An Ocean Too Wide: Columbus's Proposal for a Westward Voyage to the Riches of Asia
- ISBN-10
- 1589820460
- ISBN-13
- 9781589820463
- Pages
- 243
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2003
- Publisher
- American University and Colleges Press
- Author
- Erling Nielsen
Description
Settlements on Mars, subterranean oceans, and seas of methane on planetery moons; the discovery of new planetary systems, intergalactic travel, and encounters of the third kind... Is it just a dream? A Hollywood fantasy? Not if you read this book. Erling Nielsen takes you back to the fifteenth century, when crossing the Atlantic was in the realm of science fiction, and introduces you to the man who made America come true--Christopher Columbus. Understand, thanks to insightful analysis of early Norse and Portuguese explorers, the daring and resolution of one man who refused to bow to tradition and prejudice, who used every trick in the book (including deliberately fudging his sums and doctoring his maps) to get what he wanted: a voyage across the Atlantic to the Indies. For the first time, a present-day explorer who has himself experienced the excruciating uncertainties inherent in all exploratory activity establishes the facts available to Columbus and evaluates their support for a voyage to the Indies. Nielsen, a space scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Gottingen, makes a brilliant presentation of all the scientific evidence of the late fifteenth century. In fascinating detail, he gives us a ringside view of what might go on in the mind of an explorer before he makes his leap into the unknown.
