Poet-bro­ker Ed Rosen­thal caused a nation­al news-stir in 2010 when the 64-year-old went miss­ing in the Mojave Desert on a rou­tine vaca­tion. He cred­its his remark­able sur­vival of a 6‑day ordeal being lost in the Mojave Desert to his Jew­ish roots, his love for his fam­i­ly, and his faith. Now, a decade lat­er after con­quer­ing his PTSD and regain­ing his health, he has writ­ten an inter­di­men­sion­al mem­oir of this expe­ri­ence. The book is both an excit­ing adven­ture sto­ry of a hik­er who inex­plic­a­bly los­es his way on his favorite trail dur­ing a sear­ing heat­wave, and a reflec­tion on the key moments in his life as a Jew that have brought him to this ulti­mate test of his strength and his faith. As a poet, Rosen­thal’s love of the desert and land­scape is para­mount, and it is in the details of that envi­ron­ment — the stones, an aca­cia tree, canyon walls, and the stars, that he finds his poet­’s voice. Rosen­thal grew up in the projects in Rock­away, Queens and has made his pro­fes­sion­al life amongst a gar­ru­lous bunch of land­lords in Down­town Los Angeles.