Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survivalby Joe Simpson
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
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)
The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest
by Anatoli Boukreev
An exploration of the struggle and danger of climbing Mount Everest, and the triumph of the human spirit.
As the climbers of the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster vanished into thin air, one man had the courage to bring them down alive... On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by expert leaders ... (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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Aron Ralston
A harrowing true story of one man's fight for survival after being trapped in a canyon.
A brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life which will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories. One ... (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)
Notes from a Small Island
by Bill Bryson
A humorous travelogue of Bryson's final tour of Britain before moving to the US. He reflects on the quirks and charms of British life.
"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it." After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson - bestselling author of ... (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)
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)
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
by Mark Bowden
A detailed account of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, where US soldiers fought Somali militia in a brutal urban warfare.
On October 3, 1993, about a hundred U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into a teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia, to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. The action ... (Goodreads)
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)
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)
Seven Years in Tibet
by Heinrich Harrer
Exploration of Tibet, told through the story of a man who escapes internment and lives in the region for seven years.
The book covers the escape of Harrer and his companion, Peter Aufschnaiter , from a British internment camp in India. , Harrer and Aufschnaiter then traveled across Tibet to Lhasa , the capital. Here ... (Wikipedia)
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.
In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
by Stephen E. Ambrose
An epic narrative of the American soldiers of Easy Company during World War II.
As good a rifle company as any, Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, US Army, kept getting tough assignments–responsible for everything from parachuting into France early DDay morning to the ... (Goodreads)
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart
by Tim Butcher
An exploration of the Congo River, tracing its past and present history.
A compulsively readable account of a journey to the Congo — a country virtually inaccessible to the outside world — vividly told by a daring and adventurous journalist. Ever since Stanley first ... (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)
Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail
by Rusty Young
Unforgettable story of an English drug smuggler's experience in Bolivia's notorious San Pedro prison.
Rusty Young was backpacking in South America when he heard about Thomas McFadden, a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia's notorious San Pedro prison. Intrigued, the young ... (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)
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
by Marcus Luttrell
A riveting account of a heroic mission gone wrong, and the courage and strength of the Navy SEALS who faced impossible odds.
On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader ... (Goodreads)
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
by Laurence Gonzales
Exploring why some people are able to survive life-threatening situations while others don't.
Laurence Gonzales’s bestselling Deep Survival has helped save lives from the deepest wildernesses, just as it has improved readers’ everyday lives. Its mix of adventure narrative, survival science, ... (Goodreads)
Kon-Tiki
by Thor Heyerdahl
An intrepid explorer's 4,300 nautical mile journey across the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft.
Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure - a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the ... (Goodreads)
Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson
Expose of the environmental damage caused by the widespread use of chemical pesticides.
Silent Spring is an environmental science book. The book documents the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading ... (Goodreads)
Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner
by Dean Karnazes
A man's journey of pushing physical limits and exploring the depths of human endurance.
In one of his most ambitious physical efforts to date, Dean Karnazes attempted to run 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 days to raise awareness of youth obesity and urge Americans of all fitness ... (Goodreads)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition
by Caroline Alexander
A gripping account of the famous Antarctic exploration, led by Ernest Shackleton.
In August 1914, days before the outbreak of the First World War, the renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven set sail for the South Atlantic in pursuit of the last unclaimed ... (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)
