Limits of the Known

By: David Roberts

Narrated by: David Chandler

A celebrated mountaineer and author searches for meaning in great adventures and explorations, past and present.

David Roberts, "veteran mountain climber and chronicler of adventures" (Washington Post), has spent his career documenting voyages to the most extreme landscapes on earth. In Limits of the Known, he reflects on humanity's - and his own - relationship to extreme risk. Part memoir and part history, this book 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 answers with sharp new urgency. He explores his own lifelong commitment to adventuring as well as the cultural contributions of explorers throughout history: What specific forms of courage and commitment did it take for Fridtjof Nansen to survive an 18 month journey from a record "farthest north" with no supplies and a single rifle during his polar expedition of 1893-96? What compelled Eric Shipton to return, five times, to the ridges of Mt. Everest, plotting the mountain's most treacherous territory years before Hillary and Tenzing's famous ascent? What drove Bill Stone to dive 3,000 feet underground into North America's deepest cave? What motivates the explorers we most admire, who are willing to embark on perilous journeys and push the limits of the human body? And what is the future of adventure in a world we have mapped and trodden from end to end?

©2018 David Roberts (P)2018 Recorded Books

Very well read

Variety of adventure stories, richly written and read.
Wish there were more tittles by him in audible.

possibly his best work

its a tragedy that all things must end but david brings the most profound and tear inducing truths in this excellent work whos overarching point
its not just a book about physical exploration of the globe
he will truly be missed

Good stories, disappointing narration

interesting recap of the authors adventuring in his youth, punctuated by stories of obscure historic explorations and the authors own experiences battling throat cancer. the narrators performance was a bit too formal for my tastes.

Reflections from one the greats

I enjoyed the retrospective, introspective nature of this told through different stories, some new, some readers may be familiar with. I appreciate his take on the cancer thing. Overall, I found this was an interesting glimpse into Roberts life, adventures and mortality with touching candor… I especially liked the ending, right down to the very last line.

Unquenchable thirst to do more

I love the narrator, but the text is the key and I wish this one had never ended