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Becky Libourel Diamond

Nonfiction

Humanimal

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

Humans typically think of themselves as exceptional—the top of the food chain, above all other creatures on earth. But what does it really mean to be human? And are we really more unique than other animals? These are the questions tackled by science writer Adam Rutherford (A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived) in his latest book, Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature.

Incorporating the latest genetic research with data gathered from other scientific fields including anthropology, molecular biology and ecology, Rutherford’s detailed book is fascinating and even enlightening, such as his revelation that a tidied-up Homo sapiens individual from 200,000 years ago would not look out of place today. Who knew? He discusses how culture has changed, not DNA, and writes about the different types of humanoids that were the basis for our current existence.

The book is divided into two parts. The first compares and contrasts humans and other animals, with one section devoted to the tools we use and the other to our sex lives. He explains the various neurological factors that set humans apart intellectually and provides some mind-blowing sexual statistics, such as: “Out of every thousand sexual acts that could result in a baby, only one actually does.” The second part explains why we are different from other animals, covering topics that range from recent genetic discoveries to cognitive development and sensory perception.

Rutherford writes with clarity, authority and humor. His research is thorough and so current that most readers will be wowed by all the new information he provides. It’s both humbling and reassuring to know that “all life on Earth is related by common ancestry, and that includes us.” And as Rutherford states, “the picture of how we came to be is only going to get more complicated as we continue to discover.” If that’s the case, I can’t wait to see what’s uncovered next.

Humans typically think of themselves as exceptional—the top of the food chain, above all other creatures on earth. But what does it really mean to be human? And are we really more unique than other animals? These are the questions tackled by science writer Adam Rutherford (A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived) in his latest book, Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature.

NonfictionHistory

Sea People

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

The isolated islands of the Polynesian Triangle have been a source of fascination since European explorers first sailed into their harbors in the 16th century and discovered thriving communities previously unknown to the rest of the world. But much of their lore still remains a mystery. Where did these people come from, when did they arrive, and how on earth did they manage to traverse the mighty Pacific and settle these remote locales?

In Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, Harvard Review editor Christina Thompson weaves together history, science, folklore and the islands’ ancient oral traditions, archeology and genealogy, creating a mesmerizing, page-turning account of Polynesia. Thompson includes an intriguing cast of characters ranging from Captain James Cook and Tupaia, the Tahitian navigator he befriended, to modern explorers such as anthropologist Ben Finney and his Micronesian master navigator, Mau Piailug, who together sailed from Maui to Tahiti in 1976 in a traditional 60-foot canoe using only ancient navigation tools to prove it could be done.  

Thompson’s personal interest in the subject was piqued by her Maori husband and sons, who are direct descendants of Polynesians. This deep curiosity shines through in the meticulous background and details she provides such as diary entries, maps, Polynesian chronologies, geological topographies and weather patterns. 

While much of the Polynesian puzzle is still a mystery (and may never be completely solved), Thompson’s book sheds light on a fascinating region. Sea People is a revelatory summation of this vast area steeped in culture and tradition.

In Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, Harvard Review editor Christina Thompson weaves together history, science, folklore and the islands’ ancient oral traditions, archeology and genealogy, creating a mesmerizing, page-turning account of Polynesia.

Nonfiction

Zucked

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

When the possibility of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election began to surface, the methodology of Facebook and other technology platforms became increasingly scrutinized. Then political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica admitted in March 2018 to exploiting Facebook to harvest millions of user profiles, causing people to really sit up and take notice.

In Zucked, venture capitalist and technology investor Roger McNamee (The New Normal) informatively outlines his concerns regarding Facebook privacy and information-sharing policies, and its contribution to political polarization. He contends that although advertising’s use of information-gathering techniques have been preying on our human vulnerabilities for years, algorithms and artificial intelligence bring them to a new level, enabling internet platforms like Facebook to “manipulate attention.”

Drawing on his years as a Silicon Valley insider, McNamee provides a fascinating background of the tech industry, explaining concepts such as Moore’s Law, metadata and cloud sharing services. An early advisor to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, he authoritatively explains the route to Facebook’s success and how pathways opened up for the social media platform to become such a phenomenon.

He expresses his fear that internet platforms empower extreme views, leading to the creation of “preference bubbles,” giving each user his or her own reality. He describes the examples that led him to this conclusion and his path to activism, including meeting with senators, contacting the media and confronting Facebook executives directly. He discusses the need for regulatory oversight in order “to protect privacy and to limit the scope of data collection and artificial intelligence.”

The result is a nonfiction book that reads like a thriller, particularly since the story is still unraveling in real time. As McNamee points out, “Facebook has managed to connect 2.2 billion people and drive them apart at the same time.” Hopefully the readers of Zucked will think about McNamee’s suggestion to “bring people together in the real world” as a remedy for internet platform addiction.

When the possibility of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election began to surface, the methodology of Facebook and other technology platforms became increasingly scrutinized. Then political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica admitted in March 2018 to exploiting Facebook to harvest millions of user profiles, causing people to really sit up and take notice.

NonfictionNatureAnimals

Dreaming in Turtle

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

BookPage Top Pick in Nonfiction, December 2018

Most people only know a few basic facts about turtles: They are slow-moving, egg-laying, cold-blooded reptiles. Yet as journalist Peter Laufer (The Dangerous World of Butterflies) notes in his new book, Dreaming in Turtle, “everybody has a turtle story.”

Laufer focuses on a variety of these stories, making connections in a voice that is both engaging and scientific. Structured as a series of vignettes, this eclectic, informative book touches on a huge number of turtle species and their habitats, ranging from desert tortoises in the southwestern U.S. to olive ridley sea turtles in Gabon, Africa, and a Yunnan box turtle breeding project in China. His thorough reporting features interviews with people as widely diverse as herpetologists, conservationists, pet owners and even turtle poachers and smugglers. This colorful dialogue is interspersed with illustrative facts and statistics, while humorous stories involving Laufer’s own pet turtle, Fred, provide comic relief.

Laufer explains that for millennia, turtles have been trapped, fished and hunted, as they are revered in many cultures for their purported medicinal value, such as the belief that turtle eggs and meat heighten sexual performance and satisfaction. Others prize flavorful turtle meat not only for the taste but also for the “perceived exclusivity and conspicuous consumerism.” This concept also applies to the use of turtle to make pretty things such as tortoiseshell combs and jewelry and the smuggling of turtles to sell as expensive pets to collectors of the exotic.

Unfortunately, as Laufer finds, the general public isn’t typically concerned with these “mysterious, cold animals” and the threat of extinction they face due to man-made circumstances such as habitat loss, pollution, climate change and illegal trafficking. Turtles just don’t receive the same level of attention as cute and cuddly species like pandas. But after reading the enlightening and well-researched Dreaming in Turtle, hopefully more people will be moved to sit up and take notice of the importance and allure of these fascinating creatures.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Most people only know a few basic facts about turtles: They are slow-moving, egg-laying, cold-blooded reptiles. Yet as journalist Peter Laufer (The Dangerous World of Butterflies) notes in his new book, Dreaming in Turtle, “everybody has a turtle story.”

NonfictionMedicine

Nine Pints

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

The sight of blood makes some people faint; for others, it’s just creepy. Yet it is essential—each adult human contains approximately nine pints of it. In her new book, Nine Pints, Rose George (The Big Necessity) discusses this life-giving substance in intricate detail.

George describes the busy, unrelenting job of this essential human body part that is “a tissue and an organ at once, and probably our most important organ.” She travels around the world, interviewing people whose lives have been impacted by blood in one way or another. She reports on a clinic in South Africa where residents can get tested and treated for HIV, a village in western Nepal where menstruating girls are shunned and must sleep in outdoor shacks, and a London trauma center that regularly treats code red (open chest) and code black (people with severe brain injury) patients.

