-
The Great Age of Discovery, Volume 1
- Columbus, Magellan, and the Early Explorations
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $29.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
The primary motivations were fame, fortune, and adventure...sometimes all three. But with some of these explorers there was also a sense of duty, the idea that it was their destiny to discover new lands, new trading routes, to further the prominence of their king and country, and to illuminate the dark corners of the planet to solve the geological riddles that had puzzled humanity for eons.
In Paul Herrmann's great synthesis of anthropology, archaeology, medicine, and wonderful narrative history, we discover the story behind the great expeditions. We learn how they were organized and carried out, what happened when Europeans confronted strange and often savage societies, and what happened to these explorers upon their return to Europe. We also learn what impact their discoveries had on primitive cultures and European society. But this history is also much more. The result is an unbelievable picture of mankind swept up in the dramatic passage from enforced isolation to a dynamic worldwide trading network.
Volume 1 follows the voyages of Columbus, da Gama, Magellan, Cortes, Pizarro, and others as the Western hemisphere is discovered and mapped. After Magellan's voyage, the world of trade takes a revolutionary turn and the fortunes of Europe and the Mediterranean are changed forever.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Over the Edge of the World
- Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Laurence Bergreen
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying 18 emaciated men. During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle.
-
-
The Reading IS an Issue
- By mcbeene on 12-26-05
-
Into Africa
- The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" So goes the signature introduction of New York Herald star journalist Henry Morton Stanley to renowned explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who had been missing for six years in the wilds of Africa. Into Africa ushers us into the meeting of these remarkable men. In 1866, when Livingstone journeyed into the heart of the African continent in search of the Nile's source, the land was rough, unknown to Europeans, and inhabited by man-eating tribes.
-
-
Riveting
- By Gene on 04-01-04
By: Martin Dugard
-
Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- By: Fernando Cervantes
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
A fresh mature perspective on the Spanish conquest
- By Chencheno111 on 03-19-22
-
Mutiny on the Bounty
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.
-
-
You don't know the whole story.
- By Justin Sluyter on 05-01-19
By: Peter FitzSimons
-
Straits
- Beyond the Myth of Magellan
- By: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Straits, celebrated historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto subjects the surviving sources to the most meticulous scrutiny ever, providing a timely and engrossing biography of the real Ferdinand Magellan. The truth that Fernández-Armesto uncovers about Magellan's life, his character, and the events of his ill-fated voyage offers up a stranger, darker, and even more compelling narrative than the fictional version that has been celebrated for half a millennium.
-
The Crusades
- The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
- By: Thomas Asbridge
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.
-
-
Comprehensive
- By Tad Davis on 10-04-16
By: Thomas Asbridge
-
Over the Edge of the World
- Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Laurence Bergreen
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying 18 emaciated men. During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle.
-
-
The Reading IS an Issue
- By mcbeene on 12-26-05
-
Into Africa
- The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" So goes the signature introduction of New York Herald star journalist Henry Morton Stanley to renowned explorer Dr. David Livingstone, who had been missing for six years in the wilds of Africa. Into Africa ushers us into the meeting of these remarkable men. In 1866, when Livingstone journeyed into the heart of the African continent in search of the Nile's source, the land was rough, unknown to Europeans, and inhabited by man-eating tribes.
-
-
Riveting
- By Gene on 04-01-04
By: Martin Dugard
-
Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- By: Fernando Cervantes
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
A fresh mature perspective on the Spanish conquest
- By Chencheno111 on 03-19-22
-
Mutiny on the Bounty
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.
-
-
You don't know the whole story.
- By Justin Sluyter on 05-01-19
By: Peter FitzSimons
-
Straits
- Beyond the Myth of Magellan
- By: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Straits, celebrated historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto subjects the surviving sources to the most meticulous scrutiny ever, providing a timely and engrossing biography of the real Ferdinand Magellan. The truth that Fernández-Armesto uncovers about Magellan's life, his character, and the events of his ill-fated voyage offers up a stranger, darker, and even more compelling narrative than the fictional version that has been celebrated for half a millennium.
-
The Crusades
- The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
- By: Thomas Asbridge
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 25 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.
