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Underneath the Lemon Tree: A Memoir of Depression and Recovery
by Mark Rice-OxleyOn paper, things looked good for Mark Rice-Oxley: wife, children, fulfilling job. But then, at his 40th birthday party, his whole world crumbled as he succumbed to depression...How many men do you know who have been through periods when their lives haven't seemed right? How badly askew were things for them? Many men suffer from depression yet it is still a subject that is taboo. Men often don't visit the doctor, or they don't want to face up to feelings of weakness and vulnerability. By telling his story, Mark Rice-Oxley hopes it will enable others to tell theirs. In this intensely moving memoir he retraces the months of his utmost despair, revisiting a landscape from which at times he felt he would never escape.Written with lyricism and poignancy, Mark captures the visceral nature of this most debilitating of illnesses with a frightening clarity, while at the same time offering a sympathetic and dispassionate view of what is happening, and perhaps why. This is not a self-help book but a memoir that is brimful of experience, understanding and hope for all those who read it. It is above all honest, touching and surprisingly optimistic.
Underneath the Lemon Tree: A Memoir of Depression and Recovery
by Mark Rice-OxleyOn paper, things looked good for Mark Rice-Oxley: wife, children, fulfilling job. But then, at his 40th birthday party, his whole world crumbled as he succumbed to depression...How many men do you know who have been through periods when their lives haven't seemed right? How badly askew were things for them? Many men suffer from depression yet it is still a subject that is taboo. Men often don't visit the doctor, or they don't want to face up to feelings of weakness and vulnerability. By telling his story, Mark Rice-Oxley hopes it will enable others to tell theirs. In this intensely moving memoir he retraces the months of his utmost despair, revisiting a landscape from which at times he felt he would never escape.Written with lyricism and poignancy, Mark captures the visceral nature of this most debilitating of illnesses with a frightening clarity, while at the same time offering a sympathetic and dispassionate view of what is happening, and perhaps why. This is not a self-help book but a memoir that is brimful of experience, understanding and hope for all those who read it. It is above all honest, touching and surprisingly optimistic.
Undersong
by Kathleen Winter&“A stunning, spellbinding, poetic triumph." —Toronto Star From Giller-shortlisted author Kathleen Winter (author of the bestseller Annabel): A stunning novel reimagining the lost years of misunderstood Romantic Era genius Dorothy Wordsworth.When young James Dixon, a local jack-of-all-trades recently returned from the Battle of Waterloo, meets writer Dorothy Wordsworth, he quickly realizes he&’s never met another woman anything like her. In her early thirties at the time of the meeting, Dorothy has already lived a wildly unconventional life. As her famous brother William Wordsworth&’s confidante and creative collaborator—considered by some in their circle to be the secret to his success as a poet—she has carved a seemingly idyllic existence for herself, alongside William and his wife, in England&’s Lake District. One day, Dixon is approached by William to do some handiwork around the Wordsworth estate. At William&’s urging, he takes on more and more chores—and quickly understands that his real, unspoken responsibility is to keep an eye on Dorothy, who is growing frail and melancholic. The unlikely pair of misfits form a sympathetic bond despite the sometimes troubling chasm in social class between them, and soon Dixon is the quiet witness to everyday life in Dorothy&’s family and glittering social circle, which includes literary legends Samuel Coleridge, Thomas de Quincy, William Blake, and Charles and Mary Lamb. Through the fictional James Dixon—a gentle but troubled soul, more attuned to the wonders of the garden he faithfully tends than to vexing worldly matters—we step inside the Wordsworth family, witnessing their dramatic emotional and artistic struggles, hidden traumas, private betrayals and triumphs. At the same time, Winter slowly weaves a darker, complex &“undersong&” through the novel, one as earthy and elemental as flower and tree, gradually revealing the pattern of Dorothy's rich, hidden life—that of a woman determined, against all odds, to exist on her own terms despite societal norms. But the unsettling effects of Dorothy&’s tragically repressed brilliance take their toll, and when at last her true voice finally sings out, it is so searing and bright that Dixon, compelled equally by love and grief and fear, must make an impossible choice.
