Overland Passages

This guide lists each of the 230 diaries and letters in the OHS collections, including name of the writer, relevant dates, all names mentioned, and more.

In late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year's westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival. But until now, the full story of what happened, what it tells us about human nature and about America's westward expansion, remained shrouded in myth. Drawing on fresh archaeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal: a mother who must divide her family, a little girl who shines with courage, a devoted wife who refuses to abandon her husband, a man who risks his life merely to keep his word. But Rarick resists both the gruesomely sensationalist accounts of the Donner party as well as later attempts to turn the survivors into archetypal pioneer heroes. "The Donner Party," Rarick writes, "is a story of hard decisions that were neither heroic nor villainous. Often, the emigrants displayed a more realistic and typically human mixture of generosity and selfishness, an alloy born of necessity." A fast-paced, heart-wrenching, clear-eyed narrative history, A Desperate Hope casts new light on one of America's most horrific encounters between the dream of a better life and the harsh realities such dreams so often must confront.

Searching for even more wild places and new experiences, Dan became determined to explore 'off the map' in Africa. From the mighty Sahara Desert in the north to the dense equatorial jungles of the Congo and the open grasslands of Southern Africa, Dan turned his biggest dream into reality. Over the course of three years Dan's second major expedition spanned fifty-four thousand miles through thirty-five unique African countries. THE ADVENTURE WAS A THOUSAND TIMES BIGGER THAN HE DREAMED POSSIBLE. After exploring the Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina Dan became hooked on the freedom of global overland travel, and he only wanted more. New languages, exotic foods, stunning landscapes and local people with an entirely different outlook became Dan's everyday life. As the months turned into years, through highlights and despair Dan gained a new appreciation for what it truly means to be alive. Viewing our modern world through African eyes gave Dan a new perspective, and he was pulled in by the endless joy, laughter and kindness at every turn. While the landscapes and wildlife are undeniably breathtaking, it is the natural warmth of the African people that is truly unforgettable. All across the continent Dan was welcomed with love and generosity, and now he will never be the same.

Zusammenfassung: The book, divided into two major parts, discusses the evolution of the concept and symbols of zero and the history of pi. Both the topics are discussed from the Neolithic Age to the nineteenth century. The book also clears the assumption that Johann Heinrich Lambert (AD 1761) only invented the irrationality of pi by crediting Lambert jointly with André Marie Legendre (AD 1794). Part 1, consisting of six stages spread in six chapters, meets a challenge to the authors as eminent scholars of the history of mathematics have diverse opinions based on conjectures. This part primarily discusses how the symbol O, in the Vedic religious practices, considered a replica of the universe prescribed for meditation on the unknown Brahman (conceived of as the space supreme in the Upanishads), was later transcended to the symbol of an unknown quantity in mathematics along with a dot for zero in an arena of atheism. It also highlights how the zero notation and the decimal system of Indian numerals embellished with the algebraic thoughts of Brahmagupta passed on to China and Europe via Arabia. Topics in this part have traced the development from the origin to the final form as seen today after the western practice and try to put an end to the long-standing debate over history. Appendices contain the Sanskrit verses (transliterated with meanings into English) along with the essential mathematical deduction referred to in the body of the part to help the reader to have a better understanding. Part 2 speaks of a novel idea of unveiling the nature of pi interwoven with threads of historical ups and downs in the world scenario. This part, containing five chapters, collects all available up-to-date data in every field of history to make the presentation complete in all respects. This part discusses the origin of the definition of pi as the rim of a wheel is thrice its diameter at the Indus Valley in the fourth millennium BC. This part also discusses the enlightenment of China in circle-squaring (classical method), Indian mathematics with astronomical knowledge along the Buddhist channel, and India's discovering circumference/diameter as a non-Euclidean number

A unified view of the use of computer vision technology for different types of vehicles Computer Vision in Vehicle Technology focuses on computer vision as on-board technology, bringing together fields of research where computer vision is progressively penetrating: the automotive sector, unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles. It also serves as a reference for researchers of current developments and challenges in areas of the application of computer vision, involving vehicles such as advanced driver assistance (pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, traffic sign recognition), autonomous driving and robot navigation (with visual simultaneous localization and mapping) or unmanned aerial vehicles (obstacle avoidance, landscape classification and mapping, fire risk assessment). The overall role of computer vision for the navigation of different vehicles, as well as technology to address on-board applications, is analysed. Key features: Presents the latest advances in the field of computer vision and vehicle technologies in a highly informative and understandable way, including the basic mathematics for each problem. Provides a comprehensive summary of the state of the art computer vision techniques in vehicles from the navigation and the addressable applications points of view. Offers a detailed description of the open challenges and business opportunities for the immediate future in the field of vision based vehicle technologies. This is essential reading for computer vision researchers, as well as engineers working in vehicle technologies, and students of computer vision.

Having trained as a civil engineer and surveyor, the ornithologist William Eagle Clarke (1853–1938) established himself in his field by preparing reports on bird migration for the British Association. Focusing on the species passing through the British Isles, Clarke spent many months in various lighthouses and on remote islands. He brought all his research together in this two-volume work, first published in 1912 and illustrated with maps and weather charts. In Volume 2, Clarke describes key examples of his investigations. Photographs of the sites he visited accompany the text. The locations range from the Flannan Isles, in the Outer Hebrides, to the island of Ushant, off the coast of Brittany. Clarke's expedition to the latter location ended abruptly when he and his colleague were mistaken for spies and forced to leave. Extensive coverage is also given to Fair Isle, between Shetland and Orkney.

Important American periodical dating back to 1850.

The most honored book ever released by the University of Illinois Press, The Plains Across was the result of more than a decade's work by its author. Here, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Oregon Trail, is a paperback reissue that includes the notes, bibliography, and illustrations contained in the 1979 cloth edition.