Books by Category » Natural History

Adventures on the Columbia River: Six Years on the Western Side of the Rocky Mountains By Ross Cox Ross Cox was a fur trader for the Pacific Fur Company. In 1811, he sailed from New York, around the Horn, to Hawaii, and on to the Columbia River in Oregon, exploring inland to Montana along the Clark Fork and Flathead Rivers. For six years he lived on the frontier -- and beyond -- in a violent world of white and red men, bears and wolves, frostbite and starvation. He wasn't a hero, but he was a survivor, and a sharp observer who wrote one of the best first-hand accounts of the fur trapper's life. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-234-7 Pages: 296 $17.95

Ascent of Denali: First on the Highest Peak in North America, 1913 By Hudson Stuck Hudson Stuck was the Episcopalian archdeacon of the Yukon. With three companions he made the first ascent of Mt. McKinley -- the 20,320 foot tall south summit of Denali. They started in March, arrived at the approaches in April, and by May they were at their base camp, where a late storm kept them in their tents for three weeks reading Shakespeare, history, theology, philosophy, and science. They reached the summit near mid-day on June 7, 1913. Stuck could see and appreciate the beauty of the mountain, which comes through in this intimate account. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-241-X Pages: 140 $12.95

Cavorting with Cannibals: An Exploration of Vanuatu By Rick Williamson This is modern explorer's tale of living among the primitive peoples in the Vanuatu island chain of Melanesia. On Lamen Island he falls in with a sorcerer, who reveals the tiny island's brutal past. On Erromango, the haunted island, he hunts pigs and survives an exorcism. On Tanna Island, where they believe all white men are evil, he is initiated into a tribe. On Irian Jaya he survives where missionaries died. Williamson walks alone, and survives by embracing these cultures. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-236-3 Pages: 464 $26.95

Festive Papua: The Story of the Great Dance in New Guinea By Andre Dupeyrat Father Andre has been sent to convert Fuyughean tribes in New Guinea to Christianity. Yet in some ways, it seems that he becomes the convert. This book is a detailed portrait of the Gabe, the 'great dance' that is the most spectacular event of the Fuyugheans and described by the Father as "the antique fusion of Beauty: word, song, dance..." Although he often bumbles his way through their society, this is nonetheless a tribute to, as well as a valuable record of, a way of life that has vanished. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-034-4 Pages: 168 $14.95

Head Hunters of the Amazon: My Adventures in the Jungle 1894-1901 By Fritz Up de Graff One of the all-time greatest adventure books. Up de Graff -- a recent graduate of a U.S. engineering school -- tells of his adventures in the Andes and down the Amazon during the late 1800's. More than once he was near death, but his brains, education, youth, and dumb luck got him through. You can't go wrong with tales about vampire bats, electric eels, murderous poachers, giant whirlpools, 30 foot anacondas, backwater village louts, and of course headhunting at its best. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-233-9 Pages: 248 $19.95

Headhunting in the Solomon Islands: Around the Coral Sea By Caroline Mytinger Caroline Mytinger, a portrait painter and anthropology enthusiast, traveled among the Solomon Islands for two years just before WWII with her friend Margaret Warner, who could make music with anything. Their aim was to paint portraits of the different types of people inhabiting these islands. They left the United States with little equipment, less money, and no support, planning to pay their way as they went by painting portraits. This book is the story of that journey, a hilarious and often uncomfortable epic of infections, alligators, fevers, bad weather, restless models, and their obsession with eating shredded coconut. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-042-5 Pages: 264 $21.95

Indian Sketches: Taken During an Expedition to the Pawnee Tribes in 1833 By John Treat Irving The precocious nephew of Washington Irving creates vivid and varied sketches of Pawnee life. Inexperienced but astute and enthusiastic, 20-year-old John Treat Irving volunteered as a secretary on an 1833 expedition to the disputed and violence-ridden Pawnee hunting grounds. He describes what he observed there with the awe and excitement of an unbiased young person. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-050-6 Pages: 204 $16.95

Journal of an Exploring Tour: Beyond the Rocky Mountains By Samuel Parker Parker was an educated and careful observer of the pre-American northwest (then called the "Oregon Territory" ). As described in the 1844 edition of his Journal, this is "a description of the geography, geology, climate, productions of the country, and the numbers, manners, and customers of the natives." Ostensibly, he went west to do missionary work, but his journal is an incredibly detailed log of all aspects of the journey, even down to a table of the daily weather. Full of accurate information. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-054-9 Pages: 260 $21.95

Jungle Paths and Inca Ruins: Our Exploration of the Upper Amazon By William M. McGovern In 1925 anthropologist William McGovern found himself, accompanied by only a camera man, on his way to Brazil. For the next two years he was an enthusiastic "participant-observer," living with several different tribes, on their terms. This is a detailed, often funny, always fascinating natural history adventure. Ripping! Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-204-5 Pages: 328 $23.95

