Around the World in 80 Years: A Life of Exploration Author : Ranulph Fiennes ISBN-13 : 978-1399729734 Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton Guideline Price : £25 There is no denying that Sir Ranulph Fiennes has enjoyed, or rather endured, an extraordinary life. The explorer has traversed both poles, crossed the Sahara and ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, the latter at 59 and just 16 weeks after a double-heart bypass. In the process, he has also raised almost £20 million for charity, lost fingers to frostbite while attempting a solo trip to the North Pole, and almost perished countless times.
This collection celebrates a dozen of Fiennes’s greatest adventures as he celebrates his 80th birthday, from his earliest expeditions, when still a serving member of the Royal Scots Greys, the same British army regiment commanded by his late father in the second World War, to his three-year Transglobe Expedition, the first circumpolar journey around the earth. Many of these writings have previously appeared in the explorer’s 25-plus other books, so those who have read A Talent For Trouble or Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know can probably skip this without missing much. If you haven’t gorged on Fiennes’s particular brand of heroic endurance porn before, however, this will form a decent introduction, although the fact that it skips across continents and time frames does leave the reader crying out for a little more context on occasion.
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