Travels on the Edge

"This delightful collection of essays from a much-travelled scientist, who has spent much of his life 'off the beaten track' is both vivid and philosophical. It is consummate travel writing."—Robin Hanbury-Tenison, co-founder of Survival International, and author of The Oxford Book of Exploration, The Great Explorers, and Taming the Four Horsemen

"Known to wide audiences as an erudite and invariably entertaining writer on natural history, Bob Peck, in this mesmerizing new and deeply personal book, sets a new standard for travel writing. A wily, resilient adventurer, he is always ready to face the hardships that come with venturing into places where American Express cards aren’t accepted. Whether he describes almost missing the Trans-Siberian Express after stepping off in the middle of nowhere, cruising through the Mongolian steppe with a car leaking fluids, or being mistaken for Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, Peck excels at evocative scene-setting and situational comedy. As a bonus, he also tells us how he once saved a boy from dying from appendicitis. Thanks to Peck’s well-calibrated sense of humor, evident expertise, and unfailing kindness to those he encounters, Travels on the Edge is an irresistibly charming, humane, and uplifting book."—Christoph Irmscher, author of The Poetics of Natural History

"Robert Peck is a very lucky man. As a humanities scholar at the venerable Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University he has, for almost half a century, had the privilege and delight of travelling with passionate scientists to some of the remotest places on earth – in farthest Asia, Africa and South America. He had plenty of luck, good and bad, with a colorful range of local people and survival of near-accidents. Peck tells these adventures with gusto, accuracy, and charm."—John Hemming, explorer, ethnographer, historian, and former Director of the Royal Geographical Society