Understanding Earth: Women Who Led the Way (Super SHEroes of Science) (Super SHEroes of Science)
by Nancy DickmannThis brand-new series highlights some of the major contributions women have made in the world of science.What shapes our planet? Women have been answering the question for centuries on many levels. Scientists such as Marie Curie have investigated the building blocks of matter, and the physical forces that act upon them. Geologists have studied the rocks beneath our feet by venturing dangerously close to erupting volcanoes, and have figured out what lies at Earth’s center and why its surface moves as it does. Women have also led the way in exploring the planet’s atmosphere and the causes and effects of climate change, the most urgent problem scientists are trying to solve. This book tells their stories and describes their vital contributions.
Understanding Military Workforce Productivity
by Robert M. Bray Laurel L. Hourani Jason Williams Marian E. Lane Mary Ellen MarsdenFrom the stresses of repeated deployments to the difficulties of re-entry into civilian life, we are just beginning to understand how protracted conflicts, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, are affecting service members. Issues such as risky health behaviors and chemical dependence raise productivity concerns as they do with all organizations, but they also have a profound impact on the safety and readiness of troops--and by extension, the military as a whole--in life-or-death situations. Understanding Military Workforce Productivity cuts through the myths and misconceptions about the health and resilience of today's active-duty armed forces. This first-of-its-kind volume presents up-to-date findings across service branches in core health areas including illness and injury, alcohol and drug abuse, tobacco use, obesity, and mental health. The short- and long-term implications discussed relate to the quality of the lives of service members and their families, the quality and preparedness of the military as a workforce, and prevention and intervention efforts. The book: Presents data from ten large-scale health behavior surveys sponsored by the Department of Defense. Offers background context for understanding health and behavioral health and productivity among service members. Introduces a health and behavioral health model of productivity loss in the armed forces. Compares key indicators of substance abuse, health, and mental health in military and civilian populations. Reviews approaches for improving military productivity. Identifies areas for further study. Understanding Military Workforce Productivity offers a rare close-up of health issues in the services, making it an invaluable source of information for practitioners and researchers in mental health, substance abuse, health behaviors, and military behavioral health.
Understanding Pat Conroy (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)
by Catherine SeltzerAn insightful look at the life and work of the extraordinary popular Southern writer.Pat Conroy’s novels and memoirs have indelibly shaped the image of the South in the American imagination. His writing has rendered the physical landscape of the South Carolina lowcountry familiar to legions of readers, and has staked out a more complex geography as well—one defined by domestic trauma, racial anxiety, religious uncertainty, and cultural ambivalence.In Understanding Pat Conroy, Catherine Seltzer engages in a sustained consideration of Conroy and his work. The study begins with a sketch of Conroy’s biography, which, while fascinating in its own right, is employed here to illuminate many of the motifs and characters that define his work and to locate him within southern literary tradition. Seltzer then explores each of Conroy’s major works, tracing the evolution of the themes within and among each of his novels, including The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, and South of Broad, and his memoirs, among them The Water Is Wide and My Losing Season.Seltzer’s insightful close readings of Conroy’s work are supplemented by interviews and archival material, shedding new light on the often-complex dynamics between text and context in Conroy’s oeuvre. More broadly, Understanding Pat Conroy explores the ways that Conroy delights in troubling the boundaries that circumscribe the literary establishment—and links his work to existing debates about the contemporary American canon.
Understanding the Beats
by Edward Halsey FosterAnalysis of the lives and works of the major writers of the Beat Generation.
