I enjoy reading books about explorers and adventures, especially in their own words. And especially when they were out there causing trouble in the 1700s and 1800s.
Related to my Greece kick, I’ve been looking into the discover of key civilisations, e.g. discovery of Knossos by Arthur Evans, and Mycenae and Troy by Heinrich Schliemann.
Let’s start with Arthur Evans and his work on the Minoans.
Via gpt5.1:
Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941) was a British archaeologist, scholar, and adventurer best known for uncovering the Palace of Knossos on Crete and identifying the Bronze Age Minoan civilization, which he named after the legendary King Minos. A charismatic and energetic figure, Evans combined the curiosity of a traveler with the resources of a wealthy, independently minded scholar. Beginning excavations at Knossos in 1900, he revealed an advanced, pre-Greek culture with elaborate palaces, vivid frescoes, and mysterious scripts (Linear A and Linear B). Brilliant but sometimes controversial, he also reconstructed parts of the palace in concrete—an imaginative but debated move that shaped how the world visualizes the ancient Aegean. His work fundamentally changed our understanding of early European civilization.
He wrote a ton of books and monographs.
Sadly, it does not seem that Evans wrote an adventures book, they are mostly technical.
Nevertheless, there are books about the man and his discoveries.
Some examples of biography style books (via gpt and some searching):
- The Bull of Minos: The Great Discoveries of Ancient Greece, 1953.
- Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth, 2000.
- Arthur Evans and the Palace of Minos, 1983.
- Sir Arthur Evans and Minoan Crete: Creating the Vision of Knossos, 2014.
- The Find of a Lifetime: Sir Arthur Evans and the Discovery of Knossos, 1983.
There are probably others, and this is just a cursory search.
I ordered the first: “The Bull of Minos”, looks like it covers a little of Evans and Schliemann. Looking forward to it.
The blurb:
This title explores the most remote beginnings of the Mediterranean civilizations that became classical Greece, and produces evidence to show that Homer’s kings and heroes were almost certainly flesh and bone. It is the story of the great archaeological discoveries in Crete and Greece, made by Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans, who brought to light the burnt-out ruins of Troy, the Palace and treasure-filled tombs of the Mycenaean Kings, and the vast Palace of Sea Kings at Knossos. Chapters include The Treasure of Priam, Golden Mycenae, Island of Legend, and Palace of the Sea Kings.