First published 2020
Freeman Dyson stands among the world's leading astrophysicists, sketching blueprints for spacecraft that could carry humans to distant stars. His son George has abandoned high school to live in a treehouse, where he crafts plans for an enormous kayak meant to navigate the harsh waters off Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The father reaches toward the cosmos while the son turns to Earth's wildest places. Kenneth Brower follows both men as they pursue their separate visions of exploration. Freeman calculates trajectories through space. George tests his boat against icy currents and storms. Each seeks something beyond the ordinary world, yet their paths lead in opposite directions. The story reveals how two brilliant minds from the same family can find such different ways to push past human limits.
Genres: biography, family-life, adventure, non-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: father-son-relationship, pursuit-of-dreams
Setting: Alaska, Pacific Northwest
Period: 20th-century
288 pages · Paperback · Mountaineers Books