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Out There: The Batshit Antics of Independent Explorers, 1800-1940
The years 1800-1940 were the heyday of the independent explorer--free-spirited, mostly European adventurers who took incredible risks in pursuit of discovery and fame. Some lit out for the mysterious city of Timbuktu, others the source of the Nile River, or the elusive Northwest Passage over Canada, or the fabled lost cities of Latin America, or the North or South Poles--quests that obsessed nineteenth-century explorers and hardly matter today. They were a special breed of traveller: courageous and determined, gluttons for punishment, frequently self-financed, and often horrendously misinformed and ill-prepared. While a lucky few returned home in glory, far more starved or froze or succumbed to cannibalism or died of malaria or dysentery or at the hands of angry locals or wild beasts or were simply never heard from again.
In equal parts eye-opening, shocking, and hilarious, Out There is a totally original account of their extraordinary exploits.
In equal parts eye-opening, shocking, and hilarious, Out There is a totally original account of their extraordinary exploits.
Hardcover
Published December 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 5, 2024
Spoiler alert: I am not one of those people who like to test themselves against the elements. I walk, I swim, I kayak, I golf. But you will not find me anytime soon attempt to scale the heights of Kilimanjaro, or K2, or Mount Everest and I consider anybody who does mentally unbalanced.
Yes, we need explorers. No, I do not need to be one of them.
This book is a corrective to those of you who worship the ground they walk on. How important was it to discover the origin of the Nile? Not very, it turns out.
How successful a missionary was Dr. Livingstone? The only people he converted were the fools who buried him in Westminster Abbey.
Peter Rowe's "Out There: The Batshit Antics of Independent Explorers, 1800-1940" is an often very funny, occasionally outrageous history of exploration in the 19th and early 20th century. With the exception of Jacques Cousteau, Rowe covers some very unscientific explorers and adventurers whose motives reflect grandiosity, megalomania, and, very often, just plain greed.
Today's Survivors, Great Races, and other reality TV contests owe something to these lunatic adventures for those of us intent on becoming celebrities come what may.
His tales turn dark when considering the plight of the sherpas, safari porters, carriers, and Inuit guides. The explorers generally pay them poorly, lie to them about their prospects for survival, and sometimes treat them as carnival sideshows. What we learn about the fate of some of the Inuit women who cooked and sewed clothes for the Arctic explorers is blood curdling.
Peary's men often treated the women as primitives open to the taking, possibly with violence. Others, men and women, became museum specimens. Their fate is shocking in the extreme.
Yes, we need explorers. No, I do not need to be one of them.
This book is a corrective to those of you who worship the ground they walk on. How important was it to discover the origin of the Nile? Not very, it turns out.
How successful a missionary was Dr. Livingstone? The only people he converted were the fools who buried him in Westminster Abbey.
Peter Rowe's "Out There: The Batshit Antics of Independent Explorers, 1800-1940" is an often very funny, occasionally outrageous history of exploration in the 19th and early 20th century. With the exception of Jacques Cousteau, Rowe covers some very unscientific explorers and adventurers whose motives reflect grandiosity, megalomania, and, very often, just plain greed.
Today's Survivors, Great Races, and other reality TV contests owe something to these lunatic adventures for those of us intent on becoming celebrities come what may.
His tales turn dark when considering the plight of the sherpas, safari porters, carriers, and Inuit guides. The explorers generally pay them poorly, lie to them about their prospects for survival, and sometimes treat them as carnival sideshows. What we learn about the fate of some of the Inuit women who cooked and sewed clothes for the Arctic explorers is blood curdling.
Peary's men often treated the women as primitives open to the taking, possibly with violence. Others, men and women, became museum specimens. Their fate is shocking in the extreme.
May 1, 2024
NO SPOILERS
Peter Rowe’s nonfiction hysterically funny “Out There: The Batshit Antics of the World’s Great Explorers” provides his readers with their most engaging look at history’s misunderstood legends of exploration and discovery.
For context, I have referred to the Urban Dictionary’s definition of ‘batshit.’ though my version paraphrases its definition. It’s defined in several ways: deranged, creating the appearance of being mentally unstable, an unconventional personality.
On to the book. It takes a certain kind of person to set out on a mission to explore unknown lands; and that just refers to explorers who ARE in their right minds.
The rogue’s gallery of nutcase explorers in Rowe’s book are presented in such a manner that it makes history funny-seriously!
If the explorers described weren’t already batshit, being stranded in the Arctic and the Antarctic regions did not restore their sanity. Conversely, many of them lost their fingers, toes, noses and ears to frostbite. To make their treks even worse, many of them fell victim to polar madness. As if that wasn’t bad enough polar madness can strike AFTER they have returned home-if they returned home. In one case a polar explorer became a successful homicidal maniac!
Africa! If seems like the British crown was obsessed with the continent. It dispatched so many of fruitless expeditions to find ‘lost cities,’ the source of the Nile, magical lands and more unbelievable lands. Rowe’s book details the mental instability of all of them. Unfortunately for most of them, they didn’t just fail to find their holy grails, they were attacked by tribesmen, they and their horses befallen by fever, became harpooned by javelins (ok, just one of them, but he WAS harpooned in his face :0).
What I want to know is who the eff had enough credibility to convince the Spanish crown to send Ponce de Leon to find the Fountain of Youth? I mean, really? Did the teller of that tall tale appear as a child to the Crown as a child to tell them he had drunk from the Fountain? Um, no. Yet, these fools believed him; so did de Leon. Off he went to find this nonexistent Fountain. At least he discovered Puerto Rico and established a permanent settlement in St. Augustine, Florida.
These are just a few of the batshit antics Rose’s book delights the reader with; it’s a must read-or listen for the history and comedy buff! It’s available at B&N, Amazon, Audible and other electronic traditional booksellers
Peter Rowe’s nonfiction hysterically funny “Out There: The Batshit Antics of the World’s Great Explorers” provides his readers with their most engaging look at history’s misunderstood legends of exploration and discovery.
For context, I have referred to the Urban Dictionary’s definition of ‘batshit.’ though my version paraphrases its definition. It’s defined in several ways: deranged, creating the appearance of being mentally unstable, an unconventional personality.
On to the book. It takes a certain kind of person to set out on a mission to explore unknown lands; and that just refers to explorers who ARE in their right minds.
The rogue’s gallery of nutcase explorers in Rowe’s book are presented in such a manner that it makes history funny-seriously!
If the explorers described weren’t already batshit, being stranded in the Arctic and the Antarctic regions did not restore their sanity. Conversely, many of them lost their fingers, toes, noses and ears to frostbite. To make their treks even worse, many of them fell victim to polar madness. As if that wasn’t bad enough polar madness can strike AFTER they have returned home-if they returned home. In one case a polar explorer became a successful homicidal maniac!
Africa! If seems like the British crown was obsessed with the continent. It dispatched so many of fruitless expeditions to find ‘lost cities,’ the source of the Nile, magical lands and more unbelievable lands. Rowe’s book details the mental instability of all of them. Unfortunately for most of them, they didn’t just fail to find their holy grails, they were attacked by tribesmen, they and their horses befallen by fever, became harpooned by javelins (ok, just one of them, but he WAS harpooned in his face :0).
What I want to know is who the eff had enough credibility to convince the Spanish crown to send Ponce de Leon to find the Fountain of Youth? I mean, really? Did the teller of that tall tale appear as a child to the Crown as a child to tell them he had drunk from the Fountain? Um, no. Yet, these fools believed him; so did de Leon. Off he went to find this nonexistent Fountain. At least he discovered Puerto Rico and established a permanent settlement in St. Augustine, Florida.
These are just a few of the batshit antics Rose’s book delights the reader with; it’s a must read-or listen for the history and comedy buff! It’s available at B&N, Amazon, Audible and other electronic traditional booksellers
February 26, 2025
The stories are interesting and the author manages to dig up few long lost men and, more interestingly, women who do not usually get a mention.
But I should have guessed from the subtitle that I was going to get a book that sounded as though it had been written by a frat bro. The loosey-goosey informal style might have worked well in the hands of a better writer, but Rowe's use of the language was jarring and felt anachronistic considering the subject matter. Calling people "dudes" and "douchebags" rather than just letting their behaviour illustrate their character, or lack of it, made me feel as though I was reading a half-assed article on Buzzfeed.
There are far better books (and Buzzfeed articles) on the subject and anyone interested in the subject should probably look elsewhere.
But I should have guessed from the subtitle that I was going to get a book that sounded as though it had been written by a frat bro. The loosey-goosey informal style might have worked well in the hands of a better writer, but Rowe's use of the language was jarring and felt anachronistic considering the subject matter. Calling people "dudes" and "douchebags" rather than just letting their behaviour illustrate their character, or lack of it, made me feel as though I was reading a half-assed article on Buzzfeed.
There are far better books (and Buzzfeed articles) on the subject and anyone interested in the subject should probably look elsewhere.
May 15, 2025
3.5 stars. Brief sketches of explorers and their exploits during the 1800’s and up to WWII. Mostly ill-equipped white guys, ignoring (ignorant of) the people already living in some of the places they were “discovering”. The author’s somewhat sarcastic comments about these adventurers make for an enjoyable read. Overall, though, I think I might prefer a book about Rowe’s own travels.
February 18, 2024
Reading about batshit crazy explorers... I can relate.
April 25, 2024
Interesting, informative, just not really entertaining. And I was hoping for entertainment
April 29, 2024
Nice quick read about many explorers
February 17, 2025
This was pretty entertaining, occasionally foul mouthed.
January 10, 2026
Who knew explorers were egomaniacs! An enjoyable read
August 10, 2024
Good perspective on some well known names.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews