Lands Beyond

by L. Sprague de Camp, Willy Ley

Man has always been intrigued by the lands of legend. From the beginning of recorded history, travellers have enthralled those who stayed close to home with stories of distant places and people. Lands Beyond is a sort of geography of those lands of the imagination which figured in the tall tales of travellers and poets. Some, like lost Atlantis and El Dorado, remained beyond the horizon, while others turned out to be disappointing facts. The first and most famous of these lands beyond was Atlantis, which Plato described as having disappeared years before he wrote about it. For the Greeks Atlantis lay to the West, beyond the Pillars of Hercules. But for the Romans, who knew the geography of the entire Mediterranean and that of western Europe, the lands beyond were to the East. There dwelt the men with heads beneath their shoulders rather than the giants of the earlier stories with one eye in the middle of their foreheads. Although modern man has settled for people with the normal number of eyes and location of head, many superstitions and beliefs have carried over into the modern world. Lands Beyond is the story of all these places: Atlantis, the countries of the Odyssey, the lands of Sinbad and Prester John, the search for El Dorado and for Terra Australis, and the land in the Western Ocean where the dead ships go. Lands Beyond is a fascinating expedition into the unknown.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

346 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.

Reviews

[Elizaveta Levina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of entertaining and surprisingly specific theories

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geographic myths retold, explained, and sourced. Interesting read.

[Kelly-jeau Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read if (isn't an if always present?) the reader wanted to learn more about the books featured within this one. Or, if you are writing a story (short, novel or role-playing game) since it is a study of geographical myths.

Chapter I. The Land of Longing
Chapter II. The Long Homecoming
Chapter III. The Fabulous Feast
Chapter IV. The Sea of Sindbad
Chapter V. The Land of Prester John
Chapter VI. The Mislaid Tribes
Chapter VII. The Great Dream
Chapter VIII. The Western Ocean
Chapter IX. Golden Men and Amazons
Chapter X. The Shape of the Earth

On its own, it a good read. Do not take this brief review wrong. But it typically won't entertain the reader as a novel would. It is a research book and very well written, and needs to reviewed as such.