If you've taken a trip up north, gone for a sail, or visited some distant relatives lately, you know a little something about the joys and trials of travel. Can you imagine how much more intense they would be if you had to navigate without roads, waterways, airlines, or railways? Explore the incredibly compelling biographies of some of the most influential travelers in history - the men who forged untamed jungles, unraveled scientific mysteries, and overcame every obstacle to lay out the pathways that connect and define our world.
Prior to the 1800s, scores of ships and sailors were lost at sea because of their inability to determine their east-west position in the waters. Troubled genius John Harrison created the complex tool needed to measure longitude, but his incredible accomplishment was almost eclipsed by his eccentric and obsessive personality. This is one of my favorite books because the man is as intricate and fascinating as the machine. Check catalog availability.
You've been mis-pronouncing Mount Everest. Really. (It's named after Col. George Everest, pronounced Eve (rhymes with Steve) -rest.) What else don't you know about the thick and wild fever-infested jungles of India, the world's tallest peaks, and the men who risked their lives to traverse and measure some of the most dangerous terrain on the planet? Finding out is an armchair adventure of the finest degree. Check catalog availability.
When we think of railroad building, we often focus on the great tycoons of industry. Yet Bain weaves their sagas together with the struggles and stories of the regular men and women whose lives were intertwined with the transcontinental railroad - the Chinese and Irish immigrants who built it, and the Plains Indians whose way of life was forever changed by it. Sophisticated and evocative. Check catalog availability.
Share your own travel stories with us! What adventures have you read about, or lived yourself?
Submitted by Audrey @ MPL Central