The Explorer Gene: How Three Generations of One Family Went Higher, Deeper, and Further Than Any Before

The remarkable account of an extraordinary family of explorers who spurred innovation and accomplished incredible feats--even when the popular consensus was against them.

On May 27, 1931, Auguste Piccard became the first human to enter the stratosphere, flying an experimental balloon he invented himself. Thirty years later, his son Jacques went to the bottom of the earth, descending to the Mariana Trench in a submarine built by him and Auguste. To this day, no one has gone deeper. Bertrand, the third generation, was the first person to fly around the world non-stop in a balloon. Now, he's building his own craft: a solar-powered plane to circumnavigate the globe.

In The Explorer Gene, Tom Cheshire asks how three generations of one family achieved such extraordinary feats, often with the consensus against them. None of the Piccards set out to explore: Auguste was a physicist, Jacques an economist and Bertrand a psychiatrist. Was it fate, a famous family name - or their explorer gene?

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 12/03/2013
ISBN: 9781476730271
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.04lbs
Size: 9.25h x 6.30w x 1.09d

Review Citations: Booklist 10/01/2013 pg. 17
Publishers Weekly 10/14/2013
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2013