Life in Feejee: Five years among the Cannibals By Mary Wallis Mary Davis Wallis, was the wife of well-known sea captain Benjamin Wallis of Salem, Massachusetts. From 1844 through 1849 she accompanied her husband on trips to the south pacific, primarily Fiji. Always lively, her account is filled with sometime gory details of cannibalism and other tribal rituals. This is a classic true woman's adventure of the South Seas. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-208-8 Pages: 340 $24.95

Milford's Memoir: A Cursory Glance at My Different Travels & My Sojourn in the Creek Nation By Louis LeClerc de Milford In 1775, Milford traveled from France to America. He spent much of this time in the Carolinas among the Creek Indians, becoming a member of the Creek Confederacy, eventually rising to Grand War Chief, commander of all Creek forces. Rather than fight in the American Revolution, Milford led 200 warriors on an expedition to search for the origin of the Creek people. Milford eventually returned to France to participate in the French Revolution. Details are unfiltered: consider his accounts of the "Drunken One-Eyed Gougers" of the Carolinas, and the Choctaw divorce ceremony. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-002-6 Pages: 184 $15.95

Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa: Including a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Residence in the Interior of Africa By David Livingstone The Christian missionary and explorer Dr. Livingstone was among the first Europeans to penetrate into the interior of Africa on his own. He faced pestilence, animal attacks, and the brutal traffic in human beings that he was determined to eradicate. From South Africa, he traveled north to the Kalahari Desert in 1849, on to the west coast and then to the east coast. He saw fertile river valleys with abundant animal life and a variety of tribes -- not to mention the famous falls, which he named Victoria. Livingstone has a sly wit too, challenging the lion's place as "King of Beasts." Absorbing reading! Both volumes of the original are included in this single edition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-287-8 Pages: 484 $26.95

Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada: With the Whitney Expedition and Alone, 1864 - 1870 By Clarence King Clarence King (born 1842) of Rhode Island was a Yale-educated geologist and mining engineer who rode horseback across the continent in 1863. In California, he was hired to work on Whitney's geological survey of the state. In this narrative, originally published 1872, King tells us about his experiences in the range, including his ascents of Mount Tyndall, Mount Shasta, and Mount Whitney; survey of Yosemite Valley; and field trips in the Merced Valley. King provides anecdotes of the mountains' people and natural history along the way. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-250-9 Pages: 248 $18.95

Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains: In the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-44 By John C. Fremont Gold rush fever! If you were going west in the late 1840's, this was the guide to use. It was so popular that not only American, but German and British editions appeared. John Fremont explored this area as a lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. His and his men’s enthusiasm, daring, and fortitude is evident throughout his report. Fremont describes his findings in detail, from geographical analysis to botanical and zoological specimen gathering, and more. Fascinating reading. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-200-2 Pages: 412 $24.95

South!: The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shackleton By Ernest Shackleton When we read accounts of polar exploration today, we are impressed. When we read of the exploits of men such as Ernest Shackleton we are astounded. To survive under the conditions that he and his men experienced, with equipment deemed primitive by today's standards, is almost beyond our ken. Shackleton tells the story of his last expedition (1914-1917) when his ship, the Endurance, was crushed by pack ice. He went on to complete an 800-mile open boat journey and then a twenty-mile hike through the mountains in order to save his men. And he did. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-092-1 Pages: 284 $24.95

The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile: And Explorations of Nile Sources By Samuel W. Baker In 1860, British explorer Samuel White Baker travelled to Africa with his Hungarian-born second wife. The Royal Geographical Society had asked him to search for presumably lost fellow explorers Speke and Grant. They were not lost at all, however, and Baker continued on and discovered what he thought was the source of the Nile, Lake Albert. Baker was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society and a knighthood, and left us a remarkable adventure story. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-195-2 Pages: 372 $26.95

The Cruise of the Corwin: Muir's Final Great Journey By John Muir In spring of 1881, John Muir set out on the ship "Corwin" for a journey of 15,000 nautical miles from San Francisco into the Arctic sea. The purpose of the voyage was to search for three ships that had been lost in the area, and to verify the local fleet's compliance with international seal and otter hunting regulations. Muir went along because of his fascination with glaciers. He was also drawn by the call of one of the world's last unexplored coastlines. This turned out to be Muir's last great foray into the wilderness, as he became a settled farmer afterwards. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-022-0 Pages: 172 $15.95

The Lake Regions of Central Africa: From Zanzibar to Lake Tanganyika By Richard Francis Burton The multi-talented English explorer Sir Richard Burton describes his three-year voyage throughout Central Africa from 1856 to 1859. In an attempt to interest both the scholar and the common reader, Burton mingles accounts of his own adventures with more scientific observations. Burton's fascinating chronicle contains detailed geographic and socio-cultural information, as well as commentary which is often offensive but always interesting to scholars of colonial Africa. Lake Regions of Central Africa is considered a prime example of an explorer's journal. Both volumes of the original are included in this single edition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-288-6 Pages: 460 $25.95

