Live to See the Day - by Mark Medley (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Why do people pursue impossible goals?
In Live to See the Day, journalist Mark Medley sets out to find people who straddle the line between determination and delusion, who have devoted their lives to dreams they know have little chance of coming true, or that will only come to pass in decades--if not centuries--from now. Over the course of five years, and through interviews with more than 250 people, he immersed himself in a question we all reckon with personally in our lives: how to push forward when the world is telling you to give up. Travelling to the jungles of Indonesia to encounter a photographer who has devoted his life to pursuing a mystery ape; to the forests of Norway, where a time-bending artist is amassing books that will only be read a hundred years from now; to the deserts of the American Southwest, where he shadows a grizzled treasure hunter who has spent his life searching for a legendary lost fortune, Medley asks: What keeps these people going? Why start a race they know they'll never finish?
Paddling across a quiet volcanic lake in Sumatra, under the eye-blue sky on a scorching day in the Superstition Mountains, and at the launch of a historic space mission on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, Medley finds people with almost bottomless reserves of patience and perseverance. Captivating, funny, and full of curiosity and heart, Live to See the Day is ultimately an examination of hope and what it means to live a rewarding life.

Review Quotes

"There is a wonderful yearning at the heart of Mark Medley's book. He beautifully catalogues a range of people who strive for something they may never achieve but find meaning in the effort. At its heart, Live to See the Day is a brilliant study of the very nature of how we live our lives and find purpose in our days." Susan Orlean, bestselling author of Joyride and The Library Book

"Mark Medley is a revelation. I was transported by these stories, not realizing just how ravenous I was for a book about hope against the odds. But it is the personal aspect of how the stories are told that really cinches it. Fans of Bill Bryson's travelogues will find that Medley delivers a familiar mix of affability, curiosity, and information here, though the journey takes place both on the ground and conceptually onward, past the limits of what is possible. As I read it, I felt lifted, I felt that good things were worth doing, and I felt that Mark Medley's career in journalism is about to be eclipsed by his career as an author." Kate Beaton, bestselling author of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

About the Author