Conquerors of Time: Exploration and Invention in the Age of Daring

Trevor Fishlock puts the reader before the mast, on the dusty road, on the sledge, in the stagecoach and the howdah and aboard the clanking pioneer steamer. It is a thrilling journey. Here are the men of the Arctic ice, the desert fire, the jungles and the seas. Here are the engineers who bridge the chasms, build the roads and railways, fashion the machines, lay the cables and string the telegraph wires. Here, too, are the doctors groping for answers to terrible diseases, surveyors and cartographers slowly making sense and shape of the world, the unsung armies of labourers, and the artists and photographers who bring the stories home. Through it all, the vital supporting cast in the saga of triumph and frequent failure, are the elephants, horses, mules, camels, bullocks and sledge dogs. Conquerors of Time celebrates the courage, energy, innovation, resourcefulness and grand ideas of these pioneers. It wonders at the imperatives, beliefs and sheer confidence that powered their extraordinary achievements. Packed with detail, it is a narrative both vivid and moving.