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Faces of Exploration: Encounters With 50 Extraordinary Pioneers
Faces of Exploration is a stunning collection of interviews, photographs and biographies of fifty of the world's most famous and inspirational explorers. It will appeal to anyone motivated by examples of great human endeavour, fascinated by exploration or interested in what makes people risk their lives to undertake epic journeys. Anthropologists, ethnologists, cavers, climbers, balloonists, pilots, astronauts, polar specialists, desert explorers, sailors, geographers, zoologists, cartographers, oceanographers, doctors and writers are all included. Each pioneer has been interviewed and photographed exclusively for this book. publication by award-winning photographer Joanna Vestey. Bestselling author, Justin Marozzi, complements the stunning images with evocative text, threaded through with quotes and insights.
- GenresNonfiction
211 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2007
32 people want to read
About the author
Justin Marozzi
12 books73 followers[Excerpt from http://www.justinmarozzi.com/about/]
Justin is a travel writer, historian, journalist and political risk and security consultant. He has travelled extensively in the Middle East and Muslim world and in recent years has worked in conflict and post-conflict environments such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur. He graduated from Cambridge with a Starred Double First in History in 1993, before studying Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University and winning a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania to read a Masters in International Relations. After working in the BBC World Service on ‘News Hour’ and BBC Westminster on ‘Today in Parliament’, he joined the Financial Times as a foreign correspondent in Manila, where he also wrote for The Economist. During his time in the Far East, he shared a Winnebago with Imelda Marcos, a helicopter with the Philippine president and his mistress, and a curry with Aung San Suu Kyi whilst under house arrest in Rangoon.
His first book, South from Barbary, was an account of a 1,200-mile expedition by camel along the slave routes of the Libyan Sahara, described by the desert explorer and SAS veteran Michael Asher as “the first significant journey across the Libyan interior for a generation”. His second, Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World, launched in Baghdad in 2004, was the best-selling biography of the world’s greatest Islamic conqueror and a Sunday Telegraph Book of the Year: “Outstanding… Justin Marozzi is the most brilliant of the new generation of travelwriter-historians.”
In 2006, he wrote Faces of Exploration, a collection of profiles of the world’s leading explorers. He has contributed to Meetings with Remarkable Muslims (an interview with the Afghan mujahid hero Ahmed Shah Massoud), The Seventy Greatest Journeys, and most recently The Art of War (essays on Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan and Tamerlane).
His latest book, published in October 2008, is The Man Who Invented History: Travels with Herodotus, based on extensive research in Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Greece. Apart from a year working for a British security company in Iraq, an encounter with the Grand Mufti of Egypt and an investigation into outwardly religious girls performing oral sex in car-parks in Cairo, one of the many highlights of the Herodotean trail was a retsina-fuelled lunch with the nonagenarian war hero and writer Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Justin is a regular contributor to a wide range of national and international publications, including the Financial Times, Spectator, Times, Sunday Telegraph, Guardian, Evening Standard, Standpoint and Prospect, where he writes on international affairs, the Muslim world and defence and security issues, and has broadcast for the BBC World Service and Radio Four.
Justin is a former member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, where he has also lectured, and an Honorary Travel Member of the Travellers Club.
Justin is a travel writer, historian, journalist and political risk and security consultant. He has travelled extensively in the Middle East and Muslim world and in recent years has worked in conflict and post-conflict environments such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Darfur. He graduated from Cambridge with a Starred Double First in History in 1993, before studying Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University and winning a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania to read a Masters in International Relations. After working in the BBC World Service on ‘News Hour’ and BBC Westminster on ‘Today in Parliament’, he joined the Financial Times as a foreign correspondent in Manila, where he also wrote for The Economist. During his time in the Far East, he shared a Winnebago with Imelda Marcos, a helicopter with the Philippine president and his mistress, and a curry with Aung San Suu Kyi whilst under house arrest in Rangoon.
