by Laurence Bergreen
I really hadn't expected Magellan to die when he did. It's almost sad that that's all I can really say at the moment. He lost sight of what he was meant to be doing and focused on converting the natives to Christianity! He might have made it to the spice islands if he hadn't gotten so sidetracked. T...
Popular history at its best, 'Over the Edge of the World' makes good use of the rich primary source material for Magellon's expedition and Bergreen doesn't stint on any adventurous detail.It's a tricky feat to put out a readable history book that stands up under academic scrutiny. There's a lot of t...
Loved it. Read it. One of my favorites. Historical yet tells the tale without reading like a historical book. I enjoyed every minute of it.
A good read, however it only gets a 4 star because it was worth a soupçon more than a three and I am feeling philanthropic. It was a little disconcerting that the author could not get his incredulity around the fact that Magellan's demise is still re-enacted annually in the Phillipines - with pride ...
I hate to expose myself as the unsophisticated cretin that I really am, but I don't often find non-fiction very interesting. This was a BIG exception. Tells the story of Magellan's attempt to circumnavigate the globe - this is a case where the truth is more interesting than anything that could be ...
Really a nicely done bio. I read this during a phase where I was obsessed with explorers. If you're interested, I also enjoyed Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before and A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier. I didn't...
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