Exploring the World

Two centuries of remarkable adventurers and their journeys

Alexander Maitland

$34.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Weidenfeld & Nicolson
08 November 2022

Biography: science, technology & engineering; History; General & world history; History: earliest times to present day; Geographical discovery & exploration

For nearly two hundred years the Society has been awarding gold medals to those individuals who have contributed most to our geographical knowledge. Winners of the Founder's and Patron's medals now number around three hundred individuals, and the roll-call of names is a veritable Who's Who of exploration. Telling their stories, of the many and varied ways in which they have helped 'fill in the maps', is nothing less than a history of exploration itself.

The book begins with the Quest for the Niger, and the surprising fact that when Burton began his journey the maps he used 'had scarcely advanced beyond those drawn by Ptolemy, Pliny and Herodotus'. The quest to discover and map Africa has several sections. This first is profiles of the early African explorers. Among them is Heinrich Barth, who survived a crossing of the Sahara (his companions did not), and is thought to be the greatest of the African explorers.

Other sections are The Lake Regions and the Source of the Nile; Travel and Adventure in East and South-East Africa; and Desert and Forest. Each section describes 19th- and 20th-century expeditions.

In Part Two we meet the tough and resolute Fathers of Australian Exploration: Edward John Eyre, and Charles Sturt. In Part Three, titled North America and the Arctic, Maitland turns to the enduring quest to find the North-West Passage and to find the explorers who became lost, shipwrecked and marooned in the course of their expeditions. Part Four is devoted to the exploration of South America., and it gives tribute to the work of the geographer, explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt and his friend Bonpland, who mapped Central and South America in the early 19th century. Part Five describes the exploration of the enormous area of Asia, Arabia and the Middle East that since the 1830s has produced more RGS medallists than any other, except the Arctic and Antarctic. Part Six is devoted to Europe; Seven to Antarctica; and VIII to the Oceans. This section contains the stories of Captain Cook and the early navigators; the voyage of Thor Heyerdahl and the balsa-wood Kon-tiki from Peru to Raroia in French Polynesia; the underwater exploration of Jacques Cousteau, and the ocean adventurers who have made long journeys across and through the seas, on the clipper routes and around the shores of the islands off the coast of Chile. It concludes with an appreciation of the work of the chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sylvia Alice Earle.

Discovering the World marvels at the indomitable courage, determination and perceptive insights of an exceptional group of men and women; and aims to investigate and re-tell - or, in some instances, tell for the first time - their extraordinary s

By: Alexander Maitland
Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 486g
ISBN: 9781474606288
ISBN 10: 1474606288
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 08 November 2022
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Alexander Maitland is an RGS Fellow of long standing who has written books on Speke and Wilfred Thesiger among others.

Reviews for Exploring the World: Two centuries of remarkable adventurers and their journeys

A model biography of the explorer . . . Maitland has separated reality from legend . . . Meticulous research is illuminated by Maitland's evocations of Thesiger's affinity with a world characterised by desert romance * Sunday Telegraph on WILFRED THESIGER * A worthy testament to an exceptional life * Independent on Sunday on WILFRED THESIGER * Masterly * The Times on WILFRED THESIGER * Thesiger was compared to the greatest travellers of the Victorian age . . . Maitland captures that strange attractiveness, his undoubted love and understanding of a now-vanished world * Financial Times on WILFRED THESIGER * This thorough biography will be fascinating to Thesiger aficionados * Mail on Sunday on WILFRED THESIGER * Maitland has done justice to an extraordinary subject * Scotsman on WILFRED THESIGER * In this important biography of one of England's great legendary figures, Wilfred Thesiger's life and works are analysed in minute detail . . . it reads like an adventure story * Country Life on WILFRED THESIGER *