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Below are some books and websites to look at if you want to find out more about exploration.

These are just suggestions – there are many more good resources on exploration out there. Try searching a library catalogue or online bookstore for words like ‘Polar regions’, ‘Explorers’, or ‘Discoveries’. Let us know if you have any ideas about books or websites that should be on our list.

Mythical inhabitants of Africa from Sebastian Münster's 'Cosmographia', published in Basel, Switzerland in 1559

General Exploration

Atlas of Exploration by Andrew Kerr and Francois Naude (Dorling Kindersley, 2008)
This is a colourful introduction to exploration with lots of pictures and maps.

Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (Oxford University Press, 2007)
This book has an engaging narrator who tells the story of people, from around the world and across the centuries, who left their home communities to explore. A more challenging read than the Atlas of Exploration, it is well worth the effort.

The Oxford Book of Exploration edited by Robin Hanbury-Tenison (Oxford University Press, 2005)
This is a collection of exciting extracts from original sources by explorers and travellers. Get a taste of what it’s like to be an explorer or take it further and read the full version of your favourites.

How to be an Explorer by Dugald Steer (Templar Publishing, 2007)
This is aimed at younger children but will be enjoyed by everyone, even adults. The best bits are the illustrations and pop-ups, which inspire intrepidity.

From the cover of Ernest Shackleton's 'The Heart of the Antarctic', published in 1909

Polar exploration

Freeze Frame online resources from the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI)
www.freezeframe.ac.uk/resources/resources
Based on SPRI’s world-class collection of photographic negatives illustrating polar exploration from the nineteenth century onwards, this is a must see resource for anyone interested in exploration in the Polar Regions. It offers everything from expedition summaries through biographies of explorers to information about northern peoples and survival in extreme environments.

A Time to Speak by Sir Vivian Fuchs (Nelson, 1990) Read the autobiography of Polar Explorer, Sir Vivian Fuchs to find out how he became interested in exploration as a child and went on to lead the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1955-1958).
From the cover of Henry Stanley's 'In Darkest Africa', published in 1890

African exploration

Blood River: a journey to Africa’s broken heart by Tim Butcher (Chatto & Windus, 2007)
Sent to Africa as a journalist, Tim Butcher becomes obsessed with the idea of recreating Victorian explorer, Henry Stanley’s expedition along the Congo River. This book tells the compelling story of his resulting journey and the troubled country through which he travels.