-
-
Comprehensive
- By Tad Davis on 10-04-16
By: Thomas Asbridge
-
James Cook
- The Story Behind the Man Who Mapped the World
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 21 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The name Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable in Australian history - an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated. But who was the real James Cook? This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost mariner, scientist, navigator and cartographer of his era, and to personally map a third of the globe. His great voyages of discovery were incredible feats of seamanship and navigation.
-
-
Great. But...
- By Virgil Tracy on 05-01-21
By: Peter FitzSimons
-
River of Darkness
- Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in search of La Canela, South America's rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, "the golden man". Driving an enormous retinue of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and other animals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition begin to disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarish jungle, following the course of a powerful river.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Sammi on 02-17-18
By: Buddy Levy
-
Island of the Lost
- Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
- By: Joan Druett
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death. In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of the island. Utterly alone in a dense coastal forest, plagued by stinging blowflies and relentless rain, Captain Musgrave inspires his men to take action.
-
-
One of the Best Stories Ever Told!
- By Tiffany on 04-10-16
By: Joan Druett
-
Conquerors
- How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conquerors tells the almost forgotten story of how Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India, and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire.
-
-
Beautifully balanced
- By Nigel Roberts on 05-08-16
By: Roger Crowley
-
In Search of a Kingdom
- Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan, Columbus, and Marco Polo brings alive the singular life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the pirate/explorer/admiral whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history.
-
-
Better than the text
- By Bramante on 04-07-21
-
Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
-
Farther Than Any Man
- The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the annals of seafaring and exploration, there is one name that immediately evokes visions of the open ocean, billowing sails, visiting strange, exotic lands previously uncharted, and civilizations never before encountered - Captain James Cook. Full of realistic action, lush descriptions of places and events, and fascinating historical characters such as King George III and the soon-to-be-notorious Master William Bligh, Dugard's gripping account of the life and death of Captain James Cook is a thrilling story of a discoverer hell-bent on going farther than any man.
-
-
Sloppy History
- By Kyle P. Dalton on 04-06-18
By: Martin Dugard
-
1493
- Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.
-
-
Fascinating Mindbending History.
- By Betsy Powel on 12-19-11
By: Charles C. Mann
-
The Wager
- A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia.
-
-
Gasping for Air
- By Jean Engle on 04-19-23
By: David Grann
-
Mao
- The Unknown Story
- By: Jung Chang, Jon Halliday
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 29 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on a decade of research and on interviews with many of Mao's close circle in China who have never talked before, and with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him, this is the most authoritative biography of Mao ever written.
-
-
Fills many gaps! Very good..but!
- By Jene on 08-07-06
By: Jung Chang, and others
-
1491
- New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Darrell Dennis
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus' landing had crossed the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago; existed mainly in small nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas were, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last 30 years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong.
-
-
Exposes Non-Academic Audience to The Debate Between Ideas of Pre-Colombian America's
- By Christopher on 01-19-17
By: Charles C. Mann
-
Alas, Babylon
- By: Pat Frank
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This true modern masterpiece is built around the two fateful words that make up the title and herald the end - “Alas, Babylon.” When a nuclear holocaust ravages the United States, a thousand years of civilization are stripped away overnight, and tens of millions of people are killed instantly. But for one small town in Florida, miraculously spared, the struggle is just beginning, as men and women of all backgrounds join together to confront the darkness....
-
-
One apocalypse--hold the zombies
- By Lesley on 01-07-14
By: Pat Frank
Related to this topic
-
The Adventures of the Mountain Men
- True Tales of Hunting, Trapping, Fighting, and Survival
- By: Stephen Brennan
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The “mountain men” were the hunters and trappers who fiercely strode the Rocky Mountains in the early to mid-1800s. They braved the elements in search of the skins of beavers and other wild animals, to sell or barter for goods. The lifestyle of the mountain men could be harsh, existing as they did among animals, and spending most of their days and nights living and camping out in the great unexplored wilds of the Rockies.
-
-
Good for boys
- By Mrs. C on 05-12-14
By: Stephen Brennan
-
Ranger Confidential
- Living, Working, and Dying in the National Parks
- By: Andrea Lankford
- Narrated by: Julia Motyka
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks. For 12 years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it.
