Mr. McClymont has proved a worthy and skillful historian. His book has become a work of standard reference, to both students and general readers. His concise summary has achieved the difficult task of relating the main journeys to the diversity of motives that made them possible. His accuracy cannot be faulted. The vigour of the explorers emerges in a flowing narrative that is never overwritten or pedestrian. His ability as a mountaineer has given him understanding of his subject and his discipline as a scholar has enabled him to select the essentials for his story in perspective. It is at once the most valuable book on its subject and the most satisfying background for further research. John Pascoe