Limits of the Known

In a book that is part memoir and part history, David Roberts looks back at his personal relationship to extreme risk, and tries to make sense of why so many have committed their lives to the desperate pursuit of adventure.In the wake of his diagnosis with throat cancer, Roberts seeks the answer with sharp new urgency. He explores his own lifelong commitment to adventuring, as well as the cultural contributions of explorers throughout history: What did it mean in 1911 for Amundsen to reach the South Pole, or in 1953 for Hillary and Norgay to summit the highest point on earth? What is the future of adventure, if any, in a world we have mapped and trodden all the way to the most remote corners of the wilderness?Why do we do it? Why do we care? Does it matter? In this book Roberts answers these questions for himself.