We all know travel can expand our horizons, but retaining that sense of wonder after the inevitable return to the daily grind is a struggle.

Author David Oates explores how we can allow it to permanently transform us. When David began mountaineering abroad, he was fleeing from the crushing dullness of routine, and the pain of rejection after coming out. But what started as a necessary escape became a path to lasting transformation, and he reveals how to capture that sense of transcendence (even without a passport) in his beautifully-written new book The Mountains of Paris: How Awe and Wonder Rewrote My Life (OSU Press, October 2019).

In an interview, David will discuss:
- how nature helped him find his place when he came out as queer
- how awe and wonder can change one's life
- the transformative effects of travel on the human spirit