The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"Destined to become an adventure classic." —Anchorage Daily News
Hailed as "gripping" (New York Times) and "beautiful" (Washington Post), The Adventurer's Son is Roman Dial's extraordinary and widely acclaimed account of his two-year quest to unravel the mystery of his son's disappearance in the jungles of Costa Rica.
In the predawn hours of July 10, 2014, the twenty-seven-year-old son of preeminent Alaskan scientist and National Geographic Explorer Roman Dial, walked alone into Corcovado National Park, an untracked rainforest along Costa Rica's remote Pacific Coast that shelters miners, poachers, and drug smugglers. He carried a light backpack and machete. Before he left, Cody Roman Dial emailed his father: "I am not sure how long it will take me, but I'm planning on doing 4 days in the jungle and a day to walk out. I'll be bounded by a trail to the west and the coast everywhere else, so it should be difficult to get lost forever."
They were the last words Dial received from his son.
As soon as he realized Cody Roman's return date had passed, Dial set off for Costa Rica. As he trekked through the dense jungle, interviewing locals and searching for clues—the authorities suspected murder—the desperate father was forced to confront the deepest questions about himself and his own role in the events. Roman had raised his son to be fearless, to be at home in earth's wildest places, travelling together through rugged Alaska to remote Borneo and Bhutan. Was he responsible for his son's fate? Or, as he hoped, was Cody Roman safe and using his wilderness skills on a solo adventure from which he would emerge at any moment?
Part detective story set in the most beautiful yet dangerous reaches of the planet, The Adventurer's Son emerges as a far deeper tale of discovery—a journey to understand the truth about those we love the most.
The Adventurer's Son includes fifty black-and-white photographs.
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Roman Dial. (2020). The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Roman Dial. 2020. The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Roman Dial, The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir. HarperCollins, 2020.
MLA Citation (style guide)Roman Dial. The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir. HarperCollins, 2020.
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Once called America's most imaginative adventurer, Roman Dial is a pioneering outdoorsman based in Alaska, where he's made full-length traverses by foot, ski, pedal, and paddle of the Brooks and Alaska Ranges. He is a professor of mathematics and biology at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage. The Adventurer's Son—a best-selling memoir about the two-year search for his missing son—is published by William Morrow (2020).
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"Destined to become an adventure classic." —Anchorage Daily News
Hailed as "gripping" (New York Times) and "beautiful" (Washington Post), The Adventurer's Son is Roman Dial's extraordinary and widely acclaimed account of his two-year quest to unravel the mystery of his son's disappearance in the jungles of Costa Rica.
In the predawn hours of July 10, 2014, the twenty-seven-year-old son of preeminent Alaskan scientist and National Geographic Explorer Roman Dial, walked alone into Corcovado National Park, an untracked rainforest along Costa Rica's remote Pacific Coast that shelters miners, poachers, and drug smugglers. He carried a light backpack and machete. Before he left, Cody Roman Dial emailed his father: "I am not sure how long it will take me, but I'm planning on doing 4 days in the jungle and a day to walk out. I'll be bounded by a trail to the west and the coast everywhere else, so it should be difficult to get lost forever."
They were the last words Dial received from his son.
As soon as he realized Cody Roman's return date had passed, Dial set off for Costa Rica. As he trekked through the dense jungle, interviewing locals and searching for clues—the authorities suspected murder—the desperate father was forced to confront the deepest questions about himself and his own role in the events. Roman had raised his son to be fearless, to be at home in earth's wildest places, travelling together through rugged Alaska to remote Borneo and Bhutan. Was he responsible for his son's fate? Or, as he hoped, was Cody Roman safe and using his wilderness skills on a solo adventure from which he would emerge at any moment?
Part detective story set in the most beautiful yet dangerous reaches of the planet, The Adventurer's Son emerges as a far deeper tale of discovery—a journey to understand the truth about those we love the most.
The Adventurer's Son includes fifty black-and-white photographs.
