Limits of the Known

De: David Roberts

Narrado por: 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

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.

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

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

Superlative book by an author I have grown to love

This is either the 4th or 5th book that I have listened to on Audible written by David Roberts. This book was the winner of the Boardman-Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature (if you don't know who Peter Boardman & Joe Tasker are, either read the books that they wrote - in particular "The Shining Mountain" by Boardman - of the book where I learned about them, "Everest: the Unclimbed Ridge" by Sir Chris Bonington). But I had listened to several of David's books prior to listening to this one: "Deborah and the Mountain of my Fear", his book about Bradford Washburn "The Last of His Kind" (a must-read!!), & "Finding Everett Ruess" as well as reading the book he co-wrote with Ed Viesturs about K2. I now have the paperback version of "Once They Moved Like the Wind". I am fascinated by David's life - from all-out adventure (Mt. Huntington) to exploring all forms of adventure (I especially enjoyed the segments on rafting/kayaking the most dangerous rivers in the world) as well as the exploration of the interior of Papua-New Guinea by the Australian explorer Mick Leahy. I thought the narration was fine; I often felt like David was talking to me. And his ending chapter about his relationship with his wife Sharon was incredibly moving. David Roberts left this world a much better place. Thank you, David.