In Going to Extremes, Nick Middleton visits the world's hottest, coldest, wettest, and driest inhabited places. He visits Oymyakon in Siberia, where the average winter temperature is -47 degrees, then Arica in Chile, where there have been 14 consecutive years without a drop of rain, and Dalol in Ethiopia—known as the "hell hole of creation," where the temperature remains at 94 degrees year round. Middleton considers how and why people lives in these harsh environments. He looks at the way both the population, and the flora and fauna, have adapted physically to the climate, and also considers the psychological impact of living under such conditions.