My Life as an Explorer

Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Adventure Classics, 2003. Softcover. Near Fine/No Jacket As Issued. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. A near fine softcover copy which is clean and bright with an uncreased spine. Minor marking to page edges but contents clean and tight without bookplates, inscriptions, foxing or other markings. xx, 450 pp.; b/w illustrations and maps. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. One of the National Geographic Adventure Classics - a series of the "100 greatest adventure books of all time", selected for their adrenaline quotient and their status as classics of the adventure genre. "Sven Hedin explored an Asia that no adventurer will see again: Persian kingdoms, lost cities, and vast swathes of white space on the map marked "unknown". This memoir of a lifetime spent filling in those blank spaces is full of high adventure and deft, elegant descriptions of exotic lands and people. One of the greatest explorers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, hedin traveled the ancient silk road, met the Shah of Persia, nearly died crossing the Elburz mountains, escaped bandits, and slipped into forbidden Tibet. His thirst to know more about people and places and his unwavering optimism make 'My Life as an Explorer' hard to put down - each page brims with the promise of new adventure and, more than likely, imminent danger. Illustrated with a selection of Hedin's own sketches and a new expedition map of his routes through Asia, this is one of the most exciting travel books ever written."- publisher's blurb.