Into the Abyss (eBook)

Benedict Allen (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2011 | Main
Faber & Faber (Verlag)
978-0-571-26485-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Why do explorers put themselves in dangerous situations? And, once the worst possible situation occurs, how do they find the resources to survive?In answering these questions, Benedict Allen weaves a series of tales from his own experience as well as that of other explorers including Columbus, Cortez, Scott, Shakelton, Stanley, Livingstone and their modern counterparts: Joe Simpson and Ranulf Fiennes.

Autor

Benedict Allen is the editor of THE FABER BOOK OF EXPLORATION. For the past 20 years he has conducted solo expeditions through the Amazon jungle, along Namibia's Skeleton Coast and across Mongolia's Gobi Desert. These journeys have been transmitted on the BBC. And he has published accounts of them. He regularly gives lectures at the Royal Geographic Society.

Rezensionen

Travelogue interspersed with snippets on the history of the region, native peoples, pioneering Arctic expeditions and the rearing of sled dogs, Into the Abyss lures the reader in with its author's relaxed prose, sharp eye for atmospheric detail and amusing self-awareness ... what was intended to be a journey of introspection and self-analysis becomes a far more expansive insight into both human relationships and what makes man struggle through adversity.

He's no fusty explorer, and writes with a wit that's as dry as the snow that envelopes his world ... Speaks volumes about the human spirit's insatiable appetite.

What keeps the reader hooked is Allen's closely observed depiction of the tundra: small communities riven with alcoholism; abandoned Soviet outposts; corridors of tall whale bones planted centuries ago in the thick ice; and the Chukchi, a people vulnerable to modernity but at ease in the world's hardest climate.

it's a fascinating collection of ideas about how we manage when life gets extreme. It is riddled with information - from the history of the Chukchi people in Siberia to excerpts from other explorers diaries ... he writes ... beautifully, so even though, in th end, you're not much clearer on how humans survive extremes, you are at least clear, that, like Allen, we seem to have an enormous capacity to do so.

This invigorating account of Allen's attempt to cross the Bering Strait over the ice needs no sexing up. Not only does it chronicle an amazing feat of endurence but it gives a rare glimpse into Chukotka, Russia's most norht-easterly reagion.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.2.2011
• Verlagsort: London
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Sammeln / Sammlerkataloge
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
• Themenwelt: Reisen ► Reiseberichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geografie / Kartografie
• Schlagworte: exploration • Pioneers • Snow • Survival
• ISBN-10: 0-571-26485-9 / 0571264859
• ISBN-13: 978-0-571-26485-8 / 9780571264858