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Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.

Average Customer Rating:

Discovering the world, kings fighting, men surviving, women chattel

Customer Rating:

A truly terrifying and detailed eyewitness account of Magellan's voyage westward around the world by sea. It is not hard to get sucked in by Magellan's political persistence, and his entire crew's efforts at survival as they stepped off land they knew to a waterworld larger, deeper, and yet more inhabited than anyone knew. No modern reader can understand what it meant in the 16th century to board a ship to a world where entire continents and oceans were unknown, and longitude was uncalculatable. It was far more daring than the oft-compared space travel, where all the "heavenly" bodies are well-known, and location is calculated down to the last centimeter. At the same time, I found the story equally frightening for describing what still exists in large measure: leaders of countries competing brutally for money, luxury, and indulgences, exploiting the bravery and suffering of loyal common men, poisoning the natural curiosity between cultures. And through it all, women figuring prominently ... as sexual chattel. What we now know is that the world is round, most of it navigable waters. But the lands are populated with scientifically advanced savages. Magellan's story may not make you seasick, but it will surely make you dizzy.

fascinating history

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This is a fascinating read, full of details (politics of the time, how ships operate, torture, sexual mores of various tribes around the world, etc.). The story of the first voyage around the world is so amazingly dramatic one would say "too far fetched" if it were fiction. Every page is so rich with detail that you want to just slow down as you read. The only slight flaw is that the characters do not come quite as alive as I would have liked. But everything else about this book is so good, it's well worth reading.

very exciting - couldn't put it down	Customer Rating:
this is one of the most exciting adventure/discovery books i've ever read. it was a page-turner from beginning to end.

One of the better bios I've read recently	Customer Rating:
I'm on an explorer kick these days, so I've read a lot of bios of them. (Check my list, "Books About Explorers," for more recommendations.) This is (narrowly) my favorite of the lot. Bergreen's a terrific writer, and Magellan's voyage never lacked for drama. It's carefully researched and fun to read.

Magellan - a slow boat from China?

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Bergreen weaves together standard primary sources (logs and diaries from a couple of key shipmates that have been preserved and cited many times) with secondary sources in a way to make this oft-told tale seem fresh. Magellan's trip around the world was a triumph and a tragedy, a triumphant success because of his leadership and strength of character, and a tragedy he did not survive due to (as well) to his character. Bergreen mentions the recent theory (in 1421: The Year China Discovered America --see my review ) that Magellan was following in the footsteps of the ancient Chinese "Treasure Ships" in sailing through the Strait, but does not come down decisively on the side of the theory. However, some of Magellan's actions described in Bergreen's book as he was searching for the strait make sense only if in fact Magellan knew what he was looking for based on a map or reports from a previous visit.