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

Stephen Biesty has long been my favorite children's book illustrator, and even as an adult, I'm not ashamed to admit that I still love studying his artwork. "Into the Unknown" is definitely a return to form for him. The artwork isn't quite as detailed as those contained in "Incredible Cross-Sections" or his work with DK in the 90s, but there's still a ton of "cool stuff" here for his fans and smart kids. He's illustrated plenty of vehicles before, but here, he gets "under the skin" of famous exploration craft like the bathyscaphe "Trieste," a Chinese treasure ship, and Umberto Nobile's airship "Italia."Although Stewart Ross's writing is decent, the artwork is obviously the highlight here. Mr. Biesty really delivers; each chapter contains multiple cut-aways, maps, and little vignettes. To give the chapter on Leif Eriksson's 1003 voyage as an example, there's a full-page cutaway of a Viking knaar ship, a gatefold showing how the ship was built and shipwright's tools, a depiction of how a sun-shadow board worked, a map of the expedition, and a recreation of the famous "Vinland map." Throughout the book are side illustrations which explain concepts such as the layers of Earth's atmosphere, or how Pytheas used a gnomon to determine his latitude.Being a huge space geek, my only real disappointment is the numerous technical and historical errors which snuck into the chapter on Apollo 11. Yeah, I know this is a children's book, but Stephen Biesty's attention to detail is usually incredible. I'm not sure why an oxygen tank is labeled as a radio, why Buzz Aldrin is described as flying Eagle during the actual landing, or why the SLA panels are still attached in the depiction of transposition and docking.That aside, this is a very fun book, with a lot of really fascinating illustrations. Considering how much material is crammed into it, $10 is a steal. I actually recommend buying the paperback instead of the hardcover. The pages are larger, the format isn't quite as cluttered, and the fold-outs are less likely to be destroyed by adolescents.

Really interesting and cool book for middle school students! This book was on a list provided by our library as one they would like to have. The fold out pages make it fun as well as educational. I wish I had been able to spend more time reading it before I had to meet a deadline to donate it to a local charity. There were several explorers of which I had virtually no prior knowledge.The physical construction of the book could have been better as there was some cracking/splitting of the paper at the seam where the spine joins the first and last pages of the book - I purchased a used books in either Good or Very Good condition and both had the same issue.

This is the most exciting book I have found for my Montessori lower elementary class this year. There are fold out pictures to demonstrate the size of, for example Mt. Everest. This is an inspiring book to have in the classroom, highly recommended to give your class a sense of what explorers have achieved through history and even today.

If there were six stars, that's what I would give this book (read the first two reviews). My grandson's reaction will serve as the book review: At around 6:20 am, he told me he loved the book. Then he started reading while I prepared breakfast. I had to ask him several times to STOP reading and eat breakfast! We told him that Picard was the inspiration for Professor Calculus in the Tin Tin books.

Fascinating stories and gorgeous, amazing fold-out drawings. I checked this out of my local library and loved it so much, I purchased this for my 5-year-old son for the holidays. Highly recommend.

Great book for my 10 year old nephew.

Detailed, informative, entertaining... even for us geezers!

This is wonderful book with super-detailed drawings by Stephen Biesty that I've come to love in other books of his drawings.If you're a Stephen Biesty fan, you'll love this book. The drawings in this book are different from those in the other books in they are multi-folded, which allows a lot of detail in a small space.

Nice book, good easy to read format, and received in excellent condition.. Highly recommended, as can be said about all other Stewart Ross's books. Guaranteed to keep young readers hooked to the subject.

Great book for explorers topic. Probably best for 9-10 year olds.

Bought for my grandson for his term's lessons, and he has found it great.

This book has been really enjoyed by my year 4 class during our Adventurers and Explorers topic. Fabulous detailed illustrations and lots of written information.

The book was good, with the right amount general information I was looking for. The fold out pages are nice but give me grief by not going back in properly or bending / tucking / bulging the pages. This is the only reason I gave this 4 stars. If they had of stuck to single non folding pages and simply made the book similar to some of Stephen Biesty's other books I would have loved it.