What makes a good explorer? Adaptability, ambition, stamina, self-belief, doggedness, curiosity, optimism, authority, hardiness -- and fund-raising ability. 
A powerful punch of self-help, how-to, popular history, and humor. In this celebration of the glory days of exploration, Mick Conefrey takes a new look at the larger-than-life tales of many famous American and European adventurers. He pulls practical advice from their original diaries and logs stories of endurance and survival, such as Thor Heyerdahl's crossing of the Pacific in a raft and Robert Peary's heroic North Pole adventure. All expeditions are essentially projects that have to be managed. Teams have to be selected, equipped, and motivated. Goals have to be set and crises have to be overcome. For example -- some believed that it was always important to include in an expedition someone whom everyone else disliked because it would give focus to their complaints and help them bond. The book is chuck full of useful information, such as what to do if you are attacked by an anaconda--you wait until it is has swallowed you up to your knees and then you reach down and cut its head off. The instructions are very clear about not panicking in this situation.
In addition to the wonderful characters and stories you will find many lessons on how to be an explorer and what it takes to set sail without a clear path home.

The Adventurers Handbook

Conefrey, Mick

Travel

Collins

The Adventurer's Handbook: Life Lessons from History's Great Explorers

History

Americas

Smithsonian

What makes a good explorer? Adaptability, ambition, stamina, self-confidence, curiosity, optimism, authority―and fund-raising ability. Though few of us will ever have to face a charging elephant, or survive solely on penguin stew, when it comes to project management, crisis aversion, or any number of everyday problems, there is much we can learn from the larger-than-life tales of the world's most famous adventurers. Here, award-winning documentarian Mick Conefrey pulls practical advice from their original diaries and logs, like how to survive an anaconda attack (wait until it has swallowed your legs, then reach down and cut its head off), and how to keep morale up (according to Ernest Shackleton, "A good laugh doesn't require any additional weight"). In addition to the wonderful characters and stories, this book offers many lessons on how to set sail without a clear path home.
Answers to some important questions, courtesy of The Adventurer's Handbook: * How many corpses are believed to be on Mt. Everest? Answer: 120
* How is polar bear meat best prepared? Answer: Raw and frozen.
* What do you do if attacked by a charging lion? Answer: Stand very still and stare it down.
* What should you wear when crossing a desert? Answer: Lots of layers―fabric absorbs sweat and prolongs its cooling action.

The Adventurer's Handbook: From Surviving an Anaconda Attack to Finding Your Way Out of a Desert

Self-Help

St. Martin's: Griffin

€¢ Which explorer found the lost site of Jesus' first miracle?€¢ Who was first to the top of the highest mountain in Peru?€¢ Who was the first Westerner to visit the Ottoman harem in Constantinople?€¢ Who held the world record as the only person to fly from Britain to Australia for 44 years?You€™ll find the answers to these questions and more in Mick Conefrey€™s charming new book (a hint: none of them had beards). In 1870, New York mountaineer Meta Brevoort climbed Mt. Blanc in a hoop skirt. Pausing at the summit only long enough to drink a glass of champagne and dance the quadrille with her alpine guides, she marched back down the mountain and into history as one of the first female mountain explorers. Here, Mick Conefrey weaves together tips, how-tos, anecdotes, and eccentric lists to tell the amazing stories of hist

How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt: A Handbook for the Lady Adventurer

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

St.Martin's Press

Imagine a world without IMAX or Gore-tex, before North Face, a world without mobile phones or high-altitude Internet links, super-light hiking boots and polyamide fleece. Imagine a time when the Alps were as remote as the Himalayas and the Himalayas as remote as the moon. Traversing a century of climbing that began with the Victorian enthusiasts and ended with the conquest of the great Himalayan peaks, Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan take us back to that (not-so-distant) world to tell the stories of the extraordinary men who were the first to climb the world's best-known mountains---the Matterhorn, McKinley, Everest, and K2. Their quests provide welcome historical context and very modern thrills for readers of adventure narratives. Accompanied by unique archival materials, detailed maps, and photographs, Mountain Men invites us to follow in the footsteps of these fearless explorers, and tells us the stories with all their romance and stupidity, bravado and suffering, courage and miscalculation, intact. Meet the Mountain Men: Albert Smith was an impresario who climbed Mont Blanc with the help of 16 guides, 18 porters, and 90 bottles of spirits; his Piccadilly shows turned mountaineering from a folly into a sport. Edward Whymper, perhaps the greatest of the Victorian climbers, was the first to summit the Matterhorn, but not an hour later he lost four members of his party in a horrible accident that would shadow him for the rest of his life. The Duke of Abruzzi, heir to the Italian throne, reached the intimidating slopes of K2 in 1909 but concluded that no one could climb it in his lifetime—he was right. Mount McKinley was claimed by not one but several climbers, including America's great explorer--and, it turned out, fraudster—Dr. Frederick Cook, who had his porters take pictures of him on a look-alike crevasse many miles away from the actual mountain. The eccentric Maurice Wilson, convinced that he enjoyed God's protection, decided to climb Everest alone—just as soon as he taught himself to fly and got himself smuggled into Nepal. He got further than anyone could have dreamed, but his body was discovered frozen a hundred feet from a food cache left by an earlier party.