Integrated in this narrative are a dizzying number of scientific facts and statistics, yet it is all very readable as George applies familiar comparisons. For example, when describing the job of helper T-cells (a type of white blood cell), she writes, “If the immune system were Star Wars, helper Ts would be the Force: they guide other white blood cells to attack invaders and threats.” Her use of statistics, such as the 12,000-mile journey traveled by each person’s red blood cells every day, helps give the reader perspective.

George tackles a squeamish subject in a manner that is eloquent and witty, making Nine Pints a factual, scientific book that reads like a novel with a colorful cast of characters ranging from medicinal leeches to groundbreaking scientists and innovative inventors.

This fascinating book will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about blood and its role as a wondrous, renewable human resource.

The sight of blood makes some people faint; for others it’s just creepy. Yet it is essential—each adult human contains approximately nine pints of it. In her new book, Nine Pints, Rose George discusses this life-giving substance in intricate detail.
NonfictionMemoir

Hiking with Nietzsche

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

The calming repetition of putting one foot in front of the other innately lends itself to philosophical thought, particularly while experiencing the natural beauty of the great outdoors. In Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are, John Kaag (American Philosophy: A Love Story) retraces the contemplative journeys through the Sils region of Switzerland he took as a 19-year-old and the return trip he made at 37 with his wife and young daughter in tow.

As a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Kaag has the perfect resume for this type of introspective blend of memoir and biography. As a young man, he was drawn to the Swiss village of Sils-Maria because it was a favorite spot of 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Kaag cleverly connects Nietzsche’s musings with his own experiences both past and present, detailing how his understanding of Nietzsche has evolved and changed over the 17 years between his trips to Switzerland. He pairs breathtaking descriptions of the Sils region with Nietzsche’s fascinating personal history, providing a unique, engaging narrative.

Kaag delves deep into his own past and his path to a philosophical profession, revealing painful details about his absent father and his brush with an eating disorder. Ultimately, Kaag discovers that it is OK to get out of one’s comfort zone, make mistakes and learn from them—in Nietzsche’s words, to “become who you are.”

As Kaag notes, philosophers “have always thought on their feet,” citing examples of “great wanderer-thinkers” such as Jesus, Rousseau, Wordsworth, Emerson and Thoreau. With Hiking with Nietzsche, Kaag can now add his own name to the list of thoughtful wanderers.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The calming repetition of putting one foot in front of the other innately lends itself to philosophical thought, particularly while experiencing the natural beauty of the great outdoors. In Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are, John Kaag (American Philosophy: A Love Story) retraces the contemplative journeys through the Sils region of Switzerland he took as a 19-year-old and the return trip he made at 37 with his wife and young daughter in tow.

NonfictionHistory

The invisible enemy at home

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

We are living in a world of technological marvels, with each decade bringing increased numbers of medical breakthroughs. However, one disease that has been very tough for scientists to track and understand is the ever-mutating influenza virus. In Pandemic 1918, historian Catharine Arnold provides a detailed and chilling look at the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, explaining what has been learned in the 100 years since this deadly epidemic, which killed more than 50 million people.

Arnold gives firsthand accounts from those who witnessed and survived the Spanish flu’s deadly grip while examining its impact. By exploring family memories, journals and medical documents, she is able to focus on these personal stories that have been preserved and handed down over the years.

One of the most terrifying aspects of the Spanish flu was that it often struck the healthiest rather than the elderly, young or weak. Victims included farm boys who were going off to fight in World War I. Arnold notes, “By the end of the war, more Americans died from Spanish flu than perished in the war.” The war also aided the flu’s spread, with soldiers coming from around the globe to fight. As described by one health officer at the time, Spanish flu “came like a thief in the night, its onset rapid, and insidious.”

