Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air

If you love detailed maps, science, history, or adventure, this is the book for you.

In precise and evocative language, Ross tells the story of fourteen explorers and how they navigated and traveled over vast distances, unknown lands, and into uncharted territory. The explorers are covered chronologically, one chapter to an explorer and include Pytheas the Greek's fabled journey to the Arctic Circle in 340 BC, Admiral Zheng He's crossing of the Indian Ocean in 1405, the Picard's journey to heights and depths in balloons and bathysphere, and finishes with the landing on the moon.
Each exploration has a separate chapter, packed with information about navigation, building of boats, balloons, and rockets, and stories of setbacks as well as show more successes.
This book doesn't cover a great deal of new ground on the subject of exploration, although it does add a few non-Western people and one woman. It's a good general overview of famous explorers with a few additions. The focus on how they accomplished their explorations is an interesting new perspective.
The presentation and design of the book is amazing. Each explorer has a chapter with backgrounds that looked like different kinds of paper or parchment and exquisitely detailed artwork. Fold-out sections show cross-sections of ships, and more details on maps, routes, engineering, and other factors in the accomplishment of these feats of exploration.

Verdict: While the fold-out sections may not last long in your library, this book is worth getting anyways for the amount of information packed into its brisk chapters. It's a great overall survey of the high points of exploration in history. I picked it up at random to show on a school visit and it enthralled 5th through 8th graders.

ISBN: 978-0-7636-49487; Published April 2011 by Candlewick; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library show less

Absolutely stunning! The engaging, informative text chronicles exciting adventures by daring explorers. Biesty's huge, fold out, cutaway cross section illustrations are remarkably detailed. A handsomely designed visual experience.

A great way to introduce students and young children into history. The writing style does not bog readers down with detail after detail like a advanced book. Each journey is presented with drawings and pull-out illustrations that offer a detailed view into each momnent in time. it offer something for both those who like to read and those that like great artwork. I would use this book as an introduction for any history course before moving students on to detailed texts.

As posted on Outside of a Dog:

The first thing to say about Stewart Ross' Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air must be said. This book is cool. Like, super-duper cool. If I can just get kids, especially boys, to open the book, I know I'll have them hooked. Into the Unknown tells the tale of fourteen great explorations and the great men and women who undertook them. Each section is rich in historical facts and modern context, and makes for interesting reading, but lets face it, the coolest parts of this book are the fold-outs. Each section contains a fold-out with incredibly detailed drawings by Stephen Biesty. These drawings include maps and cross sections of every vehicle employed by our explorers, show more even the clothing worn by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. These additions are extraordinary, and I got lost in each and every one, examining even the smallest detail so painstakingly crafted by Biesty. I should have no trouble getting this book into eager hands. show less

Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air chronicles the advancement of travel from over a thousand years ago to present day. Readers explore the different methods used to travel across the world and even into space. Added into the book are pull outs that will have students exploring out of fascination. Geared towards upper elementary or middle school, this would be a wonderful way to learn more about our past and just how far the world has come.

Great illustrations, interesting topics.