Understanding the Heart: Surprising Insights into the Evolutionary Origins of Heart Disease—and Why It Matters
by Doctor Stephen Hussey“The most mind-blowing information on heart disease. . . . I consider this to be one of the best books I’ve ever read on cardiovascular health.”—Ben Greenfield, New York Times bestselling author Heart disease is the number-one killer in the world. Despite ever-advancing medical procedures and more and more powerful pharmaceutical drugs, the rate of heart disease continues to rise. According to Dr. Stephen Hussey, this is due in part to misunderstandings about how the heart really functions and how to keep it healthy. These misunderstandings result in improper medical approaches and off-target intervention therapies. As a type 1 diabetic, Dr. Hussey has always known that he was at two to four times greater risk of developing heart disease. As a result, he has dedicated his entire adult life to understanding the heart, to prevent himself from becoming a statistic. And then his worst nightmare came true. Dr. Hussey suffered a “STEMI,” a blockage in the left anterior descending artery of his heart. STEMIs are typically so fatal that they are known as “widowmakers.” Only 12 percent of those who experience them outside of a hospital setting survive. Dr. Hussey was among the lucky 12 percent, but faced a difficult decision during his recovery: follow the standard of care laid out for him by the attending cardiologist, or politely decline and apply everything he’d learned about the heart to a recovery protocol that would look massively different than what the doctors were recommending. In Understanding the Heart, Dr. Hussey shares the information that guided him through the highest-stakes decision of his life, including: A large body of research suggesting that the heart is not the main mover of blood in the body, and what that means for your overall health The evolutionary origins of the nervous system, and how these manifest today in rampant rates of heart disease Deep analysis of the widely accepted idea that saturated fat and cholesterol will clog your arteries The importance of reducing oxidative stress for a heart healthy lifestyle In Understanding the Heart, Dr. Stephen Hussey lays bare everything he has learned in his deep investigation into the heart, and guides you on a path to prevent disease in the context of a highly diseased modern world in order to enjoy lifelong good health.
Understanding Thomas Jefferson
by E. M. HallidayRecent biographies of Thomas Jefferson have stressed the sphinx-like puzzles of his character-famous champion of freedom yet lifelong slaveholder, foe of miscegenation yet secret lover of a beautiful slave for 30 years, aristocrat yet fervent advocate of government by the people. E. M. Halliday's absorbing and lucid portrait recognizes these and other puzzles about this great founder, but shows us how understandable they can be in light of his personal and social circumstances. Halliday takes readers deep into Jefferson's private life-exploring his childhood, his literary taste, and his unconventional religious thinking and moral philosophy. Here, too, are his adamant opinions on women, the evolution of his ideas on democracy and freedom of expression, and fresh insights into his relationship with Sally Hemings. A longtime senior editor of American Heritage, E. M. Halliday is the author of a memoir of the poet John Berryman and an account of the Allied invasion of Soviet Russia in 1918-19, as well as a number of articles for The New Yorker.
Understanding Thomas Jefferson
by E. M. HallidayRecent biographies of Thomas Jefferson have stressed the sphinxlike puzzles of his character—famous champion of freedom yet lifelong slaveholder, foe of miscegenation yet secret lover of a beautiful slave for 30 years, aristocrat yet fervent advocate of government by the people. E. M. Halliday's absorbing and lucid portrait recognizes these and other puzzles about this great founder, but shows us how understandable they can be in light of his personal and social circumstances. Halliday takes readers deep into Jefferson's private life—exploring his childhood, his literary taste, and his unconventional religious thinking and moral philosophy. Here, too, are his adamant opinions on women, the evolution of his ideas on democracy and freedom of expression, and fresh insights into his relationship with Sally Hemings.
Understanding Through Fiction: A Selection from Teresa, My Love: An Imagined Life of the Saint of Avila (To the Point)
by Julia KristevaBorn in 1515, Teresa of Avila survived the Spanish Inquisition and was a key reformer of the Carmelite Order. Her experience of ecstasy, which she intimately described in her writings, released her from her body and led to a complete realization of her consciousness, a state Julia Kristeva explores as it was expressed in Teresa's writing. Incorporating notes from her own psychoanalytic practice, as well as literary and philosophical references, Kristeva builds a fascinating dual diagnosis of contemporary society and the individual psyche while sharing unprecedented insights into her own character. Through her dazzlingly varied formats Kristeva tests the borderlines of atheism and the need for faith, feminism and the need for a benign patriarchy.
