Curiosity, Adventure Travel, Exploration, Trade, War, Murder : The European Expansion, 15th to 20th Century

A fast-paced narrative exploration of adventure, discovery, and murder while each evolving empire seeks to annihilate the current owner of the trade monopoly. This maritime history, unwinding through the eyes of a sailor, is both educational and engaging on a personal level. Consider whether Marco Polo was for real, did Prince Henry the Navigator, by himself, open the curtain for discovery, why did the Portuguese Empire barely last one hundred years, how did an Egyptian scientist determine the circumference of the earth long before Christ, what was the medieval stopwatch, how did a one-armed, one-eyed, 135-pound British sailor upstage Napoleon at every opportunity and prevent an invasion from France? This and much more.

The second book inside this cover is a themed travelogue with boots-on-the-ground personal adventure travel and discovery, which includes the inspiration to take on this project.

Read was inspired to write this maritime history and travelogue after visiting the island of Ternate, the spice island that drew so many European explorers.

Read is a retired engineer who now spends much of his time backpacking, adventure traveling, and sailing. He has patented a marine self-rescue device and is an amateur radio operator, marine historian, astronomer, and telescope maker. He plans to personally hand out copies of this book to the friends in Indonesia who inspired its writing.