The Naturalist on the River Amazons: The Search for Evolution By Henry Walter Bates Bates spent 11 years from 1848 to 1859 in the lower Amazon basin, collecting 14,712 specimens -- 14,000 of them insects, at least 8,000 of those new to science. This is an exploration, not just of the jungle, but of scientific theory: Bates was an early believer in Darwin's new (and hotly debated) theory of natural selection, and he was searching for proof. Did he find it? Charles Darwin himself wrote the introduction. A classic natural history adventure. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-197-9 Pages: 368 $24.95

The Voyage of the Beagle: Darwin's Five-Year Circumnavigation By Charles Darwin Charles Darwin's father at first refused to allow his 22-year-old son to go on this voyage around the world in 1831-1836: he felt it was not a wise career choice. Fortunately, his father relented, and we have Darwin's journal, which may be the greatest scientific travel narrative ever written. Revised by the author in 1860, this is an account of his experiences on the Beagle, which led to his formulation of the theory of evolution. He was able to observe coral reefs, fossil-filled rocks, earthquakes, and more -- first-hand -- and made his own deductions. Original (of course) and entertaining! Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-106-5 Pages: 400 $29.95

The Worst Journey in the World: A Tale of Loss and Courage in Antarctica By Apsley Cherry-Garrard The author, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, was 24 when he was chosen from among 8,000 volunteers to join Robert Falcon Scott on the scientific expedition that was, in part, a race with Amundsen to the South Pole. Scott did not return, and Cherry-Garrard was determined to honor the accomplishments of all who participated. But it is the courage and decency of the men that is the true tale here. Enthralling, harrowing and astounding. Paul Theroux names this book as one of his favorites and it is a masterpiece of adventure narrative. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-120-0 Pages: 468 $29.95

The Zambesi Expedition: To the Zambesi River and Its Tributaries By David Livingstone Livingstone's first book revolutionized the way European readers saw Africa and made him a hero in England. He returned again to the Zambesi with his brother Charles and others, this time with more equipment and funds. Again he faced hippopotami, crocodiles, impossible terrain, and disease, but his greatest enemies on this trip prove to be human. The British eventually lost faith in the expedition, but Livingstone proved in the end to have had tremendous foresight. He doesn't romanticize, but he is often poetic in this account. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-122-7 Pages: 304 $25.95

Under Sail in the Frozen North: The Log of the 1926 British Arctic Expedition By Frank Arthur Worsley Worsley was a naval officer and polar explorer, best known as the captain of Shackleton's Endurance. In this book, Worsley tells of his trip as co-leader of the 1926 British Arctic Expedition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-232-0 Pages: 236 $15.95

Voyage up the River Amazon: Including a Residence at Para in 1846 By W. H. Edwards In 1846, Edwards, an American naturalist and author of "Butterflies of North America" headed for the Amazon. He made it back and published one of the first adventures about anacondas, piranhas, electric eels, and army ants -- as well as the richness of the jungle and peculiarities of the native societies. This very book inspired Bates and Wallace to go to the Amazon the following year, "to solve the problem of the origin of the species." Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-244-4 Pages: 228 $14.95

Wanderings Among South Sea Savages: And in Borneo and the Philippines By H. W. Walker Mad Fijian princes! Flying lizards! Web-footed people! Cannibal recipes! This is real adventure. Walker spent almost two decades wandering around the South Seas, island-hopping and exploring. He condensed this narrative from letters written during that time, extracting the most interesting or amusing incidents, so it's full of excitement and really funny. Ostensibly, his purpose was to collect bird and butterfly specimens in the islands, but he became much more involved in the life of the people, and at one point ended up in the middle of a tribal war in Papua New Guinea. Some scenes in this book are not for the faint of heart! Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-112-X Pages: 168 $14.95

Wanderings in West Africa: From Liverpool to Fernando Po By Richard Francis Burton Richard Burton proves once again his ability to write something interesting on any subject in this narrative of his trip from Liverpool to Fernando Po (Equatorial Guinea) in the early 1860's. The book is laid out chronologically, following his meandering progress down the west coast of Africa. Of course Burton stumbles upon many an adventure, as he inquires deeply into everything he encounters, not content to just pass through as an outsider. He is also able to expound on any subject, drawing on an incredible wealth of cultural and scientific knowledge to really flesh out his experiences. In two volumes. Both volumes of the original are included in this single edition. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-289-4 Pages: 292 $18.95

What I Saw in California: By Wagon from Missouri to California in 1846-47 By Edwin Bryant As a young man in 1846-47, Edwin Bryant traveled from Independence, Missouri, through the Rocky Mountains, across the desert, and throughout California. He often functioned as an unofficial doctor on the wagon trains. Describing the trail west and the character of the local people, he was an extremely detailed observer, taking note of everything he saw. A highly informative book, and very well written. Read More... ISBN: 1-58976-118-9 Pages: 332 $26.95