Overview

Desert exploration, like climbing Everest or polar expeditions, is not for the faint-hearted, and many of the vivid tales within this fascinating biographical history end in tragedy. However, the informative and absorbing descriptions of the extraordinary journeys, challenges and achievements of these intrepid figures, are captivating. They risked their lives variously for good old fashioned epic adventure, solitude, fame, the answer to mythical questions and some were even spies. They experienced fear, excitement and hardship in their journeys into the unknown. There are many books on exploration but remarkably few on desert exploration. Moreover, some of the great desert explorers of the last three hundred years are now very little remembered or appreciated in comparison, say, with those who ventured to the poles, climbed Everest, or sought the source of the Nile. Yet, crossing unknown deserts is no less challenging. This volume finally brings these Great Desert Explorers into the limelight, with short, illustrated biographies of around 60 of the most interesting, intrepid and important explorers of the world’s greatest deserts. There is also a brief introduction to each desert region. The many original quotations, illustrations and maps, contemporary figures, as well as plates of a range of desert landscapes make this a colourful, lively and informative read.

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9781900971454

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Reviews

...this is both a serious work of scholarship and a richly-illustrated volume that would be the pride of coffee table or bookcase alike ... the writing throughout is lucid, and the multiplicity of maps, photographs and other illustrations make this a coffee table book for anyone who loves deserts, the armchair traveller and the serious scholar alike. -- Eamonn Gearon ASTENE Bulletin

...this is both a serious work of scholarship and a richly-illustrated volume that would be the pride of coffee table or bookcase alike ... the writing throughout is lucid, and the multiplicity of maps, photographs and other illustrations make this a coffee table book for anyone who loves deserts, the armchair traveller and the serious scholar alike. -- Eamonn Gearon * ASTENE Bulletin *

“…this is both a serious work of scholarship and a richly-illustrated volume that would be the pride of coffee table or bookcase alike … the writing throughout is lucid, and the multiplicity of maps, photographs and other illustrations make this a coffee table book for anyone who loves deserts, the armchair traveller and the serious scholar alike.” * ASTENE Bulletin * The large format photographs are superb, evocative of period and personality, the savage noble in full pursuit of the noble savage, high romanticism and picturesque half-naked tribesmen in the ascendant. * History Today *

Author Information

Emeritus Professor Andrew Shaw Goudie (born 21 August 1945 in Cheltenham) is a geographer at the University of Oxford specialising in desert geomorphology, dust storms, weathering, and climatic change in the tropics. He is also known for his teaching and best-selling textbooks on human impacts on the environment. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of forty-one books (many of which have appeared in numerous editions) and more than two hundred papers published in learned journals. He combines research and some teaching with administrative roles.

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