Floating Mountains: The Art of Imagining the Impossible

Disney Legend and Imagineer Joe Rohde unlocks the secrets of creativity in this powerful exploration of imagination, innovation, and life lessons for turning vision into reality.

In this inspiring narrative, Imagineer, explorer, and Disney Legend Joe Rohde offers a master class in creativity on a world-spanning journey to discover the origins of personal creativity, the power and potential of enterprising groups, and the remarkable parallels between collaboration and exploring the real world.
With lessons drawn from his celebrated career and life experiences—leading projects such as Disney’s Animal Kingdom, ventures into space tourism, field expeditions to far-flung corners of the world, managing design teams, and working with corporate executives—Rohde dives deep into the nature, nurture, and practice of collaboration. He explains how to keep ideas to true to their origins while allowing for improvisation and accident to enhance, not derail, creative endeavors.
These are stories of inspiration and invention, challenge and transgression, success and failure, laced with humor, contemplation, poignancy, and even life-threatening danger. Whether your interest in creativity is personal, professional, or you just want to peek behind the curtain of a renowned creative mind, Rohde’s lessons provide a guide for connecting your creative pursuits with others and the larger world.

Disney Legend Joe Rohde is a veteran of 40 years with Walt Disney Imagineering. He led a series of projects dealing with natural history, culture, and the environment, beginning with Disney’s Animal Kingdom and including Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii, and Villages Nature, an eco-resort adjacent to Disneyland Paris. Now retired, he has consulted and collaborated on multiple projects, including the development of the Virgin Galactic space tourism program; the late Jane Goodall’s visionary project in Tanzania, Dr. Jane’s Dream; and continued work with Disney.
Rohde is a member of The Explorers Club. His expedition paintings, some of which are displayed at the Club headquarters in Manhattan, were created under challenging field conditions and constitute a record of settings, cultures, and events few may ever see. Many of these journeys are commemorated by a collection of earrings suspended from his greatly enlarged left ear lobe.
Rohde holds an B.A. in studio art from Occidental College and received the College’s 1999 Alumnus of the Year Award. He lives in the hills behind Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, fellow Imagineer and Disney author, Melody Malmberg. They often visit Pasadena, California, to catch up with their sons, Kellan and Brandt.