Arnold also provides a touchstone to more recent flu epidemics, such as the Hong Kong bird flu in the late 1990s. She explains how scientists have been able to exhume and examine tissue samples from those who succumbed to Spanish flu to learn more about its causes and the virus’s ability to jump from animals to humans. As she cautions, “The threat of pandemic flu is as severe as that of a terrorist attack.”

We are living in a world of technological marvels, with each decade bringing increased numbers of medical breakthroughs. However, one disease that has been very tough for scientists to track and understand is the ever-mutating influenza virus. In Pandemic 1918, historian Catharine Arnold provides a detailed and chilling look at the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, explaining what has been learned in the 100 years since this deadly epidemic, which killed more than 50 million people.

NonfictionEnvironment

An island teetering on the brink of destruction

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

Scientists are finding that climate change has many ramifications, including stronger storms, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels. It is this last factor that is directly impacting tiny Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay of Virginia. Predicted to succumb to rising tides within 50 years, the island will likely become America’s first climate change victim, forcing its longtime residents to abandon their beloved home.

In Chesapeake Requiem, journalist Earl Swift recounts his experiences living on Tangier for a year, tracing its history, getting a firsthand look at the environmental impact on the island and discovering what makes the islanders tick. Tangier is just 1.3 square miles, and an area in the northernmost tip of the island has already largely disappeared. As Swift notes, “the lower Chesapeake’s relative sea level rise—the one-two punch of water coming up and land going down—is among the highest on earth.” As a result, “the island is slumping, actually subsiding into the earth’s crust.”

With a history that dates back to the 17th century, Tangier’s residents are a tight-knit community of hardworking, resilient individuals, most of them devout Christians. Their main source of income is crabbing, an expertise that has evolved over the past two centuries. So there is much at stake for them if the island disappears—not only their homes but their lifestyles and livelihoods, too.

Swift details both the joys and difficulties of life on Tangier, coming to the realization that its sinking situation makes it “an island both literal and metaphorical.” Tangier will ultimately become a model of how the U.S. handles rising sea levels for cities and communities up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

 

This article was originally published in the August 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Scientists are finding that climate change has many ramifications, including stronger storms, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels. It is this last factor that is directly impacting tiny Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay of Virginia. Predicted to succumb to rising tides within 50 years, the island will likely become America’s first climate change victim, forcing its longtime residents to abandon their beloved home.

NonfictionNature

The importance of beavers

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

As descriptive phrases go, “busy as a beaver” is right on target. Most of us probably don’t give much thought to the second largest member of the rodent family, except perhaps when they become a nuisance by felling trees and plugging waterways in residential areas. But did you know just how integral beavers are to the environment?

In his intriguing debut, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb details the multitude of ways beavers impact the landscape. Their dams help create wetlands and water storage, reviving aquifers for farms and ranches and providing homes for a diverse assortment of flora and fauna. Without beavers, wetlands and meadows dry up, streams are altered, and countless forms of wildlife become homeless.

Through interviews with experts in the field, scientific studies, statistical analysis and his own experiences crisscrossing the U.S. and the U.K. to witness beavers up close and personal, Goldfarb explains how restoring these “ecosystem engineers” to their natural habitat can save tens of millions of dollars each year and help combat drought, climate change and other environmental issues.

Goldfarb delves millions of years into the past, explaining how much North America’s terrain has changed since its colonization. Trappers seeking lush beaver pelts brought these “hairy banknotes” to the brink of extinction. But conservationists saved and even reintroduced beavers to some areas in an effort to restore the land to its former status, and today a fervent group of “Beaver Believers” help spread the news that we need to live in harmony with this keystone species.

As Goldfarb reinforces, beavers are “nothing less than continent-scale forces of nature, in large part responsible for sculpting the land upon which we Americans built our towns and raised our food.” It’s a wake-up call that needs to be answered.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

As descriptive phrases go, “busy as a beaver” is right on target. Most of us probably don’t give much thought to the second largest member of the rodent family, except perhaps when they become a nuisance by felling trees and plugging waterways in residential areas. But did you know just how integral beavers are to the environment?

