The Oxford Book of Exploration

This book is an anthology of travel writing, which I've been slowly reading over the last few months.

Throughout the book are several excerpts from diaries of explorers (some famous, others more obscure) and other writing about them by fellow travellers.

At times, I found this book quite heavy going, although I liked the fact that there was a separate chapter for each continent in the world, and it was enjoyable to know what these peoples' thoughts were as they went on their journeys.

At times it felt a bit repetitive, with a lot of accounts of meetings with naked, or nearly-naked, natives, but some of the incidents recounted were very entertaining to read. Probably the most enjoyable, and emotional, was reading about Roald Amundsen's journey to the South Pole, followed by Captain Scott's own journey, and his discovery that he was not the first person to reach it.

This book was at times quite long-winded, and it was hard to read large amounts in one sitting, but it is definitely a recommended book for anyone interested in exploration.

It explodes light on a realm my spirit is closest to. That is what I am in spirit. The traveller.

And marvellous collection, particularly resourceful as it opens the door to the hall of doors. It lets one know the source, the original work, which can then be hunted down and gulped to quench the soul.

I particularly liked the account of Sir Thesiger, and of Robert Ballard. The oceanic chapter was something my shivering dreams have resided in.

The general nature of the work, and the feeling one carries while reading it, is that of ecstasy at experiencing the exhilaration of discovery, and unchartedness.

A drawback is its too Anglocentric.

The cover is just so handsome. I've loaned it from a library. I am having thoughts about reporting it missing and paying the fine.

Although this just provided snippets of a large number of explorers, it gave me names to look up if I wanted to explore further.
And the chapter from Rene Caillie was very interesting on his visit to Timbuktu.

I thought this book was fascinating! It was amazing reading the thoughts of the explorers who discovered new places and what their opinions and observations were. I now really want to read some of the books he drew the extracts from.

A terrific book about the greatest explorers through the centuries.