Mountain Men: A History Of The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks

Sports & Outdoors

Jordan, Tim

Biographies

Da Capo Press

Traversing a century of climbing that begins with Victorian enthusiasts and ends with the conquerors of the Himalayan peaks, Mountain Men tells the stories of the extraordinary men who were the first to climb the world's best-known mountains: the Matterhorn, McKinley, Everest, and K2. Edward Whymper's relentless siege of the Matterhorn ended in controversy when four of his companions plunged to their deaths an hour after leaving the summit. In Alaska there have been many disputed claims to the first conquest of Mt. McKinley, and locals still insist that the honor belongs to three miners who climbed on a bet, armed with homemade climbing irons and bags of donuts. For a hundred years mountaineers have fallen victim to the fatal attraction of K2. An Italian aristocrat, an American millionaire, and an English Satanist were among the first to reach its slopes. They found a place of disappointment and madness; one of them never returned.Accompanied by unique archival materials, detailed maps, and photographs, Mountain Men invites us to follow in the footsteps of these fearless explorers, and tells us their stories with all the romance and audacity, bravado and suffering, courage and miscalculation intact.

Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks

Incredible stories of the greatest, and most infamous, mountaineers in history. The history of mountaineering is full of tales of bravery and heroism, staggering feats of will power and determination. But it also has its darker side, a world populated by misfits and eccentrics, playboy princes and Satanists, charlatans and rogues. Mountain Men is the tie-in to the new BBC2 documentary from the producers of Icemen, who also wrote the tie-in book published by Boxtree. Mountain Men chronicles the foibles and eccentricities, the acts of bravery and madness, of some of the greatest mountaineers in history from Albert Smith who reached the summit of Mont Blanc in 1851 accompanied by 16 guides, and much champagne, to Herman Buhl who made it to the summit of Nanga Parbat in 1953 when all his colleagues had given him up for dead.

Mountain Men: Tall Tales and High Adventure

Mountaineering

Pan/Macmillan

CLICK HERE to download a sample from Everest 1953 
Reaching the top of the world in 1953 was one of the most significant achievements in the history of human endurance. The British expedition that would eventually put Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay atop Mount Everest was also packed with political repercussions, intrigue, jealousies, and pitfalls of every human sort. Everest 1953 is the story of the climb, but also of the drama surrounding the expedition, both before the climbers embarked and after they returned home. British author Mick Conefrey used his unprecedented access to diaries, letters, memoirs, and a variety of archival materials, as well as interviews with the surviving team members and their families, to develop this rich, more complete story. Adventure tale aficionados will find new details about the first successful Everest summit expedition that haven’t been previously published in one book.
 This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here &gt; to learn more.

Everest 1953: The Epic Story of the First Ascent (Legends and Lore)

World

MOUNTAINEERS BOOKS+

The dramatic and inspiring account of the very first attempt to climb Mount Everest, published to coincide with the centenary of the expedition of 1922.\nThe first attempt on Everest in 1922 by George Leigh Mallory and a British team is an extraordinary story full of controversy, drama, and incident, populated by a set of larger-than-life characters straight out of an adventure novel.\nThe expedition ended in tragedy when, on their third bid for the top, Mallory's party was hit by an avalanche that left seven men dead. Using diaries, letters, and unpublished accounts, Mick Conefrey creates a rich, character-driven narrative that explores the motivations and private dramas of the key individuals—detailing their backroom politics and bitter rivalries—who masterminded this epic adventure.

Everest 1922: The Epic Story of the First Attempt on the World's Highest Mountain

Historical

Pegasus Books

Fallen: George Mallory and the Tragic 1924 Everest Expedition

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