Nonfiction

Is there anyone out there?

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

Are we alone in the universe? Is there life on other planets? These are questions astronomers, philosophers and theologians have been asking for centuries. It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of intelligent life on Mars and Venus was entertained. Once scientists determined this was not the case, they began to look elsewhere in the cosmos. Their discoveries have been amazing; uncovering the realization that countless other planets are out there, many that could be in the “habitable zone” in their orbit around a sun—just like Earth.

In Light of the Stars, astrophysics professor and science writer (About Time) Adam Frank cleverly links Earth’s current climate change with the possibilities of life on other planets. He postulates that “humanity and its project of civilization represent a kind of ‘cosmic teenager,’” lacking the maturity to take responsibility for our actions and future. He stresses the importance of our global societies to adapt and become fully sustainable as human activities continue to strain the Earth’s resources and climatic systems.

This is not a new concept. What is revolutionary is Frank’s contention that other worlds have likely evolved enough to create intelligent civilizations, and the knowledge gleaned from studying other planets can be used to reach the necessary level of maturity to face our future. He discusses the groundbreaking work of famous thinkers and researchers, from Greek philosopher Epicurus and Renaissance-era Copernicus to modern-day astrophysicists Carl Sagan and Frank Drake. One breakthrough after another is covered in fascinating detail; not only in astronomy and physics but also in the history of life on our planet, particularly its geology and the numerous climate shifts it is gone through during the past five billion years.

Providing multiple levels of fascinating science, Light of the Stars proposes a novel theory of how astrobiology and the study of life on other planets can help us understand climate change and civilization on Earth.

Are we alone in the universe? Is there life on other planets? These are questions astronomers, philosophers and theologians have been asking for centuries. It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of intelligent life on Mars and Venus was entertained. Once scientists determined this was not the case, they began to look elsewhere in the cosmos. Their discoveries have been amazing; uncovering the realization that countless other planets are out there, many that could be in the “habitable zone” in their orbit around a sun—just like Earth.

Nonfiction

The science of psychedelic drugs

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

Psychedelic drugs often conjure images of the colorful, mind-bending world of 1960s counterculture. But therapists and scientists at the time also used these drugs to treat and research issues such as depression, alcoholism and anxiety. However, when publicity began to take a negative turn, focusing on bad trips, psychotic breaks, flashbacks and suicides, the drugs became illegal and largely unattainable—until now.

In his fascinating book How to Change Your Mind, bestselling author Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Cooked) discusses the recent psychedelic drug resurgence. Starting in the 1990s, a new generation of scientists began to quietly reinvestigate the potential of these drugs, not only to treat mental illnesses and addiction but also to help cancer patients cope with the prospect of dying and “explore the links between the brain and mind, hoping to unravel some of the mysteries of consciousness.”

Pollan discusses the different types of psychedelic drugs and their history in detail, from plant-based forms such as psilocybin (mushrooms) and mescaline (cacti) to LSD (synthetically produced). The current psychedelic renaissance piqued his interest and prompted him to do his own exploration. He devotes a whole chapter, appropriately named “Travelogue,” to these encounters. He writes, “Psychedelic experiences are notoriously hard to render in words,” but he does his best, thoughtfully deeming a “trip” as the relinquishment of the ego power struggle most of us go through every day.

As Pollan describes, this altered state of consciousness can be spiritually enlightening, mind-opening and life-changing. It can also be terror-provoking. How to Change Your Mind chronicles the unusual power of these substances, instilling a better understanding of their capabilities in helping to discover, heal and change our minds. It’s a trip worth taking.

 

This article was originally published in the May 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Psychedelic drugs often conjure images of the colorful, mind-bending world of 1960s counterculture. But therapists and scientists at the time also used these drugs to treat and research issues such as depression, alcoholism and anxiety. However, when publicity began to take a negative turn, focusing on bad trips, psychotic breaks, flashbacks and suicides, the drugs became illegal and largely unattainable—until now.

