Tradition says that dragons come in many shapes and sizes but they all breathe fire, whisk fierce, scaly tails and frighten local villagers. Whenever they can, they capture princesses and take them to their caves. But this is not always the case. In these four stories, the authors introduce some very different kinds of dragons. One, for example, just wants to sit quietly in his cave and write poetry and really doesn't want to fight St. George; in...

Biographies of nine explorations, including examinations of their historical contexts, discussions of the participants lives, and quotations from the explorer's works.