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The Mammoth Book of Travel in Dangerous Places: East and Central Africa
by John KeayAmong the Sudanese - James BruceBruce reached the source of the Blue Nile in 1771, a century before the search for the source of the White Nile became headline news. His descriptions of the cruelties and orgies at Gondar, the Ethiopian capital, were greeted with disbelief; so was his account of the Sudanese rulers, and their queens, at Sennar. He was later shown to be an accurate observer as well as the eighteenth century's most intrepid traveller.Not the Source of the Nile - Richard Francis BurtonIn Burton a brilliant mind and dauntless physique were matched with a restless spirit and a deeply troubled soul to produce the most complex of characters. Contemptuous of other mortals, including Speke, his companion and rival, he found solace only in the extremities of erudition and adventure. A Glimpse of Lake Victoria - John Hanning SpekeIn July 1858, while returning from Lake Tanganyika with Burton, Speke made a solo excursion to the north in search of an even larger lake reported by an Arab informant. Although partially blind and unable to ascertain its extent, he named this lake "Victoria" and boldly declared it the long sought source of the White Nile. The Reservoir of the Nile - Samuel White BakerAmongst professional explorers and big game hunters, none was as successful as Baker. A bluff and plausible figure, wealthy and resourceful, he conducted his explorations on the grand scale, invariably reached his goal and invariably reaped the rewards.Last Days - David LivingstoneLivingstone was nurtured in poverty and religious fervour. He reached southern Africa as a missionary doctor but, more suited to solitary exploration, edged north in a series of pioneering journeys into the interior. Encounters on the Upper Congo - Henry Morton StanleyStanley made his name as an explorer by tracking down Livingstone in 1871. But obscure Welsh origins, plus the adoption of US citizenship and professional journalism, did not endear him to London's geographical establishment. His response was to out-travel all contemporaries, beginning with the first ever coast-to-coast crossing of equatorial Africa. A Novice at Large - Joseph ThomsonBarely twenty and just out of Edinburgh University, Thompson was unexpectedly employed on the Royal Geographical Society's 1878 expedition to the Central African lakes. Unlike Burton he admired Africans; unlike Stanley he would not fight them. His motto - "he who goes slowly, goes safely; he who goes safely, goes far" - was never more seriously tested that when, just six weeks inland from Dar es Salaam, his first expedition lost Keith Johnston, its leader and Thompson's only European companion.
The Mammoth Book of Travel in Dangerous Places: Antarctic
by John KeayFarthest South - Ernest Henry ShackletonBorn in Ireland, Shackleton joined the merchant navy before being recruited for Captain Scott's 1901 expedition to Antarctica. He was with Scott on his first attempt to reach the South Pole and, though badly shaken by the experience, realized that success was now feasible. In 1907, with a devoted team but little official support, he launched his own expedition. A scientific programme gave it respectability but Shackleton was essentially an adventurer, beguiled alike by the challenge of the unknown and the reward of celebrity. His goal was the Pole, 90 degrees south, and by Christmas 1908 his four-man team were already at 85 degrees.The Pole at Last - Roald AmundsenAmundsen's 1903-6 voyage through North West Passage had heralded a new era in exploration. The route by then was tolerably well known and its environs explored. His vessel was a diminutive fishing smack, his crew a group of Norwegian friends, and his object simply to be the first to have sailed through. He did it because it had not been done and "because it was there". The same applied to his 1911 conquest of the South Pole. Shackleton had shown the way and Amundsen drew the right conclusions. The Pole was not a scientist's playground nor a mystic's dreamland; it was simply a physical challenge. Instead of officers, gentlemen and scientists, he took men who could ski and dogs that could pull; if need be, the former could eat the latter. The only real anxiety was whether they would forestall Scott.In Extremis - Robert Falcon ScottScott was chosen to lead the 1900-4 British National Antarctic Expedition. Its considerable achievements seemed to vindicate the choice of a naval officer more noted for integrity and courage than any polar experience, and, following Shackleton's near success, in 1910 Scott again sailed south intending to combine a busy scientific programme with a successful bid for the South Pole. On 17 January 1912 he and four others duly reached the Pole, indeed they sighted a real pole and it bore a Norwegian flag; Amundsen had got there 34 days ahead of them. Bitterly disappointed, soon overtaken by scurvy and bad weather, and still dragging sledges laden with geological specimens, they trudged back. The tragedy which then unfolded eclipsed even Amundsen's achievement and won them an immortality beyond the dreams of any explorer.
