Relive some of the most daring voyages of all time in this dynamic, handsomely-designed, visually-stunning book. In engaging, informative chapters, author Stewart Ross dramatically chronicles the daring adventures of such intrepid explorers as Leif Eriksson, Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, and Captain Cook. Readers will find themselves covering the globe – and beyond: sailing with Pytheas the Greek to the Arctic Circle and with Chinese Admiral Zheng He to India; journeying into the African interior with David Livingstone and Mary Kingsley; flying over the North Pole with Umberto Nobile; descending to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in August and Jacques Piccard's bathyscaphe; climbing to the top of Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay; and ending with the first moon landing.
Complementing Ross's vivid narratives are Stephen Biesty’s intricately detailed illustrations. Each journey includes fold-out, cutaway cross-section illustrations detailing the designs of equipment, vessels, and routes used by explorers. Readers cannot only study the parts of the curragh that Pytheas sailed to the frigid Arctic in 340 BCE but also compare its design to Leif Eriksson's knarr and Captain Cook's Endeavour.
Into the Unknown is the quintessential title for every armchair explorer.
Reviewed by Sully
THEMES: ADVENTURE & ADVENTURERS. EXPLORERS. TRAVEL.
Useful for report writers, attractive to browsers, and just right for readers who are curious about the adventure of exploration.
- School Library Journal