Exploring the World

Two centuries of remarkable adventurers and their journeys

Alexander Maitland

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English

Weidenfeld & Nicolson
11 April 2023

Biography: science, technology & engineering; History; General & world history; History: earliest times to present day; Geographical discovery & exploration; Bargains

Explorers and travellers have always been attracted by the lure of the unknown. By traversing and mapping our planet, they have played a vital role in mankind's development. For almost two hundred years, the Royal Geographical Society has recognised their achievements by awarding its prestigious gold medals to those who have contributed most to our knowledge of the world.

Taking us on a journey across mountains and deserts, oceans and seas, Exploring the World tells the stories of more than eighty of these extraordinary men and women. Some, such as David Livingstone, Scott of the Antarctic and Jacques-Yves Cousteau, are well known; whilst others, such as William Chandless and Ney Elias, are today less familiar. Some dreamed of being the first to sight a lake or a river; others sighted some of the world's greatest natural features by chance. Some were naturalists, anthropologists or mountaineers; others went in search of explorers who had vanished without trace, or had been shipwrecked or marooned.

Filled with epic tales of endurance and perseverance, Exploring the World celebrates a group of exceptional individuals possessed of indomitable courage, boundless determination and adventurous spirit. It portrays a variety of fascinating lives driven by curiosity, wanderlust and the pursuit of knowledge - and, in doing so, provides a unique overview of two centuries of exploration.

By: Alexander Maitland
Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 162mm, Spine: 38mm
Weight: 614g
ISBN: 9781474606271
ISBN 10: 147460627X
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 11 April 2023
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Alexander Maitland is the author of Speke, A Tower in a Wall: Conversations with Dame Freya Stark, and a biography of Robert and Gabriela Cunninghame Graham, among other books. He worked with Freya Stark on Rivers of Time, a book of her photographs, and with Wilfred Thesiger on My Kenya Days, The Danakil Diary, Among the Mountains and A Vanished World. He edited Thesiger's anthology, My Life and Travels, compiled and wrote Wilfred Thesiger: A Life in Pictures, and wrote the authorised biography, Wilfred Thesiger: The Life of the Great Explorer. In 2019, he was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society.

Reviews for Exploring the World: Two centuries of remarkable adventurers and their journeys

A model biography of the explorer . . . Maitland has separated reality from legend . . . Meticulous research is illuminated by Maitland's evocations of Thesiger's affinity with a world characterised by desert romance * Sunday Telegraph on WILFRED THESIGER * A worthy testament to an exceptional life * Independent on Sunday on WILFRED THESIGER * Masterly * The Times on WILFRED THESIGER * Thesiger was compared to the greatest travellers of the Victorian age . . . Maitland captures that strange attractiveness, his undoubted love and understanding of a now-vanished world * Financial Times on WILFRED THESIGER * This thorough biography will be fascinating to Thesiger aficionados * Mail on Sunday on WILFRED THESIGER * Maitland has done justice to an extraordinary subject * Scotsman on WILFRED THESIGER * In this important biography of one of England's great legendary figures, Wilfred Thesiger's life and works are analysed in minute detail . . . it reads like an adventure story * Country Life on WILFRED THESIGER *