The Book of Marvels: An Explorer's Miscellany

In centuries past, undertaking a journey meant a voyage into the unknown, traveling for months or years into unexplored areas on the map where cartographers could only speculate "There be dragons." And those fortunate adventurers who made it home again always had fantastical tales to tell—even if sometimes they stretched the truth up to and beyond the breaking point.

This eclectic history of exploration sweeps from antiquity to the 1800s, encompassing ages when new marvels might be waiting over the next hill or a new world just over the horizon. Among others, we meet Marco Polo, the 13th-century Venetian whose extravagant accounts of distant Cathay were mainly true; Sir John Mandeville, less intrepid explorer than shameless exaggerator; and John Wesley Powell, braving Colorado River rapids on the first trip through the Grand Canyon.

We visit dozens of places around the globe captured in the words, images, and maps of their discoverers. Each page unfolds its wonders in gorgeous profusion that delights the eye and dazzles the imagination. The perfect gift for Dads and Grads looking for the next great adventure.

Mark Jenkins is chief historian of the National Geographic Society’s archives. Among other accomplishments, he is the author of Worlds to Explore and co-author of High Adventure.