- reviews
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- source: New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)
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"Gripping and unnerving. ... This is what it means to raise a child, to introduce that child to the world, and to bet his life — and his joy — on the odds." — New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)
"The literature of wilderness exploration is as much about mortal risk as anything else. From Jack London to Jon Krakauer, adventure writing shows us how the rich rewards of interacting with thrillingly raw nature coexist with the simple fact that we tempt fate – and a lonely death – whenever we step from the safely beaten path into the wild. Underscoring this dangerous bargain, The Adventurer's Son, takes its place among modern accounts of tragic adventure with hard-won wisdom and grace. ... Dial pays worthy tribute to his son with this deeply felt saga." — USA Today ("Best Books of 2020 So Far")
"Riveting and devastating." — Chicago Tribune ("10 Books to Read in Winter 2020")
"Gripping. ... A beautiful and tender book." — Washington Post
"The Adventurer's Son is energized by spectacular descriptions of nature and by the narrative action of a father's fight to find a beloved son. But it is its universality, this question of how to live and why, of how to understand nature, that gives it resonance and beauty."
— Christian Science Monitor (A Best Book of the Month)"Roman Dial has written a brave and marvelous book. It's a page-turner that will rip your heart out." — JON KRAKAUER, author of Into the Wild
"A brave, beautiful and eventually restorative book destined to become an adventure classic." — Anchorage Daily News
"The best adventure writers are seekers, traversing not only physical terrain but their emotional depths. These stakes are raised to new heights by The Adventurer's Son, a wrenching memoir by Alaskan explorer Roman Dial. ... Moving. ... A brave narrative." — Rinker Buck, Wall Street Journal
"Much more than a simple mystery. ... A moving portrait of an inspired young man and a firsthand account of a father's desperate hunt for his missing son." — Men's Journal
"Roman Dial is a pioneering legend of deep adventure. ... In this riveting account of a family's search for answers, Dial shares a thought-provoking investigation of what it means to embrace life's wild adventures." — Adventure Journal (Recommended Reading)
"A haunting, beautifully-crafted narrative by one of the renowned wilderness explorers of our time. Above all else, The Adventurer's Son is a sensitive tribute to a son who never emerged from his journey into the rainforests of Central America. Riveting and complex, this is a book that will remain with you long after you've turned the last page." — REBECCA MARTIN, President, Exploration Connections, and Founding Director, National Geographic Expeditions Council
"Out of an unbearable personal tragedy, Roman Dial has fashioned an unbearably powerful memoir. The Adventurer's Sonis at once the narrative of a desperate search for a lost son, a poignant meditation on the depths of paternal love, and, in the end, a reaffirmation of the glory of exploration and adventure in the teeth of sorrow and loss." — DAVID ROBERTS, award-winning adventure writer and co-author (with "Free Solo" star Alex Honnold) of Alone on the Wall
"In its emotional restraint and careful descriptions of the wild, this is a slow-burning tribute. A poignant, highly moving memoir of tragic circumstances and a...
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November 11, 2019
A father’s outdoor adventures lead his son into danger in this gripping memoir. Dial, a biology professor at Alaska Pacific University, recounts the disappearance of his 27-year-old son, Cody Roman Dial, during a solo jungle trek in Costa Rica’s Corcovado National Park. Flying down to lead the search, the author found a primeval forest full of perils—deadly snakes, falling trees, prowling drug smugglers—and bewildering mysteries: government bureaucrats blocked his searches; purported sightings of Cody accompanied by a local criminal surfaced; and Dial got enmeshed with a reality-TV show spinning a murder theory about the disappearance. Backgrounding the narrative are Dial’s recollections of his own dangerous adventures—in one heart-stopping mountain-climbing incident, he leaped into a precipice to counterbalance a roped partner’s plunge off the opposite side of a ridge—and of taking Cody, from the age of six, on risky wilderness excursions and white-water rafting trips. Dial conveys both his guilt at setting his son on that fateful path and the allure of that path—“y grief painted the jungle black, but the heart of the Osa’s wilderness still left me awed.... I couldn’t shut out forever the joy in seeing a kingfisher’s blue flash or a spider monkey’s graceful swing.” Dial paints a riveting, richly conflicted portrait of family legacies and the call of the wild.
