Introduction by Anthony Brandt.</p>

Over the course of three decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Swedish geographer and explorer Sven Hedin traveled Central Asia¼s ancient Silk Road, along the way discovering lost cities, mapping uncharted rivers, and seeing more of &#147;the roof of the world&#148; than any European before him. Illustrated with 160 sketches by the author, this larger-than-life memoir captures the splendor of now-vanished civilizations, the excitement of unearthing ancient monuments, the chilling terror of snow-clogged mountain passes, the danger of infiltrating Tibet and of outwitting Torgut bandits, and the honor of close friendships with royalty from Peking to London.</p>

A worldwide bestseller in the 1920s and named one of National Geographic Adventure magazine's &#147;100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time,&#148; the National Geographic Adventure Classics edition of My Life as an Explorer features an expedition map and exclusive reprints of articles Hedin wrote for National Geographic between 1897 and 1905.</p>