The Mammoth Book of Travel in Dangerous Places: North America
by John KeayFirst Crossing of America - Alexander Mackenzie"Endowed by nature with an acquisitive mind and an enterprising spirit", Mackenzie, a Scot engaged in the Canadian fur trade, resolved, as he out it "to test the practicability of penetrating across the continent of America". In 1789 he followed a river (the Mackenzie) to the sea; but it turned out to be the Arctic Ocean. He tried again in 1793 and duly reached the Pacific at Queen Charlotte Sound in what is now British Columbia. Although this was his first recorded overland crossing of the continent, Mackenzie was not given to trumpeting his achievement. In his narrative it passes without celebration and very nearly without mention.Meeting the Shoshonee - Meriwether LewisAs Thomas Jefferson's personal secretary, Lewis was chosen to lead the US government's 1804-5 expedition to explore (and to establish US interests) from Mississippi to the Pacific. Travelling up the Missouri river to the continental divide in Montana, Lewis left the main party under his colleague William Clark, and scouted ahead. With everything now dependant on securing the goodwill of the formidable Shoshonee, he showed admirable caution; but the issue was eventually decided by a fortuitous reunion between the Indian wife of one of his men and her long-lost brethren.
The Mammoth Book of Travel in Dangerous Places: Arctic
by John KeayFour Years in the Ice - John RossDisgraced and dishonored for his report of an imaginary mountain range blocking the most likely access to the North West Passage, in 1829 Ross returned to Canada's frozen archipelago to vindicate his reputation. He rounded the north of Baffin Island and entered what he named the Gulf of Boothia. Here the Victory, his eccentric paddle-steamer, became frozen to the ice. Through three tantalizingly brief summers the expedition tried to find a way out and through four long winters then endured the worst of Arctic conditions in a makeshift camp. In July 1832, with the ship long since abandoned, Ross made what must be their last bid to reach open water.Living off Lichen and Leather - John FranklinIn 1845, looking again for the North West Passage, two well-crewed ships under Franklin's command sailed into the Canadian Arctic and were never seen again. There began the most prolonged search ever mounted for an explorer. For Franklin had been lost before and yet had survived. In 1821, returning from an overland reconnaissance of the Arctic coast north of Great Slave Lake, he and Dr. John Richardson, with two Lieutenants and about a dozen voyageurs (mostly French), had run out of food and then been overtaken by the Arctic weather. Franklin's narrative of what is probably the grisliest journey on record omits unpalatable details, like the cannibalism of one of his men, the murder of Lieut. Hood, and Richardson's summary shooting of the murderer; but it well conveys the debility of men forced to survive on leather and lichen (triple de roche) plus that sense of demoralization and disintegration that heralds the demise of an expedition.Adrift on an Arctic Ice Floe - Fridtjof Nansen Norwegian patriot, natural scientist, and Nobel laureate, Nansen caught the world's imagination when he almost reached the North Pole in 1895. The attempt was made on skis from specially reinforced vessel which, driven into the ice, was carried from Siberia towards Greenland. The idea stemmed from his first expedition, an 1888 crossing of Greenland. Then too he had used skis and then too, unwittingly and nearly disastrously, he had taken to the ice. Arrived off Greenland's inhospitable east coast, he had ordered his five-man party to spare their vessel by crossing the off-shore ice floe in rowing boats. A task which he expected to take a few hours turned into an involuntary voyage down the coast of twelve days.The Pole is Mine - Robert Edwin Peary Born in Pennsylvania and latterly a commander in the US navy, Peary had set his sights on claiming the North Pole from childhood. It was not just an obsession but a religion, his manifest destiny. Regardless of cost, hardship, and other men's sensibilities, he would be Peary of the Pole, and the Pole would be American. Critics might carp over the hundreds of dogs that were sacrificed to his ambition, over the chain of supply depots that would have done credit to a military advance, and over the extravagance of Peary's ambition, but success, in 1909, came only after a catalogue of failures; and even then it would be disputed. Under the circumstances his triumphalism is understandable and, however distasteful, not unknown amongst other Polar travelers.
