The Explorers: A Story of Fearless Outcasts, Blundering Geniuses, and Impossible Success

Curiosity. Hope. Passion. Courage. Independence. Self-discipline. Perseverance. Dugard (coauthor, Killing Lincoln) identifies these as the qualities that successful explorers display over the course of their journeys and from which the rest of us can learn. As the foundation for his argument, the author uses the 1857–58 expedition of Richard Francis Burton (1821–90) and John Hanning Speke (1827–64) to find the source of the Nile River, noting the difficulties they experienced in traveling into Africa, the clash of their personalities, and the fallout from their conflicting conclusions regarding the river's source. Dugard arranges his chapters by the traits listed and investigates related psychological/behavioral research then meanders on a far-ranging journey through time and other explorers who have displayed similar attributes.