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Extremes: Surviving the World's Harshest Environments
Humans have a remarkable knack for surviving harsh environments. But how do people really endure the world’s most remote and inhospitable landscapes, where nature still reigns and where the physical geography is raw and unforgiving? In Extremes, renowned geographer and travel writer Nick Middleton puts his body and mind to the test in an attempt to find the answer.
His mission is to learn how to cope with four especially horrendous habitats. Through arctic wasteland, jungle, desert, and swamp, Nick pits himself against the elements and explains the geographical conditions that conspire to produce the world’s harshest ecologies. He also discovers the various human quirks that people have evolved to make life at the edge bearable.
In northern Greenland, Nick joins a group of Inuits hunting for narwhal, crucial to the group’s survival, on the edge of fragile sea ice, while in the jungle he ventures into Congo’s tropical forest, home of the Biaka pygmies. He joins the annual crossing of the Tenere desert by the women of the Tubu tribe to collect dates and then travels to Papua, one of the least explored places on earth, to find the Kombai people, a remote group of tree house dwellers above the Asmat region’s flood plain.
Extremes is Nick Middleton’s amazing account of four of the most unwelcoming environments on earth. Can he pick up enough tips from the indigenous people of these locations to hack it at the very edge of human existence, or will his mid-latitude sensibilities forever let him down?
His mission is to learn how to cope with four especially horrendous habitats. Through arctic wasteland, jungle, desert, and swamp, Nick pits himself against the elements and explains the geographical conditions that conspire to produce the world’s harshest ecologies. He also discovers the various human quirks that people have evolved to make life at the edge bearable.
In northern Greenland, Nick joins a group of Inuits hunting for narwhal, crucial to the group’s survival, on the edge of fragile sea ice, while in the jungle he ventures into Congo’s tropical forest, home of the Biaka pygmies. He joins the annual crossing of the Tenere desert by the women of the Tubu tribe to collect dates and then travels to Papua, one of the least explored places on earth, to find the Kombai people, a remote group of tree house dwellers above the Asmat region’s flood plain.
Extremes is Nick Middleton’s amazing account of four of the most unwelcoming environments on earth. Can he pick up enough tips from the indigenous people of these locations to hack it at the very edge of human existence, or will his mid-latitude sensibilities forever let him down?
- GenresNonfiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2005
50 people want to read
About the author
Nick Middleton
38 books28 followersNick Middleton is a British physical geographer and supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He specialises in desertification.
Nick Middleton was born in London, England. As a geographer, he has travelled to more than 50 countries. Going to Extremes is a television programme for Channel 4 about extreme lifestyles, in which Middleton experiences life in the hostile conditions other cultures must endure. He has appeared on BBC 2's Through the Keyhole.
Nick Middleton was born in London, England. As a geographer, he has travelled to more than 50 countries. Going to Extremes is a television programme for Channel 4 about extreme lifestyles, in which Middleton experiences life in the hostile conditions other cultures must endure. He has appeared on BBC 2's Through the Keyhole.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 24, 2021
Nick Midddleton, the author decided to travel to four of the most hostile environments on earth and see how people manage to live in them. He traveled to northern Greenland, joining a group of Inuits hunting for narwhal. He went into the Congo’s jungle with Biaka pygmies. He crossed of the Tenere desert with women of the Tubu tribe to collect dates. He went to Papua, with a remote group of tree house dwellers called the Kombai people.
Since I always like to learn new things. I was fascinated to learn about The Ténéré Desert. I’d never heard of this part of the Sahara Desert which is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. I definitely know that visiting it will not be in my bucket list. It sounds so inhospitable. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from northeastern Niger into western Chad, occupying an area of over square 150,000 sq mi. The climate is arid and hot, with virtually no plant life. The average high temperatures are above 104 °F, even as high as 122 °F during the summer. The annual precipitation of around 1/2 inch is one of the lowest annual rainfall amounts found on Earth. Years pass without seeing any rainfall at all. Water is difficult to find, even underground, and wells are hundreds of miles apart.
