14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What drives people beyond familiar coasts: the promise of gold, a new trade route, or the need to know?
In A Book of Discovery, M. B. Synge follows exploration from the ancient Mediterranean to the polar regions. Phoenician traders leave familiar shores, and Vikings cross rough seas in open ships. Merchants, monks, kings, soldiers and sailors enter the story, each with a reason to travel and hardships to face beyond the places they know.
Prince Henry of Portugal gathers pilots, mapmakers and shipbuilders to send captains down West Africa’s coast. Ferdinand Magellan seeks a way past the Americas, while Captain James Cook brings greater precision to the map. Synge tells this broad history with the pace of an adventure, showing how knowledge grows through journeys driven by trade, ambition and curiosity.
What you’ll discover
- Beyond the familiar shore Follow early traders whose practical needs carry them into waters beyond home.
- People behind the voyages Meet leaders and sailors with different motives, from seeking gold to wanting knowledge.
- Oceans become routes Trace the voyages that connect distant coasts and widen the known world.
- A clearer world map See how Cook’s work marks a shift from broad outlines toward greater precision.
- Toward the polar regions Follow the search for a northern sea route as exploration reaches the earth’s extremes.
Who will love it
Readers who love true accounts of voyages, desert journeys and polar exploration will enjoy this book. It suits those who like explorers' journals and the way discoveries turned old maps into real coastlines.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Discovery has a human cost
- Small maps contain large guesses
- Observation begins to reshape the map
- Unfamiliar seas make truthful travelers suspect
- Travelers bring distant societies into view
- Preparation opens a feared ocean
- Wider horizons also bring suffering
- Survival depends on care and knowledge
- Knowledge grows through imperfect human journeys
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook opens when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
A Book of Discovery in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
A Book of Discovery
by M. B. Synge · 1912
Magellan crosses a Pacific vaster than Europeans know as sailors eat wormy biscuit, ship hides and sawdust.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with medium classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeRenews every year · Cancel anytimeHow it works
- Read, large type too
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
“There is no land uninhabitable, nor sea unnavigable”
In short
Imagine boiling your shoes and saddles for dinner. Imagine eating biscuit that has turned to a powder full of worms, then chewing the leather off a ship's mainyard to stay alive.
A Book of Discovery at a glance
- Reading time
- About 9 h 30 min7 h 35 min fast, 11 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 136,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1912by M. B. Synge
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The first maps show a small flat world
The book begins with the oldest pictures of the earth. In the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, people believed the world was flat and small, with water above, below and all around. A solid metal dome called the firmament covered it, and the sun and moon crept through windows in that dome.
Yet these people already traded far and wide. Rafts and caravans carried cedar, marble and copper. Egypt gives the most vivid scenes. A sailor is wrecked alone on an island, where a golden serpent who calls himself a prince of Punt promises him rescue in four months. Later, Queen Hatshepsut sends five ships from Thebes to Punt, and the chief of Punt asks if the Egyptians came through the sky or sailed on the water.
Renews every year · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer. Your place follows you, and you can make the type as big as you like.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1912
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Synge, M. B. A Book of Discovery. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-book-of-discovery.
Synge, M. B. (2026). A book of discovery. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-book-of-discovery (Original work published 1912)
Synge, M. B. A Book of Discovery. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-book-of-discovery.
@book{synge2026book,
author = {Synge, M. B.},
title = {A Book of Discovery},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-book-of-discovery},
note = {First published 1912}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every eBookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about A Book of Discovery
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is A Book of Discovery about?
It tells the story of exploration from the earliest Egyptian and Phoenician voyages to Peary at the North Pole and Amundsen at the South Pole, using the explorers' own journals, letters and logs wherever possible.
Who wrote A Book of Discovery and when?
M. B. Synge wrote it in the early twentieth century, and the author died in 1939. It is a retelling for general readers, built from original accounts of travelers and sailors.
Which explorers are covered in A Book of Discovery?
Herodotus, Alexander, Pytheas, Marco Polo, Columbus, Da Gama, Magellan, Drake, Cook, Mungo Park, Livingstone, Stanley, Franklin, Nansen, Peary and Amundsen all appear, along with many lesser known travelers.
The author
M. B. Synge
English historical writer
M. B. Synge was Margaret Bertha Synge, an English writer who lived from 1861 to 1939. She lived in England and wrote history books for young readers. Her works included A Book of Discovery, published in 1912. She published her books under the initials M. B. Synge.
“There is no land uninhabitable, nor sea unnavigable”
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