His first book, South from Barbary, was an account of a 1,200-mile expedition by camel along the slave routes of the Libyan Sahara, described by the desert explorer and SAS veteran Michael Asher as “the first significant journey across the Libyan interior for a generation”. His second, Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World, launched in Baghdad in 2004, was the best-selling biography of the world’s greatest Islamic conqueror and a Sunday Telegraph Book of the Year: “Outstanding… Justin Marozzi is the most brilliant of the new generation of travelwriter-historians.”
In 2006, he wrote Faces of Exploration, a collection of profiles of the world’s leading explorers. He has contributed to Meetings with Remarkable Muslims (an interview with the Afghan mujahid hero Ahmed Shah Massoud), The Seventy Greatest Journeys, and most recently The Art of War (essays on Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan and Tamerlane).
His latest book, published in October 2008, is The Man Who Invented History: Travels with Herodotus, based on extensive research in Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Greece. Apart from a year working for a British security company in Iraq, an encounter with the Grand Mufti of Egypt and an investigation into outwardly religious girls performing oral sex in car-parks in Cairo, one of the many highlights of the Herodotean trail was a retsina-fuelled lunch with the nonagenarian war hero and writer Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Justin is a regular contributor to a wide range of national and international publications, including the Financial Times, Spectator, Times, Sunday Telegraph, Guardian, Evening Standard, Standpoint and Prospect, where he writes on international affairs, the Muslim world and defence and security issues, and has broadcast for the BBC World Service and Radio Four.
Justin is a former member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, where he has also lectured, and an Honorary Travel Member of the Travellers Club.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 11, 2017
I truly enjoyed reading this book. It delivered what I wanted (partially) - inspiring snapshots of world adventurers and explorers. It's nicely written and has a great variety of people. Very well put together.
What I missed and why only 4 starts: with a few exceptions, the book is mostly a factual portrait with some quotes from the explorers. It's an amazing collection and I think it's a perfect book to have on the coffee table as one can open it randomly and read 1 or more portraits and feel inspired, and perhaps, go on a personal adventure. I'm very thankful for all this.
It's really a pity that the author didn't dive into what really motivated and moved these people, what did they believe in, what was the small talk they did with themselves to overcome their challenges, and so forth. This is touched a little bit with some explorers, but very superficially.
I missed deeper shouts or words like one I read almost at the end, about a belief from Brooks: "man can achieve what he 'believes' he can achieve". I think more of these golden thoughts for all the other explorers would bring this book to another level.
The is a huge difference between a thought or a quote we read isolated somewhere and what this book could bring. The stories in this book bring these thoughts (and even deeper, the beliefs behind) to life by providing some context and helping us visualise it so it sinks in our mind. Possibly, we will also start to believe in some of these wisdom pieces and became great explorers in our own lives.
What I missed and why only 4 starts: with a few exceptions, the book is mostly a factual portrait with some quotes from the explorers. It's an amazing collection and I think it's a perfect book to have on the coffee table as one can open it randomly and read 1 or more portraits and feel inspired, and perhaps, go on a personal adventure. I'm very thankful for all this.
It's really a pity that the author didn't dive into what really motivated and moved these people, what did they believe in, what was the small talk they did with themselves to overcome their challenges, and so forth. This is touched a little bit with some explorers, but very superficially.
I missed deeper shouts or words like one I read almost at the end, about a belief from Brooks: "man can achieve what he 'believes' he can achieve". I think more of these golden thoughts for all the other explorers would bring this book to another level.
The is a huge difference between a thought or a quote we read isolated somewhere and what this book could bring. The stories in this book bring these thoughts (and even deeper, the beliefs behind) to life by providing some context and helping us visualise it so it sinks in our mind. Possibly, we will also start to believe in some of these wisdom pieces and became great explorers in our own lives.
June 12, 2008
Some interesting profiles. Highlights include Ed Hillary, Sir Wilfred Thiesiger, Dame Ellen MacArthur.
Given me a list of a few new adventure travel / exploration must read titles to seek out, which is a bonus!
Given me a list of a few new adventure travel / exploration must read titles to seek out, which is a bonus!
September 11, 2008
Beautiful portraits, wonderful descriptions, and photos contributed by the subjects. I was absolutely mesmerized by this book. And I didn't even know it had Bear Grylls in it when I picked it up! :)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews