A review of The Explorers by Martin Dugard, Simon
& Schuster, NY, 2014.
Author Dugard uses the conflict between 19th
century searchers for the source of the Nile Richard Burton and John Hanning
Specke as the vehicle to delve into the exploits and psyches of explorers writ
large. He covers personalities including St. Brennan, Columbus, Cook, Livingstone,
Scott, Shackleford, Hillary and Lindbergh.
He is interested not just in what they did and the often-awful trials
and hardships they endured, but what made them tic? What made them -
self-selected for the most part – devote themselves to exploration? What motivated them? To answer these questions, Dugard dipped into
both physical and psychological explanations. How did their brains work and function
differently from others? What truly
motivated them? He concluded it was not riches or fame, but the completion of
the quest itself. This is aptly
demonstrated in the saga of Burton and Specke, two men of decidedly different temperament
who yet united in the quest to unravel a great mystery of their age – the source
of the Nile. Dugard keeps the Specke/Burton theme ongoing throughout the book even
as he illustrates characteristics exemplified by them in other notable
explorers.
I thought the book wandered around too much. It is not chronological.
Additionally, I thought Dugard over-analyzed the psyches and motivations of
people long dead on flimsy evidence.
That being said, I enjoyed the various thumbnail sketches of famous explorers,
where they went, what they endured and what they accomplished.
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