Master storyteller Fleming (Killing Dragons, Ninety Degrees North) recounts 43 tales of adventure, both well-known and obscure, in this wonderfully diverse sampling. With archival photographs, drawings and maps. Organized chronologically, the book is divided into three sections: Age of Reconnaissance, Age of Inquiry, and Age of Endeavor. He opens with the exploits of Marco Polo and the Mongol Empire, moving briskly through the centuries up to Albert Nobile's fateful attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. Along the way he offers sketches of Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin, de la Condamine and Cook, James Clark Ross, Greeley, Nansen, Mawson, Scott and Shackleton, among many others.  (EXP36, $16.00)