From this eclectic gathering of tales told at the legendary, century-old Explorers Club, it seems adventure is a pejorative word because several writers here equate it with poor planning. Nevertheless, they plunge into narratives of mischance, to the vicarious thrill of readers, who will, for example, enjoy ducking bandits' bullets along with legendary paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews. Not all are death-defying yarns, however, for one finds club members visiting mutineer Fletcher Christian's descendents on Pitcairn Island and the discoverer of the coelacanth, the fish hitherto known only from fossils. Geographically wide-ranging, late editor Plimpton's selections from club archives include, of course, Mt. Everest. Plimpton also accords prominence to broadcaster Lowell Thomas (the club's Manhattan mansion is named for him) in the form of several pieces by or about him. That only a few contributors are professional writers makes this volume's literary quality a hit-and-miss affair, but it is cover-to-cover descriptive adventure, which, for many readers, is the bottom line. Gilbert Taylor

For almost 100 years, members of The Explorers Club have trekked to the far corners of the Earth, boldly taken to the air, and even ventured into outer space to conduct their research, expand the horizons of human knowledge, or simply answer the question, "What is there?" For the first time, readers can vicariously experience the greatest adventures in the Club's storied history in a single, action-filled volume, As Told at The Explorers Club. Selected by the late George Plimpton CO'80, who also wrote the introduction, these thrilling tales cover the signature areas of twentieth century exploration, including the Arctic, Central Asia, Africa, and Mt. Everest. Legendary explorer, author, and journalist Lowell Thomas contributes two fascinating accounts: his memorable first encounter with T. E. Lawrence in the recently liberated city of Jerusalem in 1917, and an unforgettable land journey through the Khyber Pass in the late 1920s en route to an audience with the king of Afghanistan. Former Club president Roy Chapman Andrews writes movingly of an unusual encounter with Mongolian bandits in the Korean wilderness in 1931. William Morden dramatically describes a camel caravan through Central Asia, where his party was ambushed and held hostage. But not all the stories are the stuff of Indiana Jones-style adventures. There are gripping accounts of trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific rowing expeditions in the 1980s; the mind-boggling story of a mountaineer who hang glided down from the upper slopes of K2, the world's second highest mountain, in 1979; and the tale of a 1958 expedition to the Himalayas in search of the elusive Yeti that yielded unexpected and controversial results. These pungent, often humorous, and frequently surprising pieces are an encapsulation of what makes The Explorers Club so unique and special. The sole disappointment: the publisher could only include fifty-one stories in the 400-page book. Let's hope that volume II is coming soon.