Letters from the Edge

An exhilarating collection of letters and stories from the world-renowned Explorers Club, featuring firsthand accounts of crossing boundaries and making history over the past century

For centuries, explorers from all over the globe have traveled the far reaches of what the world has to offer, helping us expand the map, learn about other cultures, and move the needle of human knowledge. But an explorer’s work isn’t finished when they reach a new destination or make a discovery; they need to somehow tell the tale.

Letters from the Edge compiles letters, email exchanges, field journals, and more from explorers who have joined the esteemed and longstanding organization The Explorers Club. As they undertook their journeys, sometimes with their lives at risk, they penned their dispatches from afar, sharing their thoughts on enduring lava-spewing volcanos in Australia; suffering starvation and isolation in the harsh tundra of the Arctic; rescuing trapped kids in hazardous caves in Thailand; plunging into the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean to excavate the history of the Titanic; communicating with the other side of the galaxy; and so much more--all to quench the insatiable curiosity of humanity. And still, humanity strives to discover more.

Using source materials and interviews with the explorers, Letters from the Edge helps us understand the edge of our knowledge, culture, and universe, and inspires us to navigate the edges in our lives.

The Explorers Club is a multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, and resource conservation. Headquartered in New York City with a community of chapters around the world, they have been supporting scientific expeditions of all disciplines and uniting members in the bonds of good fellowship since 1904.