The Explorers: From the Ancient World to the Present [Hardcover]

Paolo Novaresio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

A lavishly illustrated celebration of amazing journeys and exhilarating discoveries from the earliest days of seafaring to the first landing on the moon and beyond. This stunning book features more than 600 illustratiosn, including 400 full-color photos, 50 ancient maps, and 40 modern maps, most in color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The urge to explore surely is deeply rooted in the human psyche. In the opening pages of this magnificently illustrated tribute to the history of exploration, anthropologist and explorer Alberto Salza, speaking to Novaresio, a specialist in the methodology of exploration, links the exploratory urge to, in children, the need to "learn very quickly" all that the child requires "for survival," and, in adults, to the activity of play. From this theoretical base, Novaresio launches into a brisk but very wide-ranging historical survey of exploration, from the earliest migrations of Homo erectus through the Apollo moon missions and beyond. In large part, he centers his text around the exploits of famed explorers: Alexander the Great, Columbus, James Cook, Lewis and Clark, Richard Burton, Robert Peary, Edmund Hillary and many others make dramatic appearances here. The text is perforce sketchy in parts; the deep-sea missions of William Beebe and Auguste Piccard, for instance, are dispensed with in one paragraph and a few pictures. But the real draw to this book isn't the text but the 640 illustrations-a cornucopia of drawings, paintings, photos and maps, 400 in color, rhythmically integrated with the text and reproduced in strong lines and vibrant tones. This isn't the definitive history of exploration, but it may be the book about exploration that readers will enjoy exploring above all others.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Paolo Novaresio graduated in contemporary history and for more than 20 years has been a full-time traveler. Recently he has concentrated his research in Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. He lives and works in Turin, Nairobi, and Johannesburg.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Stewart Tabori & Chang; 1st edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155670495X
• ISBN-13: 978-1556704956
• Product Dimensions: 14.3 x 10.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,718,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview of Human Exploration of the Planet with Great Pictures, February 20, 2011

By 

Dan Shaffer (Leesburg, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Explorers: From the Ancient World to the Present (Hardcover)

This over-sized book surprised me.

I was expecting a book with a lot of pictures, but without a lot of great writing... I couldn't have been anymore wrong.

The author does more than simply state historical facts, he goes into detail of exactly the explorations were so dangerous, then the author gives his analysis of why some expeditions succeeded where others failed. The pictures are great. They help illuminate the story and help provide the context for the events.

The content of the book is very good, however it's very broad and there's a lot of big names that weren't covered. I was surprised that their wasn't any mention of McKinley, Ponce de Leon, of Amerigo Vespucci, of Drake, and many others. Definitely, more time could have been spent covering Antartica, or explained the controversy concerning Perry arriving at the North Pole. And I was upset that the book doesn't state anything about the 14 year old Eskimo wife that Perry took, even though he was already married with children in Maine.

However, the big issue I have with the book is the size. At 15 inches long, it doesn't fit very well on a book shelf.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From cavemen to spacemen, June 2, 2004

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Explorers: From the Ancient World to the Present (Hardcover)

This beautifully and intelligibly formatted oversized book surveys the adventurous from the earliest hominids to the astronauts, with 640 photographs, including 90 maps.

An anecdotal text may encourage interested readers to more detailed accounts (a bibliography lists sources by chapter), and the many illustrations portray the people, art and conveyances involved in voyages of Alexander the Great, the Phoenicians, the Vikings, Marco Polo and more. There is a lengthy section on Columbus and subsequent explorers of the New World followed by the great explorers of Africa and the various races to the poles.

A breathtaking panorama of art makes this book a stand-out.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Now a days anyone could write and publish., April 4, 2011

By 

J.A.M. - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Explorers: From the Ancient World to the Present (Hardcover)

Mr. Paolo Novaresio's book "The Explorers" is of no academic value, unfortunately his book has lots to desire for when it comes to academic history. It leaves me no doubt that the author lacks a graduate level academic degree and research tactics. My suspicions leave me to believe that he only has an education degree and not an academic one, and is trying very hard to navigate in the academia world without any success. In Paolo's book the explorers he barely mentioned the Spanish and Portuguese explorer(and when he does he propagate the 'Black Legend') of which out number by far the English and Dutch Explorers. And when it comes to the ancient world explorers all I could say is that a secondary private school student could do much better research work than Paolo Novaresio.