-
-
Depressing from Cover to Cover
- By Drew (@drewsant) on 04-13-15
By: Andrea Lankford
-
Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
-
-
Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson
-
Ghost Rider
- Travels on the Healing Road
- By: Neil Peart
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In less than a year, Neil Peart lost both his 19-year-old daughter, Selena, and his wife, Jackie. Faced with overwhelming sadness and isolated from the world in his home on the lake, Peart was left without direction. That lack of direction lead him on a 55,000 mile journey by motorcycle across much of North America, down through Mexico to Belize, and back again.
-
-
Not happy, but fascinating
- By Jim In Texas! on 09-25-14
By: Neil Peart
-
Barbarian Days
- A Surfing Life
- By: William Finnegan
- Narrated by: William Finnegan
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016. Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
-
-
What a Jerk.
- By ML Sadler on 03-06-17
By: William Finnegan
-
The Year of Living Danishly
- Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
- By: Helen Russell
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?
-
-
Interesting content. Unfortunate delivery.
- By Jennifer Soudagar on 11-13-15
By: Helen Russell
-
The Adventures of the Mountain Men
- True Tales of Hunting, Trapping, Fighting, and Survival
- By: Stephen Brennan
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The “mountain men” were the hunters and trappers who fiercely strode the Rocky Mountains in the early to mid-1800s. They braved the elements in search of the skins of beavers and other wild animals, to sell or barter for goods. The lifestyle of the mountain men could be harsh, existing as they did among animals, and spending most of their days and nights living and camping out in the great unexplored wilds of the Rockies.
-
-
Good for boys
- By Mrs. C on 05-12-14
By: Stephen Brennan
-
Ranger Confidential
- Living, Working, and Dying in the National Parks
- By: Andrea Lankford
- Narrated by: Julia Motyka
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks. For 12 years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it.
-
-
Depressing from Cover to Cover
- By Drew (@drewsant) on 04-13-15
By: Andrea Lankford
-
Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
-
-
Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson
-
Ghost Rider
- Travels on the Healing Road
- By: Neil Peart
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In less than a year, Neil Peart lost both his 19-year-old daughter, Selena, and his wife, Jackie. Faced with overwhelming sadness and isolated from the world in his home on the lake, Peart was left without direction. That lack of direction lead him on a 55,000 mile journey by motorcycle across much of North America, down through Mexico to Belize, and back again.
-
-
Not happy, but fascinating
- By Jim In Texas! on 09-25-14
By: Neil Peart
-
Barbarian Days
- A Surfing Life
- By: William Finnegan
- Narrated by: William Finnegan
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016. Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
-
-
What a Jerk.
- By ML Sadler on 03-06-17
By: William Finnegan
-
The Year of Living Danishly
- Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
- By: Helen Russell
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?
-
-
Interesting content. Unfortunate delivery.
- By Jennifer Soudagar on 11-13-15
By: Helen Russell
-
Where's the Next Shelter?
- By: Gary Sizer
- Narrated by: Gary Sizer
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where's the Next Shelter? is the true story of three travelers on the Appalachian Trail, a 2,000-mile hike that stretches from Georgia to Maine, told from the perspective of Gary Sizer, a seasoned backpacker and former marine who quickly finds himself humbled by the endeavor. If you long for the horizon or to sleep under the stars, then come along for the hike of a lifetime. All you have to do is take the first step.
-
-
If You Liked AWOL, You'll Like This
- By Rebecca on 06-02-16
By: Gary Sizer
-
Buried in the Sky
- The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
- By: Peter Zuckerman, Amanda Padoan
- Narrated by: David Doersch
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Edmund Hillary first conquered Mt. Everest, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was at his side. Indeed, for as long as Westerners have been climbing the Himalaya, Sherpas have been the unsung heroes in the background. In August 2008, when eleven climbers lost their lives on K2, the world’s most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived. They had emerged from poverty and political turmoil to become two of the most skillful mountaineers on earth. Based on unprecedented access and interviews, Buried in the Sky reveals their astonishing story for the first time.
