This book, like the sea it is about, is a confusing and themeless void where, here and there, fascinating discoveries await the armchair explorer.

For armchair explorers, the Web is the most thrilling communications medium since the crystal radios that allowed my father's generation to eavesdrop on the conversations of heroes like the pilot Wiley Post, as he barnstormed the North Pole more than half a century ago.

But then he had realized that what he was writing were nothing more than travel books for armchair explorers who preferred a vicarious quest for bug-eyed aliens to one for the last of the Tasaday.

At 08:34 27th Oct 2011, armchair explorer wrote: What a beautiful piece of television.

While his ham radio enables him to go all over the world without leaving the house, Dr. Baker is no armchair explorer.

At 09:09 31st Oct 2011, armchair explorer wrote: Dear Elizabeth.

Most important for the armchair explorer, expedition members filed daily reports on their activities, at oceanexplorer.noaa.gov, under the "Davidson seamount" link.

But when he allows himself to take in the postcard vistas, Messner proves that he's not incapable of satisfying the armchair explorer.

London is an armchair explorer's dream, offering high-quality, travel-focused book dens such as Stanford's and The Travel Bookshop.

Listed below are comments made by armchair explorer between Thursday, 27th October 2011 and Monday, 31st October 2011.