Into the Abyss

Why do explorers put themselves in dangerous situations? And, once the worst possible situation occurs, how do they find the resources to survive? In answering these questions, Benedict Allen weaves a series of tales from his own experience as well as that of other explorers including Columbus, Cortez, Scott, Shakelton, Stanley, Livingstone and their modern counterparts: Joe Simpson and Ranulf Fiennes.

Benedict Allen is one of the UK's most prominent explorers. For the past twenty-five years he has conducted solo expeditions through the Amazon jungle, along Namibia's Skeleton Coast and across Mongolia's Gobi Desert without the use of GPS, satellite phone or other means of outside support, as we as having written ten books of his adventures and editing The Faber Book of Exploration.He was the first explorer to bring the full experience of remote travel to television - taking the genre to its limits by not using a camera crew and so bringing an immediacy to his experiences. Allen regularly gives lectures at the Royal Geographic Society.