On John Franklin's 1820 expedition to find the Northwest Passage, Michel Teroahaute cannibalized two team members and was preparing a third when he was caught and killed. When Rene La Salle set off for the Mississippi Delta in 1684, he missed the target by five hundred miles, but on landing, immediately built a prison for those who fell asleep on watch. Consummate storyteller Fergus Fleming brings together these and forty-three other gripping stories...

"A quick examination of her roots, and one may never have guessed that Mireya Mayor would become the woman she is today. Yet, against all odds, this self-professed former "girly girl" daughter of overprotective Cuban immigrants blossomed from NFL cheerleader to Fulbright Scholar to field scientist and ultimately, quintessential adventurer. Now, with more than a decade's worth of thrilling exploits under her belt, Mayor recounts her life in a riveting,...

"Jules Verne's pioneering classic tells the story of the distinguished but eccentric Professor Lidenbrock, who finds a scrap of parchment in an old manuscript. A cipher, written in runes, tells of an entrance to another world - a world hidden beneath our own. So with his nephew reluctantly in tow, the Professor follows this cryptic clue down into a dormant volcano, and the further they descend, the more extraordinary the discoveries and creatures...

I had ambition not only to go farther than any man had been before, but as far as it was possible for a man to go. James Cook Geographer, historical consultant and bestselling author Vanessa Collingridge searches for the man behind the legend as she traces his story in a series that is part biography, part travelogue and completely enthralling. A hero to some, a villain to others, this son of an English farm labourer described more of the globe than...

Discusses the origin of vikings, their historical development, famous examples, key skills, and traits, along with details about weapons, training, and missions.

"Captain Kidd was one of the most notorious pirates to ever prowl the seas. But few know that Kidd had an accomplice, a behind-the-scenes player who enabled his plundering and helped him outpace his enemies. That accomplice was his wife, Sarah Kidd, a well-to-do woman whose extraordinary life is a lesson in reinvention and resourcefulness. Twice widowed by twenty-one and operating within the strictures of polite society in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century...

"One vital piece of equipment has been a constant in explorers' kits for centuries of adventure--the sketchbook or journal. Often private, they are records of immediate experiences, insight, and discovery, and in their pages we can see what the explorers themselves encountered. Here are carefully selected excerpts from 70 such sketchbooks from explorers through history to the present, records by men and women who journeyed into frozed wastelands,...

Perkins, president of a business consulting group, cites critical moments in Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition to illustrate ten strategies to improve individual and organizational performance in the present business environment. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

In this true-life adventure, a team of rugby players survive a plane crash deep in the desolate, snow-covered Andes Mountains, where they must overcome incredible odds to stay alive.