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The bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals recounts his latest hilarious misadventures in the South Pacific, following in… the footsteps of his unlikely idol, Robert Louis Stevenson Readers and critