“Writers and travelers are mesmerized alike by knowing of their destinations.”
-Eudora Welty

Narrative historian Fergus Fleming brings a collection of vignettes to the page with Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration.

Forty-five different narratives chronicle three separate eras -

• The Age of Reconnaissance
• The Age of Inquiry
• The Age of Endeavor

Opening with Marco Polo in Mongolia in 1271 ending with Roald Amundsen disappearing in the Arctic on a rescue mission in 1928, the chapters span an amazing collections of adventures and the purpose for their undertaking. Conquests, scientific inquiry, physical and geographical challenges or just sheer exploration into the unknown - the reasons why and how are as varied as the personalities that undertake them and the landscapes through which they travel. Great victories, greater defeats, mysteries, conflicts, faith lost and redemption found, battles both human and moral befall these men in the extreme climates of the planet.

Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration

This book is a good armchair reader. The chapters are enjoyable to read, exciting and informative but not too long. They work well as both a portrait of an adventurer or adventure or a good introduction for someone interested in learning more. There is a decent bibliography of primary and secondary sources for those inclined to do more research. There are several sections in the book of nice prints, photographs and illustrations relating to the chapters which add some nice depth to the stories.

A look at some of the reviews shows a pretty positive response to this book by many readers. There was some criticism about omissions of certain explorers but this is actually addressed by the author in the introduction regarding the many candidates to choose from, and he simply states -”In the end I just picked the ones I liked best”. So there.

Check it out, we think it’s a good book.

The Sword and the Cross: Two Men and an Empire of Sand, US $1.00 End Date: Sunday Nov-23-2008 19:32:24 PST Buy it now | Add to watch list