Explore: Stories of Survival from Off the Map (Adrenaline)

By Jennifer Schwamm Willis, Clint Willis, Colleen Delany, et al.

Book Overview

Explore: Stories of Survival from Off the Map offers first-hand accounts by the world's boldest explorers, who have encountered storms, starvation, canibals, predators, and disease in their pursuit of mystery and adventure. Nunez Cabeza de Vaca writes of his 16th century expedition to the region north of the Gulf of Mexico, an amazing tale of survival and hardship that begins with the loss of de Vaca's ships and the capture and enslavement of his party by Indians. Argentinian novelist Abel Posse gives us an unforgettable Christopher Columbus facing down mutiny and the threat of starvation Tim Flannery almost dies while searching for Fulmer's Fruit Bat, thought to have become extinct 12,000 years ago. Thor Heyderdahl recounts his earliest adventure in Polynesia. Premier mountaineering and adventure writer David Roberts searches for a legendary lost city high in the cliffs of New Mexico. Following an ancient trail, Roberts discovers a beautifully preserved Anasazi city and a curse. Explore also includes writing by Lawrence Millman, Gene Savay, John Long, Redmond O'Hanlon, Fanny Bullock Workman and William Hunter Workman, Andrea Barrett, and W.H. Murray."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560252782
• ISBN13: 9781560252788
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.3" x 6.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

A strong addition to a terrific series

EXPLORE adds 18 well-selected tales of adventure to the Adrenaline series. They blend of humor, like Tim Cahill's Peruvian expedition with two eccentric companions; dangerous adventure, including A.N. de Vaca's exploration of America in the early 1500's; and more scholarly accounts, such as David Roberts' search for lost cliff dwellings in New Mexico. The best feature of this book, and the series as a whole, is that it exposes us to writings that we would otherwise never see. Ms Schwamm has cast her net widely and hauled in four centuries of engaging exploration stories. Some are excerpted from works out of print, but the bibliography makes it possible to track these books down if you must hear the rest of the story. So why only four stars? As a collector of the entire series, I find this volume less spine-tingling than the rest, with fewer stories of death-defying danger, which is okay - not all exploration involves a struggle to survive if you go about it properly. If you like National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, this is a book for you.