From Andrew Rader—an MIT-credentialed scientist, popular podcast host, and SpaceX mission manager—an illuminating chronicle of exploration that spotlights humans’ insatiable desire to continually push into new & uncharted territory....

Divided into four accessible sections, Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take Us to the Stars examines major periods of discovery and rediscovery, from Classical Times, when Phoenicians, Persians and Greeks ventured forth, to:

• The Age of European Exploration, which saw colonies sprout on nearly continent
• The Era of Scientific Inquiry, when researchers developed brand new tools for mapping and traveling farther
• Our Spacefaring Future, which unveils plans currently underway for settling other planets and, eventually, traveling to the stars

A Mission Manager at SpaceX with a light, engaging voice, Andrew Rader is at the forefront of space exploration. As a gifted historian, Rader, who has won global acclaim for his stunning breadth of knowledge, is singularly positioned to reveal the story of human exploration that is also the story of scientific achievement. Told with an infectious zeal for traveling beyond the known, Beyond the Known illuminates how very human it is to emerge from the cave and walk toward an infinitely expanding horizon.