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Story of Geographical Discovery: How the World Became Known

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 13 | Listen: 1

This book was first published in 1897. It’s a short work, but it encompasses a vast subject—nothing less than determining the detailed geographical plan of our entire world! In the process, Jacobs feeds us dates and names and events and places and maps in a dense stream. It’s a bit like drinking from a fire hose, but see it through, and the reader (or listener) will acquire a surprisingly complete overview of world history as well as geography. It’s well worth absorbing, even by those not so geographically inclined, if only as a source for winning endless bar bets. Beginning in ancient times, the author identifies three main forces that have contributed to our present understanding: wars of conquest, competition for trade, and (eventually) pure scientific curiosity. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, early Greeks, Babylonians, and many other Mediterranean peoples contributed, often unwillingly, the streams of knowledge that Ptolemy of Alexandria summed up in the great Ptolemaei Orbis (ca.150 AD), the first “real” map of the whole known world. The evolution of world maps to incorporate (and sometime conceal) new discoveries is a key theme of this fascinating work. (Summary by Steven Seitel) [chương_files]

Innocents Abroad

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Travel Fiction
Chapter: 48 | Listen:

Writer/entertainer Garrison Keillor (A Prairie Home Companion) on “The Innocents Abroad”: “…one of the best selling travel books of all time.” (The Writer’s Almanac, June 8, 2012) When you dive into Mark Twain’s (Samuel Clemens’) The Innocents Abroad, you have to be ready to learn more about the unadorned, ungilded reality of 19th century “touring” than you might think you want to learn. This is a tough, literary journey. It was tough for Twain and his fellow “pilgrims”, both religious and otherwise. They set out, on a June day in 1867, to visit major tourist sites in Europe and the near east, including Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, “the Holy Land”, and Egypt. What Twain records, in often humorous, sometimes grotesque but always fascinating detail, are the day-to-day ups and downs of discovering the truth about people and places. The truths they learn are often far different than their education and rumor have made them preconceive. This is a voyage of discovery. It’s long and, in places, tiresome. But it’s revelatory about so much. As with some of his other works, Twain includes popular prejudices of his time, which are today considered socially unacceptable. His references to “Indians”, “Negroes” and “infidels” come to mind. Beyond the lows, though, there are the highs of Twain’s cutting wit and insight as he guides us along the bumpy and often dangerous voyage. No need to buckle up. Just take it slow, and steady…like the journey itself. (Summary by John Greenman) [chương_files]

Four Months in a Sneak-Box

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 13 | Listen:

The kind reception by the American press of the author’s first journey to the great southern sea, and its republication in Great Britain and in France … have encouraged him to give the public a companion volume, “FOUR MONTHS IN A SNEAK-BOX” … a relation of … a second cruise to the Gulf of Mexico … by a different route from that followed in the “VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE.” This time the author procured one of the smallest and most comfortable of boats… the BARNEGAT SNEAK-BOX. This curious and stanch little craft, though only twelve feet in length, proved a most comfortable and serviceable home while the author rowed in it more than 2600 miles down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, until he reached the goal of his voyage — the mouth of the wild Suwanee River — which was the terminus of his “VOYAGE OF THE PAPER CANOE.” – Summary by Nathaniel H. Bishop NOTE: There are issues of race in the telling of “Four Months in a Sneak-box”, particularly anti-Black stereotypes and derogatory terms. It is LibriVox’s policy to record texts as written. [chương_files]

Meridiana: The adventures of three Englishmen and three Russians in South Africa

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Travel Fiction
Chapter: 23 | Listen: 3

Three Englishmen and Three Russians travel across the width of South Africa to measure a meridian. The outbreak of the Crimean War makes the Russians enemy agents in an English colony. Summary by Kim. [chương_files]

Three Gringos in Venezuela and Central America

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 7 | Listen:

In the 1890’s, three American adventurers in search of warmer weather explore Central and South American cities by steamship and on horseback. They visit the remnants of the infamous Louisiana Lottery (exiled to Belise); then on to Hondoras, Trinidad, Santa Barbara, Tegucigalpa, Corinto, Nicaragua, Panama, and Caracus in Venezuela. Along the way they traverse dangerous mountain pathways, encounter charming girls, warring natives, wild animals, gory village bull fights, peculiar foods and customs, and much more. Davis was a well known travel writer and war correspondent, whose travel books were widely published. His style is direct and easy to follow, educational and frequently chuckle-inducing. (Summary by Steven Seitel & Michele Fry) [chương_files]

National Geographic Magazine Vol. 10 – 12. December 1899

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 10 | Listen: 3

The National Geographic Magazine, an illustrated monthly, Vol X, December 1899. It includes the following articles: The Wellman Polar Expedition, by Walter Wellman The Harriman Alaska Expedition, by Henry Gannett The Meteorological Observations of the Second Wellman Expedition, by Evelyn B. Baldwin Porto Rico or Puerto Rico? by Robert T. Hill The National Geographic Magazine and the U. S. Board on Geographic Names Place Names in Canada The Antarctic Climate along with Geographic Literature and Miscellanea [chương_files]

Voyage Out (Version 2)

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Travel Fiction
Chapter: 27 | Listen: 1

Rachel Vinrace embarks for South America on her father’s ship and is launched on a course of self-discovery in a kind of modern mythical voyage. The mismatched jumble of passengers provide Woolf with an opportunity to satirise Edwardian life. The novel introduces Clarissa Dalloway, the central character of Woolf’s later novel, Mrs Dalloway. Two of the other characters were modelled after important figures in Woolf’s life. St John Hirst is a fictional portrayal of Lytton Strachey and Helen Ambrose is to some extent inspired by Woolf’s sister, Vanessa Bell.[7] Rachel’s journey from a cloistered life in a London suburb to freedom, challenging intellectual discourse and discovery very likely reflects Woolf’s own journey from a repressive household to the intellectual stimulation of the Bloomsbury Group. [chương_files]

China

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 31 | Listen: 2

Another fascinating in-depth look at the largest country in the world. Its cities, peoples, culture and industry. (Summary by Betty B) [chương_files]

À margem da história

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 15 | Listen:

À margem da história foi a primeira das obras póstumas de Euclides da Cunha, tentando recolher os muitos textos esparsos e inéditos do autor após sua morte inesperada e violenta. A maior parte do livro se compõe das anotações feitas pelo autor para um livro, nunca terminado, acerca da Amazônia, a ser intitulado “Paraíso Perdido”, mas que foi publicado nesta coletânea sob o título “Terra Sem História”. No volume encontram-se também compilados outros estudos variados sobre o Brasil. – Summary by Leni [chương_files]

Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland

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Travel & Geography
Chapter: 27 | Listen: 2

Samuel Johnson’s wit and tongue-in-cheek expressions make this record of the economy, education and politicks [sic] of remote settlements an entertaining pleasure. Johnson describes the primary produce, orders of precedence, and the politics of Scotland. Johnson’s data is collected by both his observations and his inquiry. – Summary by Chris Greaves [chương_files]