Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose

Running such wild rivers as the crocodile-infested Tekaze in Ethiopia, Richard Bangs used to lived for the adrenalin, for the rush of reveling in the misery of hardship and sidestepping death around every bend. Now a respected conservationist, he still travels to demanding exotic environments, but with a new, more sober objective: he wants to save these special places. Bangs' personal experiences of "witnessing many special places preserved and lost" led him to write Adventures with Purpose, and the book follows the author to Bosnia, Libya, Panama, the American West, Rwanda, Thailand, and more as he seeks out disappearing cultures, peoples, habitats, and ecosystems -- particularly rivers -- so that he can show readers that the loss of these special places will be a catastrophe. Written in the vivid, intimate style that made his earlier books both critical and commercial successes, Richard Bangs' Adventures with Purpose is an unforgettable composite portrait of a world in peril and an inspiring guide to rescuing it.