From the beginning, humans have been wanderers. Our feet carried us out of Africa and propelled us to far-flung corners of the world, often through incredible feats of innovation and imagination. These explorations yielded great rewards: land and resources, food and knowledge.

But in every landscape we have explored, we have become a force of change. Our appetites have pushed planetary systems to breaking point—yet still we seek new seas to fish, new oil deposits to drill, new forests to fell.

Award-winning science writer Lauren Fuge takes the reader on a journey from the dramatic fjords of the Pacific Northwest to the shifting coastlines of Norway, from the ancient geology of outback Australia to the outer reaches of the known universe, and asks: what drives our urge to explore? How has it changed our relationship with the planet? And, in the face of imminent environmental collapse, can we find in our voyaging history the tools to reimagine our future?

Voyagers is an electrifying adventure through history, a compelling personal narrative, a hymn to the Earth—and a call to action at a defining moment in human history.