Over the Edge of the World cover art

Over the Edge of the World

Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

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Over the Edge of the World

By: Laurence Bergreen
Narrated by: Laurence Bergreen
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About this listen

In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying 18 emaciated men. During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle.

This is the first full account in nearly half a century of this voyage into history: a tour of the world emerging from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance; a startling anthropological account of tribes, languages, and customs unknown to Europeans; and a chronicle of a desperate grab for commercial and political power.

©2003 Laurence Bergreen (P)2003 HarperCollinsPublishers, Inc. Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Civilisation Expeditions & Discoveries Historical World Middle Ages Sailing Indonesia

Critic Reviews

"[Journalist Bergreen] superbly recreates Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan's obsessive 16th-century quest....Bergreen writes this powerful tale of adventure with a strong presence and rich detail." (Publishers Weekly)

"Bergreen tells a well-rounded story of Magellan....He also puts the voyage into its historical context....Fascinating reading for history buffs, and a great story that rivals any seagoing adventure." (Booklist)
All stars
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A World Lit Only By Fire by W Manchester gives a more compelling telling of Magellan's story among just two chapters in an epic book. I bought Bergreen's book hoping to learn more about such an incredible and historically significant voyage but I felt this Bergreen lingered over less interesting events and only glanced at the parts I was most interested in from Manchester's book.

Another reviewer complained about the bedtime-story cadence of the narration. I'd agree, great for getting to sleep but to compare, Manchester's book gave me insomnia because it was so interesting.

All in all, disappointed.

Factual - but lacking in storytelling

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Easy to listen to and inspiring. Gave an appreciation of just how hard times were in the 1500s.

Informative .

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Fascinating, especially the Spanish / Portuguese politics. Magellan a hero with flaws - a story good for a long road trip.

Fascinating

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The book is fine but the narration is jarring to say the least. It's not the narrator/author's fault that his thick NY accent is wildly out of place, but when he starts mispronouncing words ("trough" as "trow"?) it's like getting lightly slapped in the face, as if to break your immersion on purpose. It seems like the narrator hasn't even read the book before and isn't aware of how his inflections should work, despite the fact he wrote the thing. His narrative style sounds like a parent reading a bedtime story to a child, completely at odds with the dark, often thrilling, contents of the book. It's like having Dora the Explorer narrate Blood Meridian. I genuinely believe Siri reading Magellan's wiki page would do a better job of it. Buy the hardcopy.

Buy the hardcopy

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