What happens when an optimist asks the question ‘what will the world that I leave to my 19 year-old daughter look like when she’s my age in 2063?’  When it’s put in the observant and skillful hands of a man who has been recognized for changing the face of nature writing after twenty five years in the wilds and 12 books to his credit, you get “A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World: Tales of Fire, Wind, and Water.”  David Gessner wants to be hopeful.  Really, he does.  However, as he set out to answer that question he saw in 18 months’ time records being set for the earliest storms, the largest fires, the latest first snowfall, the hottest days on record and a hastened pace of catastrophe.  Is this all a coincidence when it’s occurring out his back window in the Outer Banks of North Carolina or in the forests surrounding Paradise, California?  He wants his daughter to be able to step outside her door in the summer, observe the stars at night and avoid choking on fires raging in every season.  Is that too much to hope for?  Let’s hear from a man who cares passionately about the great outdoors.