Tag: exploration
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Paradise of the Damned by Keith Thomson
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Paradise of the Damned: Europeans loved falling for the old “city of gold” trick. Quick synopsis: The story of Sir Walter Raleigh’s obsession with El Dorado. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Columbus’s first voyage covered 3,700 miles in 36 days of sailing. Fun Fact for History Nerds: The Orinoco River…
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Throne of Grace by Tom Clavin and Bob Drury
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Throne of Grace: Life without a map. Quick synopsis: The story of one of America’s forgotten explorers, Jedediah Smith. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Arithmetic used to be called ciphering in schools. Fun Fact for History Nerds: Between 1700 and 1822, European markets purchased nearly forty million pieces of beaver…
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The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Wide Wide Sea: Retire before the job kills you. Quick synopsis: The final voyage of legendary explorer Captain James Cook. Fact for Non-History People: Cook’s second circumnavigation of the globe took 1,100 days and about 100,000 nautical miles. Fact for History Nerds: Cook never had a sailor die of scurvy…
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The Ship Beneath the Ice by Mensun Bound
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Ship Beneath the Ice: Ok, I’d get on a boat for something like this. Quick synopsis: The story of finding Shackleton’s ship, Endurance. Fact for Non-History People: In the last 35 years, the Adelie penguin population has decreased 80%. SAVE THE PENGUINS!! Fact for History Nerds: Due to salinity, seawater…
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Battle of Ink and Ice by Darrell Hartman
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Battle of Ink and Ice: I’d rather go to the Arctic than a newsroom. Quick synopsis: The story of the newspaper wars around the expeditions to the North Pole by Robert Peary and Frederick Cook. Fact for Non-History People: For years, the New York Times was boring on purpose. Fact for…
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Empire of Ice and Stone by Buddy Levy
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Empire of Ice and Stone: The lesson, as always, is don’t go to the Arctic. Quick synopsis: The story of the Karluk, which was shipwrecked in the Arctic and the crew’s attempts to survive. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Friendly reminder that many of the events in the Arctic take…
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River of the Gods by Candice Millard
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for River of the Gods: Who knew adventurers could be so catty? Quick synopsis: The story of the men who tried to find the source of the Nile River. Well, the first Europeans anyway. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: When you wear a cardigan, you can thank the man it was…
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Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline: I would have just laid down and died. Quick synopsis: The story of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–1917 led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: No one died from the Endurance. Read the book. They all should have. Fun Fact for History Nerds: When the expedition returned…
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The Taking of Jemima Boone by Matthew Pearl
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Taking of Jemima Boone: Daniel Boone, the original American badass. Quick synopsis of The Taking of Jemima Boone: The story of the kidnapping of Daniel Boone’s daughter and essentially the founding of Kentucky. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Kentucky was almost called Transylvania. Fun Fact for History Nerds: Daniel…