Author Description

The search for the real truth about the world, the bold exploration of the darker coast in the most inhospitable seas on earth, composes the adventure of Magellan in the endless struggle of man to explore the unknown and unlock the secret world. In today's age of convenience the new novel, by the winner of the Greek State Literature Award 2008, George Leonardos, sheds light on the titanic battle for human knowledge and discovery of the world as we now know it. In the pages of this book, the reader is navigating with Magellan's boats, taste the sea salt, conscious of the risks involved and the uncertainty of each day dawns. And a book for navigators could not omit the Greek sailors, who accompanied Magellan in the struggle to conquer the unknown. Magellan's expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe and the first to navigate the strait in South America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Magellan's crew observed several animals that were entirely new to European science, including a "camel without humps." A black "goose" that had to be skinned instead of plucked was a penguin. Two of the closest galaxies, the named after him "Magellanic Clouds," were discovered by crew members in the southern hemisphere. The full extent of the Earth was also realized, since their voyage was 14,460 leagues (69,800 km or 43,400mi). The need for an International Date Line was established. Upon returning they found their calendars were a day behind, even though they had faithfully maintained the ship's log. However, they did not have clocks accurate enough to observe the very slight lengthening of each day during which they were underway on the journey (and since they traveled west, after circumnavigation they had rotated about the Earth's axis exactly one time less, hence experiencing one less night, than if they had remained in Spain). This caused great excitement at the time and a special delegation was sent to the Pope to explain the oddity to him. The course that M