National Geographic Society Exploration Experience: The Heroic Exploits of the World's Greatest Explorers

by Beau Riffenburgh

Filled with names that made and changed the course of history, National Geographic Society Exploration Experience takes readers on a thrilling voyage of discovery—in a fun and dynamic format that’s unique in today’s reference market. From the travels of Erik the Red through the journeys of Marco Polo to the heroic attempts of Livingstone and Scott, vivid text and rich illustrations tell the story of how intrepid explorers have expanded our knowledge of the world. Throughout the book, more than 30 rare and newly reproduced removable documents put history directly into readers’ hands: Hernán Cortés’s hand-drawn map of Tenochtitlan, David Livingstone’s watercolor of Victoria Falls, a dinner menu featuring Ernest Shackleton’s sketch of his planned trip to Antarctica, and many more. A wealth of photographs, maps, artifacts, and portraits enhance Beau Riffenburgh’s fascinating text as it covers the exploration of all seven continents. Sidebars delve into everything from navigational instruments to terminology to biographies. The book’s organization invites readers to "dip in" to any page and find a fascinating story, or read from start to finish. With a handsome slipcase and more than 200 color photographs packed into 80 pages, Exploration Experience engages both the eye and the mind. An exploration in itself, this lavish book creates a unique history adventure for both armchair and "on-the-ground" explorers of every age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, Science

80 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2008

About the author

Beau Riffenburgh is an author and historian specializing in polar exploration. Under the pseudonym Simon Beaufort, Beau has also co-authored 10 novels with his wife, medieval mystery writer Susanna Gregory. Eight of these are about the Crusader knight Geoffrey Mappestone, but the most recent is a modern police procedural, The Murder House (2013). All told, he has written, edited, or contributed to more than 60 books.He is also an American Football coach and author of books on football history.

Reviews

[Barbara K · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. I know there are some philosophical issues with this book. To be specific, it does not give a lot of space to the native people of Africa, the Americas, and Australia.

2. That said, it is a book about European exploration, and I was able to enjoy it on that level. It isn't a book about natives, or about colonization. It's about the efforts of men (and a few women) to create a comprehensive understanding of the planet, piece by piece.

I received this as a Christmas gift many years ago. It's a coffee table book with lots of bells and whistles, including a CD of antique maps. I don't know why I didn't dig into it immediately, but it got buried amidst atlases and other such things and I only recently rediscovered it (Question: It was there all along, so how could I "discover" it?) In order to check out those maps I will have to rediscover my external CD drive because I haven't had a built-in optical drive in a laptop in a long while.

It's a fun book. Lots of photos and reproductions of paintings and maps outlining the routes of multiple explorers in each of 36 distinct areas. The text is interesting; it's mostly surface level, but a great introduction to areas I didn't already know much about, like Australia. And a great comparison of the routes and experiences of different explorers I've read about in more detail elsewhere.

At this point it's a bit out of date (for instance, since the book was printed Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, was recently located in the Antarctic, as were Franklin's Erebus and Terror in the Arctic).

One thing to criticize is the size of the print. In terms of layout the graphic elements take precedence over the text, presenting a different kind of challenge to those of us whose eyes are showing the signs of age. :-)

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t know why the fuck I decided to read a coffee table book about explorers that celebrates the colonisers. I think it’s because the old timey maps and reproduced letters were really pretty and aesthetically pleasing, those, along with reading about how a lot of them died of dysentery and scurvy and starvation which seemed very karma based, were my favourite part.

This book really celebrated colonists and actually described native people as if they were inconveniences or obstacles for the explorers it was god awful. I hate this and I hate myself.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting coffee table book that contains many reproductions of documents from explorers. Not very in-depth at all, but it did expose me to some knew explorers that I was not previously familiar with. Unique concept, but I would not recommend for anyone really wanting to read about the history of exploration. I thought the Africa and Arctic/Anarctic sections were the best done.

[Paul Curcione · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to be critical on what may be to some people, a small thing, but the print was just too small for me to read, let alone enjoy. Even with a magnifying glass, I was still bummed. Sorry.