Dr. Adventure

Dr. Adventure is the gripping, intimate memoir of Dr. Warren Zapol, a globe-trotting adventurer whose discoveries and drive helped shape a half-century of science and medicine. Zapol's memoir traces an obsession with adventure, from youthful misadventures in Jewish Brooklyn in the 1940s to decades of travel from pole to pole, from the Arctic to Antarctica. Charting his rise to a daring Harvard physician and scientist, mentor to astronauts and medical innovators, and advisor to Presidents Obama and Bush, Dr. Adventure charms with restless intellect, a quirky sense of humor, and outsized personality. In the spirit of Richard Feynman's "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!," it is a glorious ride.

Zapol illustrates how inspiration strikes through his numerous discoveries, including those dealing with "blue babies" - newborns whose lungs were not functioning properly at birth - and how this revolutionized medicine, treated millions, and created billion dollar businesses. And yet, in his late thirties, his own life had a shocking discovery waiting for him, which he describes in heartbreaking detail. Travel along with Dr. Adventure, a beautiful book of both body and mind, of heart-pounding exploration and inspiring reflection.