Parts of the book sounded like a show called “Fear Factor” where the participants try eating “stomach-turning’ things. In Papua, the author ate raw and cooked grubs. In Greenland he ate a Inuit favorite food—disemboweled seal filled with fully feathered auks.
Some more trivia— Papua has 1% of the world’s population, yet 15% of all known languages—250 of them!!!
The point of this book is seeing how the indigenous people manage to exist in such hostile conditions. Interesting, but not really exciting read
Since I always like to learn new things. I was fascinated to learn about The Ténéré Desert. I’d never heard of this part of the Sahara Desert which is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. I definitely know that visiting it will not be in my bucket list. It sounds so inhospitable. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from northeastern Niger into western Chad, occupying an area of over square 150,000 sq mi. The climate is arid and hot, with virtually no plant life. The average high temperatures are above 104 °F, even as high as 122 °F during the summer. The annual precipitation of around 1/2 inch is one of the lowest annual rainfall amounts found on Earth. Years pass without seeing any rainfall at all. Water is difficult to find, even underground, and wells are hundreds of miles apart.
Parts of the book sounded like a show called “Fear Factor” where the participants try eating “stomach-turning’ things. In Papua, the author ate raw and cooked grubs. In Greenland he ate a Inuit favorite food—disemboweled seal filled with fully feathered auks.
Some more trivia— Papua has 1% of the world’s population, yet 15% of all known languages—250 of them!!!
The point of this book is seeing how the indigenous people manage to exist in such hostile conditions. Interesting, but not really exciting read
October 20, 2020
There are some parts that are very interesting (building a new island in a swamp in new Guinea using only machetes) but some parts are just self-absorbed (climbing into a tall tree house) and a lot of it boring.
February 22, 2017
This was one of may favorite travel books, in which adventure is the main theme; though Nick Middleton probably wasn't merely looking for adventure and scraping the unknowns of life on earth. The book is a narrative of the fresh experiences of the author who is lucky (and probably rich enough) to go places less explored by the modern human beings. He most certainly acquired first hand exposure to the most pristine cultures belonging to thousands of years ago left untouched until the atomic age on earth.
I enjoyed this book and walked with the author through the blissful excitement of climbing to the primitive tree houses and crafting the islands in the reed beds of south east Asia, hunting for small games in the lush jungles of central Africa assisted by the spirit of the forest, sledging through the icy miles of Greenland for narwhal hunting with the Inuit, and feeling refreshed by an oasis breeze in the deserts of northern Africa after a long breathtaking camel ride.
Maybe the stubborn people living in the extremes would consider writing a book named "Ordinary: just being alive in the world's mediocre environments".
I enjoyed this book and walked with the author through the blissful excitement of climbing to the primitive tree houses and crafting the islands in the reed beds of south east Asia, hunting for small games in the lush jungles of central Africa assisted by the spirit of the forest, sledging through the icy miles of Greenland for narwhal hunting with the Inuit, and feeling refreshed by an oasis breeze in the deserts of northern Africa after a long breathtaking camel ride.
Maybe the stubborn people living in the extremes would consider writing a book named "Ordinary: just being alive in the world's mediocre environments".
September 15, 2010
Wow was this a disappointment. Shallow, wordy, poorly researched... then I found out that there was a TV series of the same. Ah. When, while in the Congo, the author was greatly surprised at seeing gorillas nesting in trees and quips if he should call the fire brigade for them.. um... yeah... right. One of those 'I'm a stupid bumbling idiot with money so laugh with me.' Ick.
November 20, 2007
Just like watching the National Geographic Channel. Except it's a book.
March 19, 2009
Shows just a glimpse of how native groups survive and live. Could have had more detail.
March 22, 2010
very educational, interesting, adventurous, inspiring
January 13, 2011
Excellent travel / modern day adventure read. I was totally jealous of the author the whole time.
September 30, 2011
The book Extremes was very interesting in the way I actually really liked the book. The reason was because its about this man who doesnt really care where or in what place he is at.
December 21, 2010
Full of interesting facts should I ever be lost in a swamp, desert or antarctica!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews