Dead Reckoning: The Greatest Adventure Writing from the Golden Age of Exploration, 1800-1900

by Helen Whybrow (Editor)

Collects top nineteenth-century discovery voyage stories, including those about Fridtjof Nansen's solitary walk to the North Pole, Mary Kingsley's forays into the West African jungle, and Richard Burton's forbidden pilgrimage to Mecca.

Genres: Adventure, History, Travel, Nonfiction

416 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2002

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dangerous book - you will end up adding yet more books to your T0-Be-Read Shelf and it proves that truth is often stranger than fiction.
Whybrow has selected 32 wonderful essays written during the golden age of exploration. These are not me-too rock climbers clambering up El Capitan like hundreds of people before them.
These are real explorers going beyond the reach of civilization. Some well prepared - others not. Some succeed - others die on the way.
Some you've heard of - Fridtjof Nansen and Sir Richard Francis Burton.
Some may be new to you = Elizabeth Le Blond and Mary Kingsley.
The list of authors skews northern European and American - sometimes to comical effect, like the two young men who traveled across Asia on bicycles in 1890 - no treking bikes back then and no bikes at all in China until they arrived. Isabella Bird travels alone on horseback across the American West - will giving wry English commentary on the habits of Americans.

You should read this and give it to your friends.

[Book Grocer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchase Dead Reckoning here for just $10!

A collection of incredible adventure stories that will have your pulse racing and leave you gasping for breath. Explore many parts of the world as you journey with the great explorers of our time.

Elisa - The Book Grocer

[Danielle Prabaharan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an interesting book. A collection of excerpts from journals of explorers from the 1800's to the 1900's. Most of these explorers I've never heard of, but it was a great way to be introduced to their stories without having to read everything. From this point, I can now choose which books I do want to read more of, already knowing which ones interest me.

I did find that there were a few too many excerpts on sea voyages. I do enjoy reading about sea voyages, though I would have liked more variety. That's not to say it was all sea related. There were some great stories of exploring the U.S. or the mountains in France for example. For the most part, I really enjoyed this book.

[Duane Bowker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice collection including chapters by Meriwether Lewis, Charles Darwin, Robert Louis Stevenson (a hilarious piece), Mark Twain, John Muir, Thoreau, Burton and many others. I really enjoyed it. Ellen rescued this from the discard bin at the Ocean County Library and I'm happy she did.