Edge of the World is the account of the author's own Antarctic odyssey, which culminated in a near-fatal helicopter crash at an altitude of 12,000 feet on Mount Erebus (one of the world's few volcanoes with a lava lake). There, for twelve hours, he and three other poorly equipped companions endured subzero temperatures, dehydration, frostbite, and the looming possibility of death as a blizzard moved in. This book is also an exciting and moving history of the exploits and fates of other Antarctic explorers and contains generous excerpts from their classic accounts. Nowhere else will readers encounter such a perfect mix of the personal and the historical. New paperback.