Across the Empty Quarter

PENGUIN GREAT JOURNEYS NO. 19THE ARABIAN DESERT, 1947Wilfred Thesiger observes the monstrous rampart of brick-red dunes ahead of him in despair. He cannot turn back, yet to go forward will risk avalanches of sand and death from dehydration, and if the Arabs find out a Christian is in the uncharted territory of the Empty Quarter then all will certainly be lost. But despite the danger, Thesiger is determined to cross the Sands – and answer the desert’s final challenge.Journey back in time with history’s greatest adventurers1 HERODOTUS Snakes with Wings and Gold-digging Ants2 MAS’ŪDĪ From The Meadows of Gold3 MARCO POLO The Customs of the Kingdoms of India4 CABEZA DE VACA The Shipwrecked Men5 WILLIAM DAMPIER Piracy, Turtles and Flying Foxes6 MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU Life on the Golden Horn7 JAMES COOK Hunt for the Soutbern Continent8 OLAUDAH EQUIANO Sold as a Slave9 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT Jaguars and Electric Eels10 SIR RICHARD BURTON To the Holy Shrines11 WALTER HENRY BATES In the Heart of the Amazon Forest12 ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE Borneo, Celebes, Aru13 MARK TWAIN Can-cans, Cats and Cities of Ash14 ISABELLA BIRD Adventures in the Rocky Mountains15 ANTON CHEKHOV A Journey to the End of the Russian Empire16 MARY KINGSLEY The Congo and the Cameroons17 ERNEST SHACKLETON Escape from the Antarctic18 GEORGE ORWELL Fighting in Spain19 WILFRED THESIGER Across the Empty Quarter20 RYSZARD KAPUŚCIŃSKI The Cobra’s Heart