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A review by surefinewhatever
Expeditions Unpacked: What the Great Explorers Took Into the Unknown by Ed Stafford
4.0
I am the kind of person who has...multiple....spreadsheets/lists for packing for different types of trips so I was very excited to get to read an advanced copy of this book! I will say, unfortunately for people who have standard non-color e-readers, I think this is best read in color and maybe in print so you can see the adorable illustrations of the packed items.. It would make a very cute coffee table book, so maybe go for print.
There are a wide variety of expeditions profiled, so some were familiar (Edmund Hillary) but some were totally new to me (Laura Bingham, probably my favorite). I wish there was some sort of time travel magic that could have helped provide more detail into how exactly the past adventurers used their items so there was more insight into how exactly the selected items helped or why they picked them, but I know that’s an unrealistic ask and the book is still interesting, I just really love packing. There are usually at least some sourced descriptions of how people felt about their items, especially how they camped or lived, etc. where possible.
I don’t read a lot of other historical exploration or sailing texts and suspect for someone who does this might seem too high level. For anyone who has an interest in trip/adventure preparations and wants an overview of a lot of various explorations though, it’s full of interesting stories, amazing photos, and of course now I really wish I could have their illustrator do a visual packing guide for me to use as a packing list.
There are a wide variety of expeditions profiled, so some were familiar (Edmund Hillary) but some were totally new to me (Laura Bingham, probably my favorite). I wish there was some sort of time travel magic that could have helped provide more detail into how exactly the past adventurers used their items so there was more insight into how exactly the selected items helped or why they picked them, but I know that’s an unrealistic ask and the book is still interesting, I just really love packing. There are usually at least some sourced descriptions of how people felt about their items, especially how they camped or lived, etc. where possible.
I don’t read a lot of other historical exploration or sailing texts and suspect for someone who does this might seem too high level. For anyone who has an interest in trip/adventure preparations and wants an overview of a lot of various explorations though, it’s full of interesting stories, amazing photos, and of course now I really wish I could have their illustrator do a visual packing guide for me to use as a packing list.