The Mammoth Book Of Travel In Dangerous Places (2015) - Plot & Excerpts
This is a collection of excerpts from famous works of exploration, and features almost all of the expected explorers from the 18th, 19th and early 20th century.Many of the excerpts are excellent - Alexander Burns, Ed Hillary, Charles Doughty, Harry St John Bridger Philby, Wilfred Thesiger, Mungo Park, Mary Kingsley, Richard Francis Burton, John Hanning Speke, Alexander von Humboldt.Others were good, some were not so good.It's fair to say if you have an interest in this genre, there is likely to some chapters in here you will really enjoy. Its a sizeable book, and for me it worked well to read in short stints, a chapter here and a chapter there.Not sure about starring this - as I said parts were fantastic, parts were a bit meh, so overall I am going 3.5 stars (are we ever getting half stars Otis?), rounding down to 3.
The title and cover text of the book seem to promise wild accounts of dangerous adventures and although some of the stories are simply amazing, too many aren't interesting enough to warrant the purchase of the book. The initial flaw is that the excerpts, taken from actual travels and journeys are so short that you're left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. You want to know more of the story and more of the politics involved. Of course, this only goes for the 'good' stories, the 'bad' stories not being interesting enough in the first place.
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