Doing the Yukon River Swim in the western Canadian forest was not easy. Embarking on The Great Icelandic Swim over nearly 4 months was nearly unfathomable. Completing. the Great British Swim was simply incredible. But so was were disappointing failures due to hypothermia in Scotland’s Loch Ness and hyperthermia in Italy’s Lake Trasimeno and Mallorca in Spain.
All were attempted or completed by Ross Edgley, the author of Blueprint: Build a Bulletproof Body for Extreme Adventure in 365 Days and The Art of Resilience: Strategies for an Unbreakable Mind and Body.
But the British adventurer has now gone further with his newest book, How to Hero: Find Strength, Forge Resilience and Fulfil Your Purpose.
The book includes chapters like Not All Heroes Wear Capes, Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Cross the Threshold, The Initiation, The Battle, The Transformation, The Return where Edgley explains “how to find strength, forge resilience, and fulfil your purpose.”
He explains, “[Movie superhero] Chris Hemsworth has written the foreword for my new book:
Why? Well, because we’ve supported each other through some pretty crazy stuff over the years — from ice swims in 0°C water inside the Arctic Circle (with no training), to climbing a 100ft rope suspended 1,000ft above the Blue Mountains. Along the way, we’ve studied the neuroscience, science and philosophy behind extraordinary feats. But what people might not know about Chris is that he’s also an absolute scholar when it comes to folklore, film and philosophy. In fact, it was Chris who first introduced me to Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey — the idea that stories of heroes have been used for thousands of years as vehicles for moral instruction, teaching us about courage, sacrifice, adversity and what it means to live well.“
Ice swimmers, marathon swimmers, and marathon swimmers can well appreciate what Edgley willingly put himself through during all his stage swims and long marathon swims. Swimming kilometer and kilometer, facing extreme discomfort and often ending in hospitalization, while staring into the depths of cold, rough waters is never easy. Swimmers go deep within themselves to push themselves forward. Giving up is so easy, but so vigorously avoided, nearly at all costs.
It is so easy to stop and quit. Swimmers can just touch the boat. Swimmers can easily reach out to their escort kayaker. Swimmers can simply ask to be pulled out of the water. No one will complain, no one will blame them.
The desire to stop, quit, get out of the water is so ever present. It is a reasonable decision for most. It makes sense at the time.
But Edgley explains why having Hemsworth’s encouragement, friendship, and writing the foreword to his books means so much to him. He shared a sneak peek of Hemsworth’s prose:
“How to Hero isn’t a memoir in the traditional sense and it isn’t a self-help manual offering shortcuts or slogans. It’s something far rarer. It’s a field guide and a survival map drawn in cold water, loss, discipline and time spent alone with the kind of thoughts most of us work hard to avoid.
Ross doesn’t write about heroism as conquest or victory. He writes about it as responsibility and commitment. As the decision to keep going when motivation disappears and quitting would be reasonable — maybe even sensible.
I watched him prepare to swim around Iceland knowing exactly what it would demand. I also knew what he was swimming toward: a baby, fatherhood and a future that mattered more than any record. That tension — between the life you’re building and the trials that shape you — runs through every page of this book.
The ancient stories Ross draws from understood something we’ve largely forgotten. Myths were instructions and blueprints for how to stand upright in a world that can be brutal. They didn’t promise happy endings. They promised meaning, but only if you were willing to earn it.
This book reminds us that with the right structure, the right story and the right people beside you, pain doesn’t have to break you. It can reshape you. You don’t need to swim around a volcanic island to understand what Ross is talking about. Your trials will look different, but the principles here — ritual, trust, discipline, purpose — apply whether you’re facing grief, responsibility, fear or the quiet suspicion that you’re capable of more than you’re currently living.
In short, this story isn’t really about Ross, Iceland or endurance. It’s about the moment — somewhere ahead of you — when the conditions are harsh, the excuses are convincing and the old version of you would stop. This book is for that moment and when it comes, you’ll know what to do.”
For more information, visit How to Hero.
To pre-order How to Hero, visit here.
Amazon’s description is as follows:
In his brand-new book, bestselling author & award-winning adventurer Ross Edgley details the science, psychology and history of heroism, uncovering what drives ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
Written during his historic 1,000-mile (1,600-km) swim around the entire coast of Iceland, the book follows Edgley as he battles Arctic storms, active volcanoes and one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic – a journey that moves through Nordic mythology and modern neuroscience to reveal one of the most powerful weapons any human can wield against adversity and suffering: purpose.
Drawing on pioneering research within neuropsychology, ancient sagas and lived experience at the edge of human endurance, How to Hero shows how resilience can be built, trained and weaponised for the moments when life gets hard. We are all, in some form, on a hero’s journey. The monsters may be internal, the battles unseen, but the path has always been there – waiting to be remembered. You just have to answer the call.
This is How to Hero.
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