The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within

A renowned climber and National Geographic photographer shares his incredible adventures--and the early trauma that drove him to seek such heights.

＂An extraordinary memoir of mental illness that reads like a thriller.＂--Amy Ellis Nutt, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Becoming Nicole

＂In order to escape madness, I will live madly. I will risk my life in order to save it.＂

Growing up in the mountains of Utah, Cory Richards was constantly surrounded by the outdoors. His father, a high school teacher and a ski patroller, spent years teaching Richards and his brother how to ski, climb, mountaineer, and survive in the wild. Despite a seemingly idyllic childhood, the Richards home was fraught with violence, grief, and mental illness. After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and dropping out of high school, Richards subsumed himself in the worlds of photography and climbing, seeking out the farthest reaches of the world to escape the darkness. Then, in the midst of a wildly successful career in adventure photography, a catastrophic avalanche changed everything, forcing Richards to confront the trauma of his past, evaluate his own mental health, and learn to rewrite his story.

The Color of Everything is a thrilling tale of risk and adventure, written by a man who has done it all: He’s stood at the top of the world, climbed imposing mountain faces alone in the dark, and become the only American to summit an 8,000-meter peak in winter. But it is also the story of a tumultuous life--a stirring, lyrical memoir that captures the profound musings of an unquiet mind grappling with the meaning of success, the cost of fame and addiction, and whether it is possible to outrun your demons. With exquisite prose and disarming candor, accompanied by stunning photos from his career, Richards excavates the roots of his trauma and shares what it took for him to climb out of it.

Cory Richards is an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker, and author. He is the first and only American to climb one of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in winter. His documentation of the climb and the aftermath of the experience was made into the award-winning documentary COLD and appeared on the cover of the 125th-anniversary issue of National Geographic. Richards is a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Photographer Fellow, and a two-time recipient of an Explorers Grant. He has photographed twelve feature assignments for the magazine. He has an active speaking career, in which he speaks about conservation, mental health, leadership, and vulnerability. The Color of Everything is his first book.