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December 15, 2019
A brisk account of a father's search for his 27-year-old son, who vanished on a solo trek through Costa Rica's Corcovado jungle. Alaskan adventurer and ecologist Dial (Mathematics and Biology/Alaska Pacific Univ.; Packrafting! An Introduction and How-To Guide, 2008) chronicles his quest to figure out what happened to his son, Cody. Fusing personal history with elegy and adventure, this arresting narrative of every parent's worst fear begins with the author's background and then recounts the Dial family's many exciting excursions. Meticulous memories of father and son exploring places like Alaska and Borneo establish Cody as a person who grew into a capable adventurer and biologist. In the second section, the author pieces together Cody's volcano climbs and resourceful forays in Central America before contact with his parents ceased. His last email was written in Costa Rica in 2014, and its haunting last line--"...it should be difficult to get lost forever"--reverberates throughout the text. When he realized that his son may have disappeared, Dial left for Costa Rica to unearth the truth. With the assistance of his friends, wife, and an intriguing mixture of officials and locals (who weren't always forthcoming with information), Dial confronted rumors of foul play and continued to sift through his own knowledge of his son's character for clues. The author's guilt at having sparked Cody's interest in the wild mingles with the veteran adventurer's tactical calm in the face of numerous obstacles. His descriptions of Costa Rica's jungles echo with mystery, and, despite his grief, Dial's writing remains measured and cleareyed. When he recounts how a TV crew took a sensational angle for the sake of drama, the author's dismay is palpable. Two years later, Cody's remains were found, and it was determined that his death was an accident, which brought his family some sense of closure. In its emotional restraint and careful descriptions of the wild, this is a slow-burning tribute. A poignant, highly moving memoir of tragic circumstances and a lifelong love of exploring.COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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March 6, 2020
Rarely does a parent share with such candid emotion their experience of losing a child as Dial (Packrafting: An Introduction & How-To Guide) does in his memoir, which begins with the author's early life and passion for the outdoors, then explores how he shared that passion with his children. Dial tells stories of sheltering in tents during storms, traversing rivers, and trekking remote paths with his young son, also named Roman, by his side. In the second half of the book, the author describes his search for his son, who went missing while on a solo trek in Central America. Navigating cultural, geographical, and linguistic barriers, the challenge seemed overwhelming, and Dial leaves no emotion unaddressed, sharing his grief, panic, guilt, fear, hope, confusion, and frustration throughout his long search for answers. While heartbreaking to read, Dial's story is also a powerful testament to the bond between parent and child and the need to do the things we love, even when fear seeks to stop us. VERDICT Dial's memoir is a beautiful book that will speak most ardently to parents, but also to adventurers, travelers, scientists, and all those who find joy in exploring the world.--Sarah Schroeder, Univ. of Washington Bothell
Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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January 1, 2020
His son's solo trek into the Costa Rican jungle was only supposed to last a handful of days. But when 27-year-old Cody Roman Dial's father realizes it has been 10 days since he was supposed to return, and there has been no word from him, he travels to Costa Rica to search for his son himself. It would be two years before he would learn what happened to his son, and in this powerful memoir of a father's love of adventure and of his child, Dial reflects on whether he should have shielded Cody Roman from the wild journeys they took together. For a boy whose first name was inspired by an Alaskan mountain pass, Cody Roman grew up sharing his father's love for the outdoors. But the puzzle pieces that greet Dial in Costa Rica paint a much different picture, of a young man involved with a notorious drug dealer. Through the twists and turns of his search, Dial must follow his own compass to stay true to the son he knew. A complex and moving memoir.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"Destined to become an adventure classic." —Anchorage Daily News
Hailed as "gripping" (New York Times) and "beautiful" (Washington Post), The Adventurer's Son is Roman Dial's extraordinary and widely acclaimed account of his two-year quest to unravel the mystery of his son's disappearance in the jungles of Costa Rica.
In the predawn hours of July 10, 2014, the twenty-seven-year-old son of preeminent Alaskan scientist and National Geographic Explorer Roman Dial, walked alone into Corcovado National Park, an untracked rainforest along Costa Rica's remote Pacific Coast that shelters miners, poachers, and drug smugglers. He carried a light backpack and machete. Before he left, Cody Roman Dial emailed his father: "I am not sure how long it will take me, but I'm planning on doing 4 days in the jungle and a day to walk out. I'll be bounded by a trail to the west and the coast everywhere...
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