Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years

Richardson, John, Sir, 1787-1865Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.9
Word count
798K words
Chapters
80

Tags

English Originals Travel TeamworkPolar ExplorationScientific ExpeditionNature ObservationAdventure JourneySurvival in IsolationNaturalist RecordGeography ScienceDocumentary NarrativeArctic Coast

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the YearsAuthor: Richardson, John, Sir, 1787-1865,Language: English, Class: G: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation, Release Date: Aug 19, 2010

Editor's review

This book is Sir John Richardson's documentary account of the second Arctic coastal expedition, a work of geographical and exploration literature. Its value lies in a first-hand record of polar expedition organization, routes, environment, and daily life, letting readers see the real conditions of nineteenth-century Arctic exploration: the constraints of equipment, supplies, and climate, and how the expedition pushed its work forward across blank spaces on the map. Richardson combined natural history and medicine in his background, and his narrative often weaves in observations of natural phenomena, flora and fauna, and the local environment, so the text is more than a dry itinerary. As a public-domain e-book, it suits reading as primary material for the history of polar exploration and geographical survey, and also for readers interested in natural-history records. Note that the text carries the limitations of its era, its pace is slow, and some passages require background knowledge for full understanding.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and preface first to clarify the stages of the journey, then read by stage.
  2. Read alongside a map and mark routes and place names as you go; this markedly improves understanding.
  3. Extract the natural-history observation passages separately as topical notes.
  4. Read period-specific statements critically, distinguishing record from interpretation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
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  11. 11
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  19. 19
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  22. 22
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  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80

FAQ

Is this book a novel or nonfiction? It is a documentary narrative recording the itinerary and observations of an Arctic coastal expedition; it belongs to geographical and exploration literature, not fiction. Read it as a primary historical source, not a storybook.
How much geographical background is needed? Basic general knowledge of world geography is enough to begin, but familiarity with the overall context of nineteenth-century Arctic exploration and the state of maps at the time will make it easier to understand the difficulties and significance of the advances described.
Is there much natural-history content in the book? The narrative includes observations of natural phenomena, flora and fauna, and the environment, related to the author's background in natural history and medicine. The actual extent depends on the book's content; treat it as one topical thread in your reading.
Is it suitable as a source for research citations? As a public-domain primary source, it can be used in research on exploration history, the history of geography, and natural-history records, but when citing, verify the edition and page numbers, and provide necessary notes on period-specific statements.

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About the author

Richardson, John, Sir, 1787-1865 Author · British · 1787–1865

Sir John Richardson (1787–1865) was a British naval surgeon, Arctic explorer, and naturalist, and the author of an account of Arctic exploration. He is best known for his work Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years, which records observations of nature and human life in the Arctic coastal regions from a first-hand perspective. Public information about the details of his life is limited, and only one of his works is currently held in this collection; yet this expedition narrative, blending voyaging experience, natural-history collecting, and geographical observation, earned him a place in the literature of British Arctic exploration. His plain, practical writing, with its emphasis on on-site records, provides reliable primary material for later understanding of nineteenth-century Arctic exploration and natural investigation.