Extraordinary Adventure 59 It is the Hardy Boys books that first sparked my desire to read. And there were so many of them, that it took until my junior year in college before I finally finished the series and could read something else. The next book I found was something called “Ulysses,” and since it [...]

Extraordinary Adventure 60 The desert island: Perhaps the quintessential adventure setting. Used to it’s most famous effect in Daniel Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe, which we discussed earlier, but only slightly less well known is William Shakespeare’s Magnum Opus The Tempest, featuring the evil Caliban, The mysterious Prospero and many more of the bard’s most inscrutable names. [...]

Extraordinary Adventure 61 There is so much adventure in this little bestseller that it’s hard to know where to start.  It’s rumored that this is the story that kicked off an entire genre of adventure quest novels, though it was itself written as a bet, to prove that its author, one Sir H. Rider Haggard, [...]

Extraordinary Adventure 62 It started out as just a pitch, an idea to expand the animated short “Tin Toy” into a Christmas special. The mad computer animation wizards in a company called Pixar Animation Wizards had decided to call it “A Tin Toy Christmas.” After many writers, and rewriters, and underwriters, and copywriters it eventually [...]

Extraordinary Adventure 63 Behold the mighty pith helmet: Handcrafted, genuine cork, dyed with tea to match your khakis. Yes, the pith helmet; sometimes called the “Home Service Helmet,” it is still worn by the British army on several ceremonial occasions; a truly magnificent accessory to any ensemble, a singularly bold, if not grandiose, fashion statement, [...]