Lost Explorers: Adventurers Who Disappeared Off the Face of the Earth

by Ed Wright

Lost Adventurers Who Disappeared Off the Face of the Earth Ed Wright

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeously memorialized here are 80 hardy and often foolhardy but intrepid adventurers who followed their obsessions to the end of their often short lives. The copious illustrations and photographs added greatly to the vivid and lively accounts. We learn about these exploits in a context that gives the reader a complex glimpse of the societies explored and/or conquered.

Given their equipment, and the difficulty of the climb, the odds are that they did not get there.p281

The amazing thing is, so many of them did get there, or almost there, and were drawn back after failing to settle on their return to civilization, craving to set out again, to explore the unknown, or to break a record; to establish trade, or gain personal riches or glory. There was a lot of plunder in the name of nations and a lot of questionable politics, not to mention some very grisly or at least lonely and agonizing death scenes.

Before I got upset about there being only two women represented, I realized the implications.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadely, all too true!

[David Vernon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A beautifully presented book, let down by its content. The writer Ed Wright was disparaging of the explorers and failed to take into account the time in which these men (and women) were exploring. Using a 21st century perspective to determine the explorer's rationale for what they did is fraught with problems. Disappointing.

[Jo]

Really intersting - each ship has it's own captain, it's own mission, but the fleet has a shared goal,lose sight of the mutual support and all are lost, lose sight of the ship's own sovereignty and you are lost.

[Edward Fenner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very deep but an interesting read for the bathroom or on the night stand.