-
-
Sherpas, The True Unsung Heroes
- By Kathy in CA on 07-26-15
By: Peter Zuckerman, and others
-
How to Hike the Appalachian Trail
- A Comprehensive Guide to Plan and Prepare for a Successful Thru-Hike
- By: Chris Cage
- Narrated by: John E Broussard
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you are planning on (or just thinking about) hiking the Appalachian Trail, this book is for you. Planning an Appalachian Trail thru-hike is overwhelming. I know. I spent months researching every question I could think of before starting the six-month journey. Even after all of that research, there were countless mistakes I made. This book is everything I wish I would have known before starting. Inside is a step-by-step guide to efficiently plan for a successful thru-hike. Complete with personal tips and experiences.
-
-
Exactly what’s missing from all the personal hiking account stories
- By Tracy Anne Buro on 04-12-18
By: Chris Cage
-
Mother of God
- An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon
- By: Paul Rosolie
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of The Lost City of Z, Walking the Amazon, and Turn Right at Machu Picchu comes naturalist and explorer Paul Rosolie’s extraordinary adventure in the uncharted tributaries of the Western Amazon - a tale of discovery that vividly captures the awe, beauty, and isolation of this endangered land and presents an impassioned call to save it.
-
-
This whole book is B.S.
- By bob fields on 09-30-18
By: Paul Rosolie
-
The Longest Silence
- A Life in FIshing
- By: Thomas McGuane
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the highly acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts comes a collection of alternately playful and exquisite essays—including seven collected here for the first time—borne of a lifetime spent fishing.
-
-
Narrator had to catch a train
- By Brandon Taff on 01-11-23
By: Thomas McGuane
-
Neither Here nor There
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.
-
-
Authentic Bryson, but that might be the problem
- By M. Craft on 08-12-14
By: Bill Bryson
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Great Age of Discovery, Volume 2
- Captain Cook and the Scientific Explorations
- By: Paul Herrmann
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the 18th century approached its midpoint, commercial and military competition between the European states became fierce. And whoever obtained accurate information about distant lands would hold an advantage. Were there continental landmasses in the Pacific? Was there a Northwest Passage to Japan and China? What lay in the interior of Africa? Was it possible to cross the Sahara? Where did the rivers Nile and Congo originate?
-
-
Interesting but dated
- By John H. Davis III on 04-30-05
By: Paul Herrmann
-
The Great Explorers
- The European Discovery of America
- By: Samuel Eliot Morison
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The great voyages of discovery to the New World are here brought to life by one of the 20th century's most eminent historians, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Samuel Morison. A master seaman himself, Morison personally retraced the voyages of the early explorers, charting his travels in maps and photographs and comparing these to the maps and travelogues of the early sailors.
-
-
Good Book, but don't download until audible fixes the skipping
- By Jeff on 04-28-17
-
Over the Edge of the World
- Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Laurence Bergreen
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying 18 emaciated men. During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle.
-
-
The Reading IS an Issue
- By mcbeene on 12-26-05
-
Age of Discovery
- A Captivating Guide to an Era of Exploration in European History, Including Discoveries Such as Christopher Columbus’ Voyages to the Americas and Vasco da Gama’s Sea Route to India
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Age of Discovery, then pay attention.... The Age of Discovery began in the early part of the 15th century and carried on through most of the 17th century. It is sometimes also referred to as the Age of Exploration. This was a time when the people of Europe began to travel, discover, and explore more of the world than ever before, mapping and naming the places they found. They bravely went out on the seas to learn about the world, often never sure if they would find anything at all, let alone ever return home.
-
-
Middle school storytelling. Not recommended .
- By Isar on 10-21-20
-
In Search of a Kingdom
- Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan, Columbus, and Marco Polo brings alive the singular life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the pirate/explorer/admiral whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history.
-
-
Better than the text
- By Bramante on 04-07-21
-
Conquerors
- How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conquerors tells the almost forgotten story of how Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India, and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire.
