in 1700, explorer John Lawson zigged when he could have zagged...

... And the results of his decision created his book, A New Voyage to Carolina, published in 1709, considered the finest description of the Carolinas in the early colonial period. Lawson's keen eye has left a record of early colonial flora, fauna, geography, and above all residents. Lawson's descriptions of the Indians through whose culture he traveled is unparalleled. In 2014-2015, through a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, I retraced that journey. A full website describes it, and you can preorder the book about that journey, A Delicious Country,  from UNC Press.