In the bestselling tradition of Into Thin Air and Born to Run, Francis Slakey takes readers on a physical and spiritual journey to the most extreme points on Earth and deep inside the human psyche. Before Georgetown physics professor Francis Slakey decided to climb the highest mountain on every continent and surf every ocean, he had arranged his schedule to match his personal life: completely detached from other people. His lectures were mechanical; his relationships were little more than ways to fill the evenings. But as his journey veered off course, Slakey was ambushed by guerillas, survive a treacherous storm in Antarctica, confronted a fatal decision on Everest?and every escape from death brought him closer to life. A gripping adventure of the body and mind, To the Last Breath depicts in crystal-clear prose the quest that led Slakey around the globe, challenged his fiercely held beliefs, and opened his heart. Expanding his tale with riveting science and arresting insight into our relation to the earth and one another, Slakey takes readers across the plateaus of Tibet, into the heat of Tanzania, to the desolate edge of the Arctic, and beyond.