Examines the great wave of European exploration during the fifteenth century which resulted in more accurate maps.

"On March 8, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. Its mission was "to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas" and unite the whole world in Confucian harmony.". "When it returned in October 1423, the emperor had fallen, leaving China in political and economic chaos. The great ships were left to rot at their moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed....

This book is an account of the history, ecology, and mystique of the arctic region. The author offers a thorough examination of this obscure world, its terrain, its wildlife, its history of Eskimo natives and intrepid explorers who have arrived on their icy shores. But what turns this marvelous work of natural history into a breathtaking study of profound originality is his unique meditation on how the landscape can shape our imagination, desires,...

"A mind-bending speculative thriller in which the sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of jaw-dropping revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human. An enormous snow-covered mountain has appeared in the Pacific Ocean. No one knows when exactly it showed up, precisely how big it might be, or how to explain its existence. When Harold Tunmore, a scientist of mysterious...

Did a daring Chinese admiral sailing the world's largest wooden armada reach America 71 years before Columbus? This program examines the mystery surrounding the sailing exploits of the legendary Admiral Zheng He and his 30-year command of a Ming fleet.

"Under Grandpa's watchful eye, the kids are thrilled to discover that the craggy rocks, tufted grass, and windswept trees on Giant Island are much more than they seem. Are the children the first to fathom this huge secret, or does Grandpa have a secret of his own?"--

"Describes the exploration of North America in the times of explorers Christopher Columbus, Francisco V©Łzquez de Coronado, and Sieur de La Salle. The reader's choices reveal the historical details from Columbus' voyage in 1492, Coronado's 1540 expedition, and Sieur de La Salle's expedition down the Mississippi River in 1682"--Provided by publisher.

Biologist and former soldier Lena is shocked when her missing husband comes home near death from a top-secret mission into The Shimmer, a mysterious quarantine zone from which no one has ever returned. Now, Lena and her elite team must enter a beautiful, deadly world of mutated landscapes and creatures, to discover how to stop the growing phenomenon that threatens all life on Earth.

Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes readers from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush.

"'Both gritty and sublime' (Chicago Tribune), The Last Canyon tells the story of John Wesley Powell's 1869 voyage of exploration through the Grand Canyon, the last great expedition of discovery in United States history. In this vivid novel, John Vernon intertwines two stories - that of Powell and his crew and that of a band of Paiute Indians, known as the Shivwits, who lived on the north rim of the canyon. As the novel moves inexorably toward a violent...