My Life as an Explorer

by Sven Hedin, Alfhild Huebsch (Translator)

Overview

Sven Hedin inherited the steel sinews of his Norse ancestors. During his many years of exploration he frequently put his physical capacities to extreme tests. He trained his constitution to stand an elevation of 19,000 feet above sea level and a temperature of 37 degrees below zero only to find himself a few months later staggering under a blistering sun in the dry river bed of a blazing desert with the thermometer at 113. He once started out with a caravan consisting of 130 beasts of burden, only to struggle weeks later to the gates of Lhasa with but eight horses and one mule. He survived ten days without food and half of that time without water, where natives succumbed to the rigors of the desert. He seemed to know every form of physical privation and touched the limits of human endurance.

When a boy he was ambitious to be the first to reach "that point where only South winds blow." He found his destiny to lie in other lands, but the distinction he achieved was no less unique. With his many volumes of accounts of exploration and discoveries to draw from, Hedin in this great autobiography has compressed between two covers the most thrilling experiences of a lifetime of adventure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798886770100
Publisher:	Greenpoint Books, LLC
Publication date:	06/29/2022
Pages:	564
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.26(d)

Read an Excerpt

Introduction by Anthony Brandt.

Over the course of three decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Swedish geographer and explorer Sven Hedin traveled Central Asia¼s ancient Silk Road, along the way discovering lost cities, mapping uncharted rivers, and seeing more of "the roof of the world" than any European before him. Illustrated with 160 sketches by the author, this larger-than-life memoir captures the splendor of now-vanished civilizations, the excitement of unearthing ancient monuments, the chilling terror of snow-clogged mountain passes, the danger of infiltrating Tibet and of outwitting Torgut bandits, and the honor of close friendships with royalty from Peking to London.

A worldwide bestseller in the 1920s and named one of National Geographic Adventure magazine's "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time," the National Geographic Adventure Classics edition of My Life as an Explorer features an expedition map and exclusive reprints of articles Hedin wrote for National Geographic between 1897 and 1905.