-
-
Beautifully balanced
- By Nigel Roberts on 05-08-16
By: Roger Crowley
-
The Great Age of Discovery, Volume 2
- Captain Cook and the Scientific Explorations
- By: Paul Herrmann
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the 18th century approached its midpoint, commercial and military competition between the European states became fierce. And whoever obtained accurate information about distant lands would hold an advantage. Were there continental landmasses in the Pacific? Was there a Northwest Passage to Japan and China? What lay in the interior of Africa? Was it possible to cross the Sahara? Where did the rivers Nile and Congo originate?
-
-
Interesting but dated
- By John H. Davis III on 04-30-05
By: Paul Herrmann
-
The Great Explorers
- The European Discovery of America
- By: Samuel Eliot Morison
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The great voyages of discovery to the New World are here brought to life by one of the 20th century's most eminent historians, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Samuel Morison. A master seaman himself, Morison personally retraced the voyages of the early explorers, charting his travels in maps and photographs and comparing these to the maps and travelogues of the early sailors.
-
-
Good Book, but don't download until audible fixes the skipping
- By Jeff on 04-28-17
-
Over the Edge of the World
- Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Laurence Bergreen
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying 18 emaciated men. During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle.
-
-
The Reading IS an Issue
- By mcbeene on 12-26-05
-
Age of Discovery
- A Captivating Guide to an Era of Exploration in European History, Including Discoveries Such as Christopher Columbus’ Voyages to the Americas and Vasco da Gama’s Sea Route to India
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Age of Discovery, then pay attention.... The Age of Discovery began in the early part of the 15th century and carried on through most of the 17th century. It is sometimes also referred to as the Age of Exploration. This was a time when the people of Europe began to travel, discover, and explore more of the world than ever before, mapping and naming the places they found. They bravely went out on the seas to learn about the world, often never sure if they would find anything at all, let alone ever return home.
-
-
Middle school storytelling. Not recommended .
- By Isar on 10-21-20
-
In Search of a Kingdom
- Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan, Columbus, and Marco Polo brings alive the singular life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the pirate/explorer/admiral whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history.
-
-
Better than the text
- By Bramante on 04-07-21
-
Conquerors
- How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conquerors tells the almost forgotten story of how Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India, and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire.
-
-
Beautifully balanced
- By Nigel Roberts on 05-08-16
By: Roger Crowley
What listeners say about The Great Age of Discovery, Volume 1
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jesse Kreier
- 04-09-20
Interesting but dated!
This narrative history covers Columbus, Da Gama, Magellan, Cortes, Pizarro and a few random Teutons. I found the accounts of the explorers more interesting and plausible, and less dated, than those of the conquerers, on balance.
I was very interested by the way the famous navigators were placed into a broader context that made them more understandable. For example, how the Portuguese turned down Columbus because they were so invested in their own routes around Africa, and how it was already widely agreed that the world was round, with the disagreement more about distances. I was fascinated to learn that Da Gama's first trip to India by sea was preceded by Portuguese intelligence gathering on the east African coast via Egypt, and by diplomatic missions to India via the same route. A much more systematic and well-prepared operation than I realized, the culmination of a long process of systemic convergence.
By contrast, the discussion of the conquests is tainted by racialist obsessions characteristic of an earlier age. For example, the author desperately wants to prove that Quezacoatl reflects pre-Columbian contacts by Europeans, by Christians no less, and he even wants to show that cities in Bolivia were built by white-skinned foreigners. It gets a but old.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Edward Freedman
- 07-19-11
A great discovery
I never learned anything in detail about the conquest of S. America when I was in school, and who knew we knew so much about Columbus and Magellan, even down to how much of what stores they took on their ships. What emerges from the chapters on Africa is that the interior of Africa might truly be said to have been unknown until the European explorers arrived. It seems unlikely that any one group on the African continent had any handle at all on more than a small fraction of the picture.
Herrmann's post-WW II German prejudices come through in many places - still focused on the role of the European, whether Europeans had ever been in thus and such a place before, are the natives partly descended from Euro's, and so on. Much of the thinking on these subjects in the early to mid 20th centuries seems to have been quite altered in the more than 50 years since the book appeared.
Still, a very interesting read, with lots of human interest and character development of the many explorers he covers.
And Charlton Griffon's exceptional narration is as nearly unexceptionable as I have encountered. My only complaints are variant pronunciations, and occasional apparent lack of preparation in emphasizing the wrong element of a sentence, a flaw I find in most audio readings. And it's all made up for by Mr. Griffon's flawless sense of pacing and passion.