The Mammoth Book of Travel in Dangerous Places: Australia
by John KeayLandfall at Botany Bay - James CookThe son of a Yorkshire farm labourer, Cook won distinction as a naval hydrographer but was still a controversial choice to command a voyage of scientific observation to the Pacific in 1768. Its results, including the first coastal surveys of New Zealand and eastern Australia, led to a second voyage to the south Pacific and a third to the north Pacific, during which he was killed in a fracas with the Hawaiians. It was a tragic end for one whose humble origins disposed him to respect indigenous peoples. "They are far happier than we Europeans", he noted of Australia's aborigines following a brief encounter at Botany Bay (Sydney), the first European landing on the Pacific coast, in 1770.Escape from the Outback - Charles SturtAfter pioneering journeys to the Darling and Murray rivers, in 1844-5 Sturt headed north for the heart of Australia. Since the continent appeared to have few seaward draining rivers it was assumed that, alike Africa, it must boat an inland lake region; a boat was therefore included amongst the expeditions equipment. But Sturt failed to reach the geographical centre of the continent, and the largest stretch of water found was at Coopers Creek, later to figure so prominently in the endeavours of Burke and Wills. Sturt's painful retreat during the hottest summer on record formed a fitting prelude to the Wills saga.Death at Coopers Creek - William John WillsIn early 1861 Robert O'Hara Burke, William Wills and John King reached Australia's northern coast on the Gulf of Carpentaria, thus completing the first transcontinental crossing. Returning the way they had come, after four months of appalling hardship they staggered into Sturt's Coopers Creek where men and supplies had been left to await their return. They were just eight hours too late; the relief party, despairing of their return, had left that very morning. One of exploration's most poignant moments was followed by one of its most protracted tragedies as the expedition tried to extricate itself, failed, faded, and died. Only King survived; three months later he was discovered living with the aborigines; Will's heartbreaking journal was found lying beside his skeleton.To See the Sea - John McDouall StuartModest, dedicated, immensely tough and thoroughly congenial, Stuart was very much an explorer's explorer. With little support or fuss he began probing north from Adelaide in the late 1850's. In 1860 he was the first to reach the centre of the continent, thus completing the work of Sturt. Although Burke and Wills just beat him in the race to cross the continent, Stuart's 1862 route was much longer and more difficult; and he did actually reach the sea. He was also to return alive.
The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings (Mammoth Books)
by Peter HainingThis giant collection includes a huge range of 20th-century first-hand accounts of hauntings, such as the American troops who repeatedly saw the ghosts of a dead platoon of men while on patrol in Vietnam; and the witnessed haunting of a house near Tintagel in Cornwall that led actress Kate Winslet to pull out of buying the property.It covers the full spectrum of credible hauntings, from poltergeists (the noisy, dangerous and frightening spirits that are usually associated with pubescent girls, like the Bell Witch), to phantoms (like the Afrits of Saudi Arabia) and seduction spirits (such as the Lorelei, which have lured German men to death).Also included are the notes of the most famous ghost hunters of the twentieth century such as Hans Holzer, Susy Smith (USA); Harry Price, Jenny Randles (UK); Joyce Zwarycz (Australia), Eric Rosenthal (South Africa), and Hwee Tan (Japan). Plus essays by such names as Robert Graves, Edgar Cayce, and M. R. James outlining their own - often extraordinary - conclusions as to just what ghosts might be; along with a full bibliography and list of useful resources.Praise for MBO Haunted House Stories:'A first rate list of contributors ... Hair raising!' Time Out'All we need say is buy it.' Starlog
The Mammoth General Knowledge Quiz Book: 2,800 Questions and Answers
by Nick HoltA bumper collection of 2,800 questions and answers to test even the most ardent quiz fanatic.