NonfictionBiography

Joined at the hip

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

As conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker could easily have chosen to live as recluses, away from the public’s gawking stares. But instead, they traveled the world as entertainers. In Inseparable, Chinese-American professor Yunte Huang (Charlie Chan) faithfully chronicles their incredible story.

Born in Siam in 1811, Chang and Eng Bunker were the namesakes for the term “Siamese twins.” In their late teens, they were discovered by an enterprising Scotsman who convinced them to join him on an exhibition tour of Europe and America. The 19th century was a time when “curious freaks” were put on display. As noted by Huang, these carnival acts were “indubitably the birthplace of American mass entertainment.”

But the twins became adept and engaging performers. Financially savvy and frugal, they were able to save their earnings and settle in North Carolina, where they married two sisters and fathered a total of 21 children. This specific factor has long been a curiosity, and Huang surmises the twins’ lovemaking logistics and technique, referencing previous biographies, medical commentary and even the autopsy notes in which the lead doctor asked the widows “the most sensitive question about their sex life.”

Throughout the book, Huang provides historical perspective by noting other global events of the time, such as a slave uprising in New Orleans the year the twins were born and the political upheaval in 1830s America when the twins were taking their show on the road. Many of the subjects are timely today, such as the racial injustices the twins faced as Asian immigrants, often doubly worse for them due to their conjoined state.

As Huang points out, “[T]o them, being human meant being more than one, inseparable from the other—never alone in life, death, happiness, pain, procreation, or even answering the call of nature.” Inseparable is an engaging look at the lives of two singular people.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Yunte Huang about Inseparable.

This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

As conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker could easily have chosen to live as recluses, away from the public’s gawking stares. But instead, they traveled the world as entertainers. In Inseparable, Chinese-American professor Yunte Huang (Charlie Chan) faithfully chronicles their incredible story.

NonfictionTravel

Two men walk into the jungle

Review by Becky Libourel Diamond

In The Last Wild Men of Borneo, author Carl Hoffman (Savage Harvest) tells the alternating stories of two bold and fearless men: Bruno Manser from Switzerland and American Michael Palmieri. Comparing and contrasting the two, Hoffman compellingly explains what drove them to seek a life of daring exploration.

Both traveled to a variety of intriguing locales, including Beirut, Kabul and Thailand, and they eventually ended up in tropical Borneo, the world’s third largest island. Home to parts of Malaysia, Indonesia and the tiny sultanate of Brunei, Borneo’s terrain is not the lush jungle typically associated with a hot, steamy climate, but rather an “ancient primary landscape of hardwood trees soaring one hundred feet tall.” Both Manser and Palmieri were drawn to the beauty and mystery of this unusual island, particularly the sacred cultures of its people and “romantic notions of their power.”

Although the two men were different in almost every way, in Palmieri’s words, they were “both obsessed.” Manser ventured deep into the dense rainforest and essentially went native, living among the Penan people and leading a fight against the logging and mining companies destroying the pristine forest. Palmieri also journeyed far into the rugged terrain, ultimately becoming a tribal art dealer and collector. They were each trying to save this land and its culture in their own way. But while Palmieri ended up with a comfortable lifestyle, Manser mysteriously disappeared without a trace in 2000.

Hoffman charts the engrossing backstory of both men, and through meticulous research, interviews and personal visits, he paints a vivid character portrait of the two adventurers while detailing the incredible splendor of the unique region. The Last Wild Men of Borneo is an exciting tale of Borneo’s rich history and two modern-day treasure hunters who followed their dreams.

 

This article was originally published in the March 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In The Last Wild Men of Borneo, author Carl Hoffman (Savage Harvest) tells the alternating stories of two bold and fearless men: Bruno Manser from Switzerland and American Michael Palmieri. Comparing and contrasting the two, Hoffman compellingly explains what drove them to seek a life of daring exploration.

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