Understanding Through Fiction: An Imagined Life of the Saint of Avila
by Julia KristevaBorn in 1515, Teresa of Avila survived the Spanish Inquisition and was a key reformer of the Carmelite Order. Her experience of ecstasy, which she intimately described in her writings, released her from her body and led to a complete realization of her consciousness, a state Julia Kristeva explores as it was expressed in Teresa's writing. Incorporating notes from her own psychoanalytic practice, as well as literary and philosophical references, Kristeva builds a fascinating dual diagnosis of contemporary society and the individual psyche while sharing unprecedented insights into her own character. Through her dazzlingly varied formats Kristeva tests the borderlines of atheism and the need for faith, feminism and the need for a benign patriarchy.
Understory: A Life With Trees
by Inga SimpsonA memoir about staying in one place, told through trees, by the award-winning author of MR WIGG, NEST and WHERE THE TREES WERE."The understorey is where I live, alongside these plants and creatures. I tend the forest, stand at the foot of trees and look up, gather what has fallen."This is the story of a tree-change, of escaping suburban Brisbane for a cottage on ten acres in search of a quiet life. Of establishing a writers retreat shortly before the Global Financial Crisis hit, and of losing just about everything when it did. It is also the story of what the author found there: the beauty of nature and her own path as a writer. Understory is a memoir about staying in one place, told through trees, by the award-winning author of MR WIGG, NEST and WHERE THE TREES WERE.'It is a fine addition to the genre of Australian nature writing.' Books + Publishing
Understory
by Inga Simpson'a controlled and literate work that earns its emotional peaks' - Saturday Paper'a delight' - The AustralianA memoir about staying in one place, told through trees, by the award-winning author of MR WIGG, NEST and WHERE THE TREES WERE."The understorey is where I live, alongside these plants and creatures. I tend the forest, stand at the foot of trees and look up, gather what has fallen."This is the story of a tree-change, of escaping suburban Brisbane for a cottage on ten acres in search of a quiet life. Of establishing a writers retreat shortly before the Global Financial Crisis hit, and of losing just about everything when it did. It is also the story of what the author found there: the beauty of nature and her own path as a writer. Understory is a memoir about staying in one place, told through trees, by the award-winning author of MR WIGG, NEST and WHERE THE TREES WERE.'Something powerful ... takes hold of the reader and transports [you] to the forest floor in a kind of awe' - Sydney Morning Herald'I love the way the reader gets lost in the trees and then lost in Inga's life and then lost in the trees again. Understory feels so rich and nourishing, as if the restorative power of the Australian bush is transmitted through her words.' - Richard Glover, bestselling author and radio presenter'a fine addition to the genre of Australian nature writing' Books + Publishing
The Undertaker's Daughter
by Kate Mayfield'On the last day of 1959 my father, the Beau Brummel of morticians, piled us into his green and white Desoto in which we looked like a moving pack of Salem cigarettes. He drove away from Lanesboro, the city in which we all were born, and into a small town on the Kentucky and Tennessee border. It was only a ninety-minute drive, but it might as well have been to Alaska. When our big boat of a car glided into Jubilee we circled the town square and headed towards the residential section of Main Street. My father pulled the car over and our five dark heads turned to face a huge, slightly run down house. My parents were total strangers to this tiny enclave, but it didn't matter because my father had finally realised his dream in this old house, which was to own his own funeral home.'
The Undertaker's Daughter: A Memoir
by Kate Mayfield“The Undertaker’s Daughter is a wonderfully quirky, gem of a book beautifully written by Kate Mayfield.…Her compelling, complicated family and cast of characters stay with you long after you close the book” (Monica Holloway, author of Cowboy & Wills and Driving With Dead People).How does one live in a house of the dead? Kate Mayfield explores what it meant to be the daughter of a small-town undertaker in this fascinating memoir evocative of Six Feet Under and The Help, with a hint of Mary Roach’s Stiff.After Kate Mayfield was born, she was taken directly to a funeral home. Her father was an undertaker, and for thirteen years the family resided in a place nearly synonymous with death, where the living and the dead entered their house like a vapor. In a memoir that reads like a Harper Lee novel, Mayfield draws the reader into a world of haunting Southern mystique.In the turbulent 1960s, Kate’s father set up shop in sleepy Jubilee, Kentucky, a segregated, god-fearing community where no one kept secrets—except the ones they were buried with. By opening a funeral home, Frank Mayfield also opened the door to family feuds, fetishes, murder, suicide, and all manner of accidents. Kate saw it all—she also witnessed the quiet ruin of her father, who hid alcoholism and infidelity behind a cool and charismatic façade. As Kate grows from trusting child to rebellious teen, the enforced sobriety of the funeral home begins to chafe, and she longs for the day she can escape the confines of Jubilee and her place as the undertaker’s daughter.“Mayfield fashions a poignant send-off to Jubilee in this thoughtfully rendered work” (Publishers Weekly).
The Undertaker's Wife: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Laughter in the Unlikeliest of Places
by Dee Oliver Jodie BerndtOn Dee Branch’s first date with Johnnie Oliver, a fourth-generation funeral director, she knew she was in for a unique relationship when he had to leave “for just a minute”—and he came back to the car with a corpse. Over twenty years later, Dee was still in love with her charming southern gentleman when he passed away suddenly in 2007. Determined to carry on Johnnie’s work, Dee earned her mortuary science degree, only to find herself no longer needed in the family business. So Dee crossed the racial divide in the most segregated industry in America and joined the staff of an African-American funeral home as a single white woman. In The Undertaker’s Wife, Oliver draws from her wealth of experience to provide candid and often hysterically funny advice on dying well and surviving the loss of those who have gone before. Her insights on the common ground of grief, survival, and the ever-present faithfulness of God (to all of us, regardless of our race, religious upbringing, or socio-economic background) will help readers prepare for one of life’s only certainties—and do it with wisdom, grace, and a healthy dose of joy.
The Undertaking: Life Studies From The Dismal Trade
by Thomas Lynch"[Lynch] brings the lessons of death to life, and turns life and death into art." --Time Out New York Here is the voice of both witness and functionary. Lynch stands between "the living and the living who have died" with outrage and amazement, awe and calm, straining for the brief glimpse we all get of what mortality means to a vital species.
Undertones of War
by Edmund Blunden“I took my road with no little pride of fear; one morning I feared very sharply, as I saw what looked like a rising shroud over a wooden cross in the clustering mist. Horror! But on a closer study I realized that the apparition was only a flannel gas helmet. . . . What an age since 1914!” In Undertones of War, one of the finest autobiographies to come out of World War I, the acclaimed poet Edmund Blunden records his devastating experiences in combat. After enlisting at the age of twenty, he took part in the disastrous battles at the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele, describing them as “murder, not only to the troops but to their singing faiths and hopes.” All the horrors of trench warfare, all the absurdity and feeble attempts to make sense of the fighting, all the strangeness of observing war as a writer—of being simultaneously soldier and poet—pervade Blunden’s memoir. In steely-eyed prose as richly allusive as any poetry, he tells of the endurance and despair found among the men of his battalion, including the harrowing acts of bravery that won him the Military Cross. Now back in print for American readers, the volume includes a selection of Blunden’s war poems that unflinchingly juxtapose death in the trenches with the beauty of Flanders’s fields. Undertones of War deserves a place on anyone’s bookshelf between Siegfried Sassoon’s poetry and Robert Graves’s Goodbye to All That.
Underwater Daughter: A Memoir of Survival and Healing
by Antonia DeignanIn the spirit of The Glass Castle and The Burning Light of Two Stars, Antonia Deignan delivers what New York Times best-selling author Julie Cantrell calls a “a heart-shattering memoir of painful truth and soulful healing.”As a child, Antonia perceived her father’s nighttime visits as special acts of love. On some deeper level, though, she knew what was happening wasn’t right. To escape, she began creating imaginary worlds and used dreams to transport her away from her fears. As she got older, Antonia traded those fantasies for dance—but despite her outlets she remained trapped underwater, without a lifeline to make her feel fundamentally safe.For years, Antonia silently navigated the dark fathoms of her internalized pain, which manifested in myriad self-destructive habits: disordered eating, drug and alcohol abuse. Only decades later, while recovering from a serious bike accident, did she finally stop running and start reflecting—giving her the power to fully accept what had happened to her in her early life and ultimately forgive the unforgivable.Raw and visceral yet gorgeously lyrical, Underwater Daughter masterfully conveys not only the rippling effects of childhood trauma but also the hope that with honesty and work, healing is possible.
Underwater to Get Out of the Rain: A Love Affair With the Sea
by Trevor NortonOn a hot summer's day there could be no quicker transport to the seaside than Trevor Norton's cool and entrancing account of a lifetime's adventures under or near the water. Norton's eye for the bizarre, amazing, and beautiful inhabitants of the oceans, and the eccentric characters who work, study, and live by the shore make his book a wonder-filled experience. An intrepid diver and distinguished scientist, Norton's writing is self-deprecating, very funny, and full of wry and intriguing anecdotes; he is an unfailingly delightful companion. Whether his setting is a bed of jewel anemones in an Irish lough, a giant California cavern shared with sea lions, a mildewed research station, or the glittering coral gardens of Sharm el Sheikh, his captivating prose always finds the mark. Sometimes following the shoreline with earlier beachcombers such as Darwin, John Steinbeck, and George Orwell, Norton also takes the reader to depths where the shapes of creatures living without sunlight defy imagination. Admirers of the gorgeous detail of Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us will revel in Norton's writing, his observations, and irreverent wit.
The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean
by Susan CaseyNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From bestselling author Susan Casey, an awe-inspiring portrait of the mysterious world beneath the waves, and the men and women who seek to uncover its secrets&“An irresistible mix of splendid scholarship, heart-stopping adventure writing, and vivid, visceral prose." —Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of The Soul of an Octopus For all of human history, the deep ocean has been a source of wonder and terror, an unknown realm that evoked a singular, compelling question: What&’s down there? Unable to answer this for centuries, people believed the deep was a sinister realm of fiendish creatures and deadly peril. But now, cutting-edge technologies allow scientists and explorers to dive miles beneath the surface, and we are beginning to understand this strange and exotic underworld: A place of soaring mountains, smoldering volcanoes, and valleys 7,000 feet deeper than Everest is high, where tectonic plates collide and separate, and extraordinary life forms operate under different rules. Far from a dark void, the deep is a vibrant realm that&’s home to pink gelatinous predators and shimmering creatures a hundred feet long and ancient animals with glass skeletons and sharks that live for half a millennium—among countless other marvels.Susan Casey is our premiere chronicler of the aquatic world. For The Underworld she traversed the globe, joining scientists and explorers on dives to the deepest places on the planet, interviewing the marine geologists, marine biologists, and oceanographers who are searching for knowledge in this vast unseen realm. She takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of deep-sea exploration, from the myths and legends of the ancient world to storied shipwrecks we can now reach on the bottom, to the first intrepid bathysphere pilots, to the scientists who are just beginning to understand the mind-blowing complexity and ecological importance of the quadrillions of creatures who live in realms long thought to be devoid of life.Throughout this journey, she learned how vital the deep is to the future of the planet, and how urgent it is that we understand it in a time of increasing threats from climate change, industrial fishing, pollution, and the mining companies that are also exploring its depths. The Underworld is Susan Casey&’s most beautiful and thrilling book yet, a gorgeous evocation of the natural world and a powerful call to arms.
