If you liked Into Thin Air or The Perfect Storm, search out all of Ella Maillart's books. She was a female adventurer back when women didn't even travel to civilized places, much less uncivilized ones. Her books are inspiring to read. I'm amazed at all the places she sought out around the globe. What a woman!

I was turned on to Ella Maillart after stumbling accidentally onto her obituary in the New York Times. Her life was so interesting that I went to the library and read all of her books -- she is now one of my heroes. This was a woman who was years ahead of her time. She makes the North Pole explorers look like creampuffs. Hers are some of the most incredible travelogues you will ever come across, and are all the more amazing considering that she was the first true female explorer. Some kind publisher should reissue a collection of her best work. A winner and worth seeking out.

Overviews of exploration in Central Asia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when virtually nothing was known about the region. In the West, anyway.

Of particular value are the bibliographies at the end of each chapter, tempting you with hard-to-find books on each of the explorers or expeditions. It is tragic (not to mention expensive) that the books written by the participants are so difficult to come by.

It's too bad the book doesn't cover the Haardt-Citroën expedition, something I've been unable to turn up much information on.

This book is a real bargain, buy it now while it's still in print!!! I personally couldn't put it down (much to the chagrin of my three year old son, who wanted to do something other than watch me read)!

Buy this book! It's a kind of roadmap to a lost world of real life adventure from a far more innocent time when the world was a much larger place.

Thanks for this opportunity to write something about a really good book. Aficionados of Central Asia (east of Kashgar) are going to like this book. It brings to life the exploits of such famous travelers as Roy Chapman Andrews, Hedin, Younghusband, and the intrepid Alexandra David-Neel who reached Lhasa in 1923. It is full of interesting historical anecdotes and photos. For example, the author has a wonderful photo of Sir Francis Younghusband (p.96) in full dress uniform receiving the Chinese Amban in Lhasa. Another is Alexandra David-Neel in Tibet (p.148) with her Lama traveling companion. The book is well researched, has an index, useful bibliographies, and reads easily. My only quarrel is with the title which says little about the contents and its subtitle which is hard on eyes over 65. Nevertheless, if you've seen this part of the world or are planning a trip there, this is the book for you. A really good read. Submitted by the Assistant Dir (ret) Colorado State University Libraries.

"Alluring Target" is a captivating collection of the exploits of eleven explorers and travelers in Central Asia. Written in the splendid tradition of Peter Hopkirk's "Foreign Devils on the Silk Road," Wimmel's work is even easier to read.

No armchair explorer should miss the real-life exploits of these "super-heroes" of Central Asia--both male and female. You may be familiar with one or two of these intrepid adventurers, but some are bound to be new. Action, privation, triumph, discovery, mysticism--and an absolutely bizzare quotation attributed to Winston Churchill--await you. Order this book before it goes out of print!