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Recommendations based on Between a Rock and a Hard Placeby Aron Ralston
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
by Joe Simpson
Gripping account of a mountaineer's harrowing survival after a fall in the Peruvian Andes.
Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking ... (Barnes & Noble)
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer
A gripping narrative of the 1996 expedition on Mount Everest that resulted in tragedy.
When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. ... (Goodreads)
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
by Piers Paul Read
Story of a group of Uruguayan rugby players who survive a plane crash in the Andes and must fight to stay alive.
On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes. Out of the forty-five original passengers and crew, only sixteen made it off the ... (Goodreads)
Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains
by Jon Krakauer
A collection of mountaineering stories, exploring the experiences of climbers and the beauty of the mountains.
No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant victories and hardships more brilliantly than Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest essays and reporting, Krakauer writes of mountains ... (Goodreads)
Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea
by Steven Callahan
A harrowing tale of survival at sea after a shipwreck, and a man's inner journey.
Before The Perfect Storm , before In the Heart of the Sea , Steven Callahan's dramatic tale of survival at sea was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than thirty-six weeks. In some ways ... (Goodreads)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
by Bill Bryson
A humorous account of a man's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, reflecting on the beauty and history of the American wilderness.
The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from Georgia in the South , and stumble in ... (Wikipedia)
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
A thrilling exploration of the Tarahumara tribe and their superhuman running abilities.
Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does ... (Goodreads)
Shadow Divers
by Robert Kurson
Risk-taking divers uncover a sunken WWII German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey.
In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great ... (Goodreads)
Desert Solitaire
by Edward Abbey
A personal account of a season spent as a park ranger in the American wilderness.
First published in 1968, Desert Solitaire is one of Edward Abbey’s most critically acclaimed works and marks his first foray into the world of nonfiction writing. Written while Abbey was working as a ... (Goodreads)
Miracle in the Andes
by Nando Parrado
A harrowing tale of survival and resilience in the Andes Mountains.
In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence. Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby ... (Goodreads)
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by Eric Schlosser
An exploration of the industrial food system and its effects on U.S. society.
Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list ... (Goodreads)
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
by Jon Krakauer
The inspiring story of a professional athlete and soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
The bestselling author of, Into the Wild,, Into Thin Air, and, Under the Banner of Heaven, delivers a stunning, eloquent account of a remarkable young man’s haunting journey. Like the men whose epic ... (Goodreads)
Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II
by Mitchell Zuckoff
Epic story of a WWII air crash survivors' journey through a dangerous and uncharted jungle.
“A lost world, man-eating tribesmen, lush andimpenetrable jungles, stranded American fliers (one of them a dame withgreat gams , for heaven's sake), a startling rescue mission. . . . This is atrue ... (Goodreads)
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
by Alfred Lansing
True story of a remarkable Antarctic expedition, a testament to the power of courage and tenacity.
The harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole, one of the greatest adventure stories of the modern age. In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest ... (Goodreads)
AWOL on the Appalachian Trail
by David Miller
A man's journey of self-discovery on a 2,200 mile hike along the Appalachian Trail.
In 2003, software engineer David Miller left his job, family, and friends to hike 2,172 miles of the Appalachian Trail., AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, is Miller’s account of this thru-hike from ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Executioner's Song
by Norman Mailer
The true story of Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer who became the first person executed in the US after the death penalty was reinstated.
In what is arguably his greatest work, America's most heroically ambitious writer follows the short, blighted career of Gary Gilmore, an intractably violent product of America's prisons who became ... (Goodreads)
Travels with Charley: In Search of America
by John Steinbeck
A road trip across America, exploring the culture and landscape of the country.
A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the ... (Goodreads)
It's Not about the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
by Lance Armstrong
A story of resilience and courage, detailing Armstrong’s fight against cancer and recovery.
In 1993 , 21-year-old Lance Armstrong becomes World Cycling Champion . In Austin, Texas, four years later on October 2, 1996, at age 25, Armstrong is diagnosed with testicular cancer with metastasis ... (Wikipedia)
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
by Sebastian Junger
A harrowing account of a fishing boat's journey into the heart of an epic storm.
"Takes readers into the maelstrom and shows nature's splendid and dangerous havoc at its utmost". October 1991. It was "the perfect storm"–a tempest that may happen only once in a century--a ... (Goodreads)
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
by Nathaniel Philbrick
True account of a whaling ship's disastrous voyage and the survivors' struggle for survival.
"With its huge, scarred head halfway out of the water and its tail beating the ocean into a white-water wake more than forty feet across, the whale approached the ship at twice its original speed - ... (Goodreads)
The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
by Slavomir Rawicz
An incredible journey of survival, a man's trek of over 4000 miles to freedom.
The harrowing true tale of seven escaped Soviet prisoners who desperately marched out of Siberia through China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India. ... (Goodreads)
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan
Argument for a return to traditional diets and away from processed, industrialized food.
Michael Pollan's last book, The Omnivore's Dilemma , launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan ... (Goodreads)
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
by Atul Gawande
Exploration of the human costs and consequences of medical care, highlighting our imperfections and vulnerabilities.
In gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of medicine, offering an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge. Complications lays bare a science not in ... (Goodreads)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
by Annie Dillard
A reflective journey through nature, exploring the mysteries of the natural world.
An exhilarating meditation on nature and its seasons—a personal narrative highlighting one year's exploration on foot in the author's own neighborhood in Tinker Creek, Virginia. In the summer, ... (Goodreads)
A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There
by Aldo Leopold
A reflection on nature, paying homage to the beauty of the Wisconsin countryside.
First published in 1949, A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land. Written ... (Goodreads)
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson
A man's mission to build schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote peace.
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s ... (Goodreads)
Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West
by Blaine Harden
True story of a man who escaped from a North Korean prison camp and his journey to freedom.
A, New York Times, bestseller, the shocking story of one of the few people born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped and survived. North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and ... (Goodreads)
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
by Charles Duhigg
Uncovering the science of habit formation and how to use it to achieve success.
A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns ... (Goodreads)
Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland
by Amanda Berry
True story of a woman taken captive and her struggle to stay alive and be reunited with her family.
Two women kidnapped by infamous Cleveland school-bus driver Ariel Castro share the stories of their abductions, captivity, and dramatic escape, On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry made headlines around the ... (Goodreads)
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
by Marie Kondō
A guide to mastering the art of decluttering and organizing for a more fulfilling life.
#1, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • The book that sparked a revolution and inspired the hit Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,: the original guide to decluttering your home once and for all. ... (Barnes & Noble)
