INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
An inspirational, uplifting, and life-affirming memoir about passion,
resilience, and living life to the fullest, from Dr. Dave Williams, one
of Canada's most accomplished astronauts.
I had dreamt about becoming an astronaut from the time I watched Alan
Shepard launch on the first American sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961.
Eleven days before my seventh birthday, I committed to a new goal: one
day, I would fly in outer space.
Dr. Dave has led the sort of life that most people only dream of. He has
set records for spacewalking. He has lived undersea for weeks at a time.
He has saved lives as an emergency doctor, launched into the
stratosphere twice, and performed surgery in zero gravity.
But if you ask him how he became so accomplished, he'll say: "I'm just a
curious kid from Saskatchewan." Curious indeed.
Dr. Dave never lost his desire to explore nor his fascination with the
world. Whether he was exploring the woods behind his childhood home or
floating in space at the end of the Canadarm, Dave tried to see every
moment of his life as filled with beauty and meaning. He learned to
scuba dive at only twelve years old, became a doctor despite academic
struggles as an undergraduate, and overcame stiff odds and fierce
competition to join the ranks of the astronauts he had idolized as a
child.
There were setbacks and challenges along the way--the loss of friends in
the Columbia disaster, a cancer diagnosis that nearly prevented him
from returning to space--but through it all, Dave never lost sight of
his goal. And when he finally had the chance to fly among the stars, he
came to realize that although the destination can be spectacular, it's
the journey that truly matters.
In Defying Limits, Dave shares the events that have defined his life,
showing us that whether we're gravity-defying astronauts or earth-bound
terrestrials, we can all live an infinite, fulfilled life by relishing
the value and importance of each moment. The greatest fear that we all
face is not the fear of dying, but the fear of never having lived. Each
of us is greater than we believe. And, together, we can exceed our
limits to soar farther and higher than we ever imagined.