Epic fails

"Authors Erik Slader and Ben Thompson introduce readers to an international cast of trailblazers and detail every mutiny, wrong turn, and undiscovered city of gold behind the age of exploration."--Publisher.

"Christopher Columbus is one of the most famous explorers of all time, but he was neither the first nor last adventurer to ever stumble upon a great discovery. From the Silk Road of Asia to the icy shores of Antarctica, our knowledge of the world today is in large part due to several intrepid pioneers, risking life and limb for the sake of exploration. After all, setting off into the dark unknown requires an enormous amount of bravery. But every explorer quickly learns that courage and curiosity aren't enough to save you if you can't read a map or trespass on somebody else's land!"--From the publisher's web site.

"Ben Thompson and Erik Slader take readers through the numerous failures that comprised the Space Race, paving the way for humanity's eventual success at reaching the stars"--Publisher.

"Describes the lives of [Orville and Wilbur Wright,] the two American brothers who designed, built, and flew the first heavier-than-air aircraft to fly successfully, detailing the many mishaps and misadventures that preceded it"--OCLC.

"Today, everyone is familiar with Neil Armstrong's famous words as he first set foot on the moon: 'one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.' He made it look easy, but America's journey to the moon was anything but simple. In 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite, into orbit, America had barely crossed the starting line of the great Space Race. Later that year, our first attempt was such a failure that the media nicknamed it 'Kaputnik.' Still, we didn't give up. With each failure, we gleaned valuable information about what went wrong, and how to avoid it in the future. So we tried again. And again. And each time we failed, we failed a little bit better"--Amazon.com.

Describes the lives of the two American brothers who designed, built, and flew the first heavier-than-air aircraft to fly successfully, detailing the many mishaps and misadventures that preceded it.