Interesting, if dated, material; well-read; and highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Leander
- 02-01-06
True 'Indiana Jones'
Living in an age where true discovery has expanded into the macro and micro age of science, it is refreshing, and indeed exciting to hear about an age where physical exploration with its associated dangers expanded the realm of human knowledge by leaps and bounds, shattering the age-old misconceptions of the nature of man and the enviornment in which he dwells.
This recording of The Great Age of Discovery is very much an adventure story of the highest magnitude, with a wonderful narration by Charlton Griffin.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- whynot?
- 04-23-07
Eerily Oudated, but Really Good!
I have to agree with both the people who enjoyed this book AND those who noticed that all was not as it seemed. Sadly, if you check the print version of the book, you will note that it was published in 1974. Alas, the good intentions! Every country in Africa should be a first-world econonmic power by now, should you cling to the narrator's zeal for power plants and democracy.
It IS a great listen, though, as long as you are well-informed and have kept up with world history SINCE the Nixon administration. Otherwise, you will be world-class confused.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 03-19-24
They Call it “Racist” but not “Wrong”
This is an excellent audiobook and an antidote to the endless anti-white poison propaganda of our day.
Those most critical of this book rely on the charge of racism to discredit the author, but, like on social media, these charges are hollow, cynical attempts to protect the failed ideology of racial equality.
Everything in this book is factually based, even if there is quite a bit of logical speculation. The author cites his sources and there is little reason to doubt the soundness of his conclusions. A cursory glance at the world corroborates the general idea of the book: “Europeans won, and brought a higher existence to all corners of the globe”.
The book is old, but not outdated. No amount of “archeological” revisionism and “native story (lie) telling” is going to match the authentic records made by reliable and enlightened men during the Age of Exploration. Those records must and will always form the basis of our knowledge of European Man’s expansion across the globe.
The author is not ignorant of native cultures, that’s just how the natives were. Your petty personal experiences today and Wikipedia research doesn’t prove that the natives Europeans met 500 years ago weren’t terribly superstitious, reverent towards white physical features, cannibalistic, prone to thievery, etc.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 06-06-22
A good read
This book is definitely interesting although some of the views on native religions and cultures are somewhat outdated the vast majority of the knowledge is still very current and informative would highly recommend to anyone interested in the topic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patrick Zircher
- 02-10-24
Exciting history but marred by prejudice.
An engaging account of the 15th & 16th century Europeans who explored the New World.
Though it is jolting to read the bias in historical writing from 60 yrs ago, as this is marred by a lot of racial arrogance.
Herrmann too often excuses the white atrocities and uses native practices as reason enough for them, seeming to forget who invaded whom.
I came away from the book thinking:
1) it is true these explorers were remarkable men, daring, brave, ambitious-- but also utterly ruthless. It's possible they had to be as each expedition was threatened by mutiny and desertion.
2) The writer was racist. An opinion that's hard to shake off as the book progresses and by (googling while I read this) his objection to interracial marriage in another book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Howard
- 01-04-05
Discover this Book
This is one of the best audiobooks I have had the pleasure to listen to since I joined audible. This is a rollicking rendition of the age of exploration. It covers the political, social and economic impact of the discoveries which in fact were profound but unappreciated today in the fog of history. It is also a fine high adventure tale told form the standpoint of the explorers themselves and relates numerous incidents and smaller figures involved in the events that are rarely related in standard texts. What's more, it is all true. The narration is superb. I can't wait for volume II.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
86 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Frank Bergdoll
- 04-22-13
The subtitle says it all
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I think that I should have paid more attention to the subtitle. This book is great and was a very worthwhile listen. The scope was, as advertised, from the late 1400's to the early 1500's. So the "Age" is really a bit narrow in focus.
That said, I fully intend to seek out other books by this author and narrator - it was great in every sense. Exciting, intriguing - a wonderful book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Herb
- 07-17-15
EXCEPTIONAL
wonderful narration. I particularly like that other voice when the narrator is speaking in that character voice. beautifully done BRAVO!!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful