Ah, an enthralling book.

I was reading it along the way to upper Agnes a few years back and distinctively remember sitting in camp one day, buffetted by wind, and thinking: "Men back then were braver than I could ever hope to be."

It's one of the most compelling historical accounts I've read. Though overflowing with detail and fact, and though Bergreen tackles a wide variety of controversial ideas and topics, it does not get bogged down.

This is no dry textbook.

Bergreen writes concisely yet richly, tends to understate rather than lean on ridiculous superlatives to tell his tale.

His treatment of the passage through the Strait (of Magellan) is magical.

Frankly, I felt humble after reading this book. Did I learn so little in school? How could I not have known some of this stuff?

-- kypaddler

Anybody know of a good book about China's "Treasure Fleet" (27 THOUSAND men)? Bergreen gives it passing treatment, but it's appears that if palace intrigue hadn't caused it to be moth-balled, the world might all be speaking Chinese now.