Ocean State Libraries

In 1857, Captain William Lewis Herndon sacrificed his life trying to save 600 passengers and crew when his ship foundered in a hurricane off the Carolina coast. Memorialized in Gary Kinder's bestselling book Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, Herndon, with this final courageous act, epitomized a lifetime of heroism. Seven years earlier, the secretary of the Navy had appointed Herndon to lead the first American expedition into the Amazon Valley. Herndon...

The explorer and conservationist relives his amazing odyssey exploring the heart of the most biodiversity-rich place on the planet -- the Madre de Dios (Mother of God) region of Peru, where the Amazon River begins its massive flow from the Andean mountain cloud forests into the lowland Amazon rainforest.

"Where can you drive the world's most dangerous highway, see one of the world's rarest birds, and visit the birthplace of Andean civilization? Bolivia! It's one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, where visitors can explore caves, climb mountains, trek across salt flats, and explore lowland rain forests. Bolivia also boasts a lively culture, with the largest percentage of indigenous people in South America sharing their traditions alongside...

"Island of the Sun recounts the American psychologist Alberto Villoldo's return to Peru in search of the Quechua Indian shaman Don Jicaram. The authors' earlier book, Dance of the Four Winds, described Villoldo's first initiation, under Don Jicaram, into the secrets of the Inca Medicine Wheel and the spiritual journey of the Four Winds. Villoldo had begun that journey in the South, "where one goes to confront and shed the past." With use of the powerful...