Dreams and discovery have always gone together: one has nourished the other and vice versa. This book explains how, on closer inspection, the world is still full of mystery and wonder. Pushing beyond geographical limits, sailing uncharted waters, studying winds and ocean currents, overcoming deserts and mountains: are they not examples of dreams of discovery that humans have always shared? Now that almost every place on the planet has been explored, charted, and mapped, is anything left to feed our imagination? Buddhist monks, Marco Polo, Muhammad Ibn Battuta, Christopher Columbus, Henry Hudson and James Cook all teach us that even though the map appears to be completed, there are still an endless number of amazing adventures awaiting us, and many new ideas ready to spark our dreams.

Alessandro Vanoli is a medieval historian and an expert in Mediterranean history.