The Mammoth Quiz Book: Over 6,000 questions in 400 quizzes to tax even hardcore quiz fanatics
by Nick HoltA comprehensive category killer, with over 6,000 varied questions on every topic imaginable - as well as some you might not imagine. The 400 quizzes are a mixture of general knowledge and specialist rounds all aimed at the popular pub or society quiz market on science and technology; nature and the universe; human geography; history; life as we know it; arts and culture; sports and games; popular culture; celebrities and trivia. The questions are up-to-date, interesting and, unlike much of the competition, accurate.
Mammoth Science: The Big Ideas That Explain Our World (DK David Macaulay How Things Work)
by DKDavid Macaulay's troupe of curious mammoths lead you through the basics of physics, biology, and chemistry in this unconventional and highly original guide to science.From the interior of an atom to the solar system and beyond, the mammoths seek to understand the science! These intrepid science demonstrators will go to incredible lengths to educate and entertain. They wrestle with magnets to understand their powerful force, make mammoth models of different materials explore what gives them mass, and step into an X-ray machine to reveal the bones beneath their woolly exterior.Observing and recording the mammoth's behavior is bestselling illustrator David Macaulay, whose How Machines Work won the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize in 2016. Renowned for his ability to explain complex ideas with simple genius, Macaulay captures the oddball humor of his subject matter, making Macaulay's Mammoth Science the perfect introduction to scientific principles for the young and the young-at-heart.
The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. (Archie Comics Presents)
by Archie SuperstarsTHE MAN FROM R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. is the first of a chronological collection of titles featuring the adventurous take on Archie Andrews and friends. This is presented in the new higher-end format of Archie Comics Presents, which offers 200+ pages at a value while taking a design cue from successful all-ages graphic novels.The villainous Mad Doctor Doom and his organization C.R.U.S.H. have targeted the students of Riverdale High with a devious plan to turn them into the Walking Dazed! Now it's up to special agent Archie Andrews and his team at R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. to stop them!
The Man in the Iron Mask: Classic Literature Easy To Read (First Avenue Classics ™)
by Alexandre DumasThe courageous musketeers—Athos, D'Artagnan, Aramis, and Porthos—return to sword fighting in the final installment of the D'Artagnan Romances. When Aramis visits the Bastille, an infamous French prison, he meets a mysterious man who wears an iron mask and claims to be the King of France's secret twin brother. While France suffers under King Louis XIV's rule, Aramis initiates an elaborate plan to free the prisoner and overthrow the corrupt king with the masked man's help. Will the musketeers survive their most daring adventure yet, filled with nefarious politics, deceitful royals, and clashing loyalties? This is an unabridged English translation of French author Alexandre Dumas's swashbuckling historical novel, which was first published in serial form between 1847 and 1850.
The Man in the Iron Mask
by Alexandre Dumas Robin M. AionaBring the Classics To Life. These novels have been adapted into 10 short chapters that will excite the reluctant reader as well as the enthusiastic one. Key words are defined and used in context. Multiple-choice questions require the student to recall specific details, sequence the events, draw inferences from story context, develop another name for the chapter, and choose the main idea.
