Going to Extremes

Going to Extremes and Surviving Extremes are television programmes made for Channel 4 by Nick Middleton. In each episode of the two series, Middleton visits an extreme area of the world to find out how people have adapted to life there.

Both Going to Extremes and Surviving Extremes are accompanied by books of the same name, except in the USA where the latter is titled Extremes: Surviving the World's Harshest Environments.

There is also a third series, titled "Going to Extremes: The Silk Routes".

Going to Extremes

In this series, Middleton visited the coldest, hottest, driest and wettest permanent settlements in the world.

The coldest permanent settlement in the world is Oymyakon in Siberia, where the average winter temperature is −47 °F (− 44°C).

The driest permanent settlement in the world is Arica in Chile where there have been fourteen consecutive years without a drop of rain. Fog is the people's only source of water.

The wettest permanent settlement in the world is Mawsynram in India which annually competes for the title with its neighbor Cherrapunji. Outside the monsoon season, there is a water shortage. There is 14 meters of water a year there on average and all in 4 months, the other 8 months are drought.

Going to Extremes (book)

Going to Extremes is a non-fiction book by Joe McGinniss. It was first published in 1980. The book is about McGinniss' travels through Alaska for a year. The book became a best-seller.

The Los Angeles Times called it a "vivid memoir."

McGinniss returned to the subject of Alaska in 2009 to write a biography about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin .

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