John Biggins Book order

Laced with smart humor, this naval tale follows the early career of Lieutenant Otto Prohaska, a cadet in the Austro–Hungarian Navy at the turn of the century. Bad luck continues to shadow Otto, and when a fellow cadet breaks his leg, Otto must take his place on a scientific expedition bound for disaster. But even sinister quack scientists, a misguided attempt to establish a colony in Africa, and angry South Sea cannibals bent on destruction cannot keep Otto from fulfilling his patriotic duty.

It is the summer of 1916 and, as luck would have it, Otto is assigned to the nascent, unreliable, and utterly frightening Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Flying Service. Otto's aerial chauffeur is the self-willed Sergeant-Pilot Toth, with whom he can only communicate in broken Latin—although when all else fails, screaming will suffice! On the ground the rickety Habsburg Empire begins to crumble before the onslaught of WWI, while in the air Otto confronts a series of misadventures and the winds of change.

This book follows the hapless Lieutenant Otto Prohaska in the waning years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and finds Otto taking an ill-considered break from duties to engage in a mad fling with a Polish actress. After a desperate attempt to elude his lover's husband, he finds himself mistaken by anarchists as one of their own. Otto soon masters their code names and secret handshakes, but when he also learns of their plans to assassinate the Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, his duty is clear. He must alert his superiors—now, if only he can find someone who will believe him!

In a historical novel about the last days of the seldom discussed Austrian empire, a 101-year-old former sailor in the Austro-Hungarian Navy narrates this fascinating journey into the past, focusing particular attention on World War I. Original.

This is the 4th English edition of the only comprehensive guidebook to the peaks of the Andes and covers many areas not described in any other source. Previous editions have been translated into French, Spanish, Polish and Czech. The author has been climbing and skiing in the Andes for 25 years and has made ascents of 300 peaks higher than 5000m.