The Man in the Moon Must Die
by Jeff BredenbergWhat do a cunning old man, a code-slopper gone rogue, a pair of lowlife tech-runners, a sexually frustrated AI, and a hermaphrodite underworld boss have in common? They're all out to get Benito Funcitti, owner of the first lunar resort: Fun City. Oh, who's that old man? He's Benito Funcitti too, thanks to a TeleCompositor "accident" that left behind a double who shouldn't exist. With two Benitos squaring off, the adventure is sure to include daring, fun, and maybe a little something on the side.Jeff Bredenberg's classic of 1980s cyberpunk has been refurbished for modern audiences, presenting an image of the near future that's both divergent and immediate.
The Man in the Woods
by Rosemary WellsWho is the man in the woods—and can Helen catch him before it&’s too late?Helen&’s first day at New Bedford Regional High School is off to a hectic start. Her locker combination doesn&’t work, she&’s late to all her classes, and she doesn&’t know a single person. But she doesn&’t need friends to figure out the unofficial rules: Cheerleaders simply don&’t associate with frizzy-haired new girls who look too young and draw political cartoons. And when Mr. Brzostoski confiscates one her drawings during class, Helen thinks her first day can&’t get any worse, but her luck changes. Instead, Mr. Bro invites Helen to join the school paper, where she meets Pinky Levy—who helps her get her locker open. But after school, fate throws Helen and Pinky together again when they both witness a car wreck. Someone threw a stone at the car window and caused the crash, and Helen is sure she saw a man in the woods nearby. When the police arrest one of her fellow students, she knows they have the wrong person—but Pinky is the only one who believes her. Will she be able to find the true identity of the man into the woods before it&’s too late? This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rosemary Wells including rare images from the author&’s collection.
Man-Killers of the Air
by L. Ron HubbardStep back in time with this riveting tale. Colorful daredevil air racer Smoke Burnham is known not only for his ability to cross the finish line ahead of the pack, but also for his unusual flying companion, a pet cheetah named Patty.On the eve of entering an international air race to win much-needed prize money, Smoke and Patty face the usual and the impossible. The race involves a dangerous, grueling flight down Central America, over the Andes and across the Brazilian jungle--that's typical. The real challenge is that a publicity-hungry newspaper mogul is trying to sabotage Smoke's plane, the "Super-Comet," and make sure that this race is his last. Plus, the beautiful woman he loves resents his supposed infatuation with height and speed. Now Smoke must somehow win her over, against lethal odds piled high in the turbulent sky. "...primo pulp fiction..." --Booklist
Man Made Boy
by Jon SkovronLove can be a real monster.Sixteen-year-old Boy's never left home. When you're the son of Frankenstein's monster and the Bride, it's tough to go out in public, unless you want to draw the attention of a torch-wielding mob. And since Boy and his family live in a secret enclave of monsters hidden under Times Square, it's important they maintain a low profile.Boy's only interactions with the world are through the Internet, where he's a hacker extraordinaire who can hide his hulking body and stitched-together face behind a layer of code. When conflict erupts at home, Boy runs away and embarks on a cross-country road trip with the granddaughters of Jekyll and Hyde, who introduce him to malls and diners, love and heartbreak. But no matter how far Boy runs, he can't escape his demons--both literal and figurative--until he faces his family once more.This hilarious, romantic, and wildly imaginative tale redefines what it means to be a monster--and a man.
Man Made Monsters
by Andrea RogersTsalagi should never have to live on human blood, but sometimes things just happen to sixteen-year-old girls. <p><p> Making her YA debut, Cherokee writer Andrea L. Rogers takes her place as one of the most striking voices of the horror renaissance that has swept the last decade. <p><p> Horror fans will get their thrills in this collection – from werewolves to vampires to zombies – all the time-worn horror baddies are there. But so are predators of a distinctly American variety – the horrors of empire, of intimate partner violence, of dispossession. And so too the monsters of Rogers’ imagination, that draw upon long-told Cherokee stories – of Deer Woman, fantastical sea creatures, and more. <p><p> Following one extended Cherokee family across the centuries, from the tribe’s homelands in Georgia in the 1830s to World War I, the Vietnam War, our own present, and well into the future, each story delivers a slice of a particular time period that will leave readers longing for more. <p><p> Alongside each story, Cherokee artist and language technologist Jeff Edwards delivers haunting illustrations that incorporate Cherokee syllabary. But don’t just take it from us – award-winning writer of The Only Good Indians and Mongrels Stephen Graham Jones says that "Andrea Rogers writes like the house is on fire and her words are the only thing that can put it out." <p><p> Man Made Monsters is a masterful, heartfelt, haunting collection ripe for crossover appeal – just don’t blame us if you start hearing things that go bump in the night.
