Crossing the dead Heart by CT Madigan

This is a book about a desert, and a crossing of that desert. A plain tale its author called it. In some respects he was right, but almost three quarters of a century later he would be gratified - and perhaps a little surprised - to know that "Crossing the Dead Heart" continues to be a work of real interest to desert travellers. Cecil Thomas Madigan - Rhodes Scholar, Antarctic Explorer, academic geologist and author of "Crossing the Dead Heart" was no ordinary individual. Possessed of great intellectual and physical vigour, he was an explorer-scientist who straddled the old world of classical exploration and the new order of the twentieth century. His 1939 Simpson Desert expedition, the subject of this book, illustrates the contrast nicely. His chosed mode of transport, the camel, was one of the oldest known to humanity, yet it was juxtaposed with high technology of the mid twentieth century, including 16mm movie film equipment and a long distance radio transceiver. Â