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| Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: Laurence Bergreen
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $4.19
You Save: $11.76 (74%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $3.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  (114 reviews)
Sales Rank: 12064
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 006093638X
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.92
EAN: 9780060936389
ASIN: 006093638X
Publication Date: November 1, 2004
Release Date: November 2, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 109 more reviews...
 Utterly readable, I was held in thrall.... October 3, 2008
I was afraid this book would lack detail since it depicted events 500 years ago, but there was a passenger who, fortunately, became a primary source, and kept the narrative interesting. The opening scene of the book, with the ghostly ship arriving back in Spain, grabs the reader's attention, then there is a long discussion of Magellan's efforts to get the expedition funded and underway. After wading through this moderately interesting segment, the story really picks up once the armada sails. From then on, I was totally hooked and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. I highly recommend this book. It is not a dry tome, as I suspected at first, but a highly readable account of one of the most amazing voyages of all time.
 Discovering the world, kings fighting, men surviving, women chattel August 26, 2008
A truly terrifying and detailed eyewitness account of Magellan's voyage westward around the world by sea. It is not hard to get sucked in by Magellan's political persistence, and his entire crew's efforts at survival as they stepped off land they knew to a waterworld larger, deeper, and yet more inhabited than anyone knew. No modern reader can understand what it meant in the 16th century to board a ship to a world where entire continents and oceans were unknown, and longitude was uncalculatable. It was far more daring than the oft-compared space travel, where all the "heavenly" bodies are well-known, and location is calculated down to the last centimeter. At the same time, I found the story equally frightening for describing what still exists in large measure: leaders of countries competing brutally for money, luxury, and indulgences, exploiting the bravery and suffering of loyal common men, poisoning the natural curiosity between cultures. And through it all, women figuring prominently ... as sexual chattel. What we now know is that the world is round, most of it navigable waters. But the lands are populated with scientifically advanced savages. Magellan's story may not make you seasick, but it will surely make you dizzy.
fascinating history August 3, 2008
This is a fascinating read, full of details (politics of the time, how ships operate, torture, sexual mores of various tribes around the world, etc.). The story of the first voyage around the world is so amazingly dramatic one would say "too far fetched" if it were fiction. Every page is so rich with detail that you want to just slow down as you read. The only slight flaw is that the characters do not come quite as alive as I would have liked. But everything else about this book is so good, it's well worth reading.
very exciting - couldn't put it down July 26, 2008
this is one of the most exciting adventure/discovery books i've ever read. it was a page-turner from beginning to end.
One of the better bios I've read recently July 1, 2008
I'm on an explorer kick these days, so I've read a lot of bios of them. (Check my list, "Books About Explorers," for more recommendations.) This is (narrowly) my favorite of the lot. Bergreen's a terrific writer, and Magellan's voyage never lacked for drama. It's carefully researched and fun to read.
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