The Underworld Captain: From Gangland Goodfella To Army Officer
by Alexander Shannon David LeslieAlexander Shannon escaped a shady past to enjoy a glittering career in the army, only to end up back in the thick of criminal activity.Shannon's time as a soldier saw him posted to the Falklands, Northern Ireland and war-torn Bosnia. The rigours of army life took their toll and he found himself drawn into a series of ruthless gang wars. He used the skills he'd learned in the forces to hide weapons, work for drugs racketeers and plot a massacre, and he was offered a fortune to work as a Mafia-style contract assassin.He was questioned over brutal killings and accused of a triple murder attempt, yet his dedication and determination to succeed in the army brought him accolades and a series of promotions. In The Underworld Captain, Shannon explains how he managed to combine a successful army career with dangerous gangland dealings for so long and how he finally broke free for good.
Undetectable
by Casey CharlesUndetectable is a story of love, loss, and viral loads, a memoir of long-term survival with HIV. From New York graduate student in 1989, who contracts the virus from the love of his life to Montana writer in 2018 visiting the slums of Nairobi, the author finds his own drama intertwined with the astonishing stories of his HIV+ peers, narratives that intersect the path of his travails and act as foils to the foibles of a gay man who comes out, falls in love, and faces a death sentence at the beginning of his career. In his fight for drugs, friends, and support, Charles learns the power of linking self to other as he confronts stigma, heartbreak, and fear with a visceral resilience. By discovering the power of community, Undetectable explores a generation of long-term HIV survivors who have lived to tell the story of an AIDS pandemic now in its fifth decade without cure or vaccine.
Undici viaggiatori ed esploratori che hanno ampliato i confini del mondo conosciuto
by Debora Serrentino Michael RankDall'autore del best-seller #1 "I dieci grandi generali della storia", arriva un nuovo appassionante libro sui più grandi esploratori della storia e sul modo in cui le loro scoperte hanno plasmato il mondo moderno. Che si tratti di Rabban Bar Sauma, il monaco cinese del tredicesimo secolo incaricato dai mongoli di viaggiare verso ovest per formare un'alleanza militare contro l'Islam, o di Marco Polo, che ha aperto una finestra sull'oriente per l'Europa, o del Capitano James Cook, i cui viaggi alla scoperta del mare crearono l'economia globale del ventunesimo secolo, ognuno di questi esploratori ha avuto un'incredibile impatto sulla società moderna. Questo libro tratterà degli undici più grandi esploratori della storia. Alcuni hanno viaggiato per devozione religiosa, come Ibn Battuta, che ha viaggiato dal Nord Africa fino all'Indonesia nel 1300, visitando, sul percorso, ogni luogo del pellegrinaggio islamico. Altri hanno viaggiato per profitto, come Ferdinando Magellano, che voleva consolidare i possedimenti spagnoli sul commercio delle spezie. Altri hanno viaggiato per il semplice brivido dell'avventura, come l'esploratore vittoriano Richard Francis Burton, che imparò 29 lingue, andò in pellegrinaggio alla Mecca sotto copertura e scrisse 50 libri su argomenti che variano dalla traduzione del Kama Sutra al manuale di esercizi con la baionetta. Anche altri hanno viaggiato per il piacere della scoperta, come Ernest Shackleton, che ha condotto ventiquattro uomini alla base del mondo nel tentativo di attraversare l'Antartide a piedi. Quali che siano state le ragioni per la scoperta, questi esploratori ci ispirano ancora oggi a superare i limiti della conquista umana e a scoprire nel frattempo qualcosa su noi stessi.