Aloft, time is different.

Far below is the deck of the boat, and the sea. In the distance, the horizon. Maybe a shoreline, maybe an island or a stretch of mountains. And in your hands are tools and a task.

For riggers, working at altitude on the mast of a boat is a constant reminder of the lethality of gravity.

“It requires an inordinate and appropriate amount of attention,” said Brion Toss, of Brion Toss Yacht Riggers. “That level of attentiveness, which somehow must avoid obsessiveness, is so high, that you enter a different reality. It’s like an enforced meditation.”

It’s that level of attention that keeps him, and his tools, from falling and causing injury, or even death. But the risk is worth the reward as Toss details in his book, titled “Falling,” which he released in September.

“In my particular art, there are some dangers,” Toss said. “There is gratification and satisfaction in doing good work. But there’s a certain amount of danger that comes with getting out of comfortable spaces, specifically with climbing.”

The book, which was published as an e-book, features a collection of cautionary tales about working aloft, as Toss reflects on more than 40 years of experience in rigging.

“Gravity never sleeps, but it makes for stories,” Toss said. “So over the course of last year, I started writing just short pieces, and then a little at a time, in odd moments when I wasn’t rigging or working on technical things, I cut them all down.”

The story collection is a quick read at 52 pages but it’s powerful. Toss balances a jovial sense of humor with a reverence for work and the power of gravity.

Although he writes about the dropped tools, the near-fatal falls, the curious mishaps and sometimes humorous accidents, Toss decided not to tell of any fatal falls, though he said they happen often.

“(Writing about deaths) is like capital punishment,” Toss said. “It’s really enthralling and interesting, but it won’t necessarily change anybody’s behavior. There is no shortage of deaths from falls, but I’m hoping that people will gain some technical appreciation from this.”

Toss’ previous writing was more technical than his new book. In 1997, he published “The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice: Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging.”

“Falling” does touch on some technicalities of rigging, but in a more whimsical style.

He provides enough detail that non-boaters can get a sense of the art without getting bogged down in terminology.

Meanwhile, sailors, riggers, and even fellow high-altitude workers like arborists, may be reminded of the need for constant attention lest something go wrong.

“A dear friend of mine said that if you have good training and a really good deck crew and really good gear and lots of practice, and someday you find yourself comfortable aloft, hang on and shout for help,” Toss said. “Because you’ve just become complacent.”

But with all of the dangers, Toss said working aloft is exhilarating.

“Some of the happiest moments of my life have been being aloft on a sailboat underway,” he said. “It must be part of that exhilaration, knowing that you have risked something to get here, and that you are continuing to risk it to stay here.”

Another part, he said, is the reward of the work. Going aloft is for a direct purpose, he said, and the artistry of rigging has been his life’s work.

“You’re trying to accomplish something,” he said. “The release of endorphins you get from measuring or repairing something aloft is also a big deal.”

For other riggers, Toss’ book is a word of caution not to grow complacent. But for those who have not gone out of their comfort zone to scale a tree or a mast or a rock wall, it provides a moment of insight into the other world.

“You can ask for things to be sent to you and you can send things back, but everything there is reliant on you,” said Julia Briggs, a rigger. She agreed that working aloft takes you into a different state of mind. “You have to be focused on not just what you’re doing but everything that’s going on around you at the same time. You have to be totally in the moment.”

To this Toss adds, “You get to be totally in the moment.”

“Falling” is available on Amazon and Apple iBooks in an e-book format, and is soon to be released as an audiobook.