Man-Monsters and Animal Horrors #3 (Monster Hunters Unlimited #3)
by John GatehouseNow it’s the monsters’ turn to be scared!The monster hunting continues is the third installment of Monster Hunters Unlimited. This series of tongue-in-cheek handbooks instruct readers on the not-so-deadly art of monster hunting. Complete with comical, full-color art and irreverent narratives based around actual myths, folklore, and legends, Monster Hunters Unlimited: Shape Shifters and Flying Fiends is a must-have book for all young monster hunters.
Man of Steel: The Early Years
by Frank WhitmanMiddle-grade readers will be able to experience the thrills of the major motion picture Man of Steel in this junior novel that follows young Clark Kent as he learns to control his awesome powers and finds out who he really is. Eight pages of full-color movie stills featuring Superman(TM) add to the action. Featuring characters from the action-packed new movie, the Junior Novel tells the story of Clark Kent as he learns he is not the biological son of a Kansas couple from a town called Smallville. Clark is actually from the planet Krypton. As Clark slowly learns about his amazing powers and uncovers truth of where he came from, he begins to accept that it is his destiny to be Superman.
The Man of Steel: Superman and the Man of Gold (The\man Of Steel Ser.)
by Paul WeissburgAgain and again, BOOSTER GOLD conveniently beats SUPERMAN to the punch in stopping the villains and saving the day, making the MAN OF STEELE wonder if this new hero is as all glitter and no gold . . .
Man Out at First: A Peach Street Mudders Story (Peach Street Mudders)
by Ellen Beier Matthew F ChristopherA young baseball player loses his confidence after being hit in the chest by a fast moving ball.
Man Overboard!
by Curtis ParkinsonDuring World War II, a German agent landed in Canada from a U-boat. Curtis Parkinson has used this true historical event to tell a fast-paced, exciting story. Sixteen-year-old Scott and his friend Adam find summer jobs as deckhands on the Rapids Prince, a ship that plies the waters between the town of Prescott, on the St. Lawrence River, and Montreal. Scott overhears convincing information that a German agent is actually on board the boat. He has a good reason for not telling anybody, but his silence eventually leads him into more trouble than he can imagine, including a possible murder and a kidnapping. It is up to the boys to expose the agent in order to save the Rapids Prince and the innocent passengers on board. Curtis Parkinson has written an impossible-to-put-down novel that combines history with high adventure.
Man O'War (Black Stallion)
by Walter FarleyWalter Farley, with his seamless storytelling, chronicles the life story of the horse most horse lovers continue to regard as America's greatest Thoroughbred. Through the eyes of a fictional stableboy, Danny Ryan, Farley makes the intricate world of the "Sport of Kings" accessible and exciting to horse lovers and racing fans of all ages. Book jacket.
Man vs Beast: Book 6 (Cherub Ser. #6)
by Robert MuchamoreEvery day thousands of animals die in laboratory experiments. Some say these experiments provide essential scientific knowledge, while others will do anything to prevent them.James and Lauren Adams are stuck in the middle.They're CHERUB agents. Trained professionals with one essential advantage: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.For official purposes, these children do not exist.
The Man Who Invented Roller Skates
by Laura F. NielsenRegarded as a mechanical genius, John Joseph Merlin is sadly remembered most for a party at the Carlisle House, where he careened into the hostesses' plate glass mirror, wearing his newly invented roller skates, and playing the violin.