. Cheers, gt3.

[gt3]

This isn't a book, but I just watched it and it fits the broader subject of the thread (plus, it's my thread so I make the rules).

Next time you're in the mood for a psychological horror film, stick this 50-ish-minute documentary on instead. I knew the Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage failed to achieve its objective and even from the 'just come back alive' point of view was a disaster, but (my previous polar exploration reading having been around the Antarctic) I hadn't realised just how horrific it was. This video is a narrated documentary with some historic reenactments, and even so there were bits that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. As I type this I'm most of the way through part 2 (Amundsen's attempt the best part of a century later to work out what happened to Franklin), and while nothing like as terrifying it's still not exactly pleasant pre-bedtime viewing.

I've no idea how I'm getting to sleep tonight.

Sam, just seen your post upthread...Erebus was Franklin's ship on that voyage...

[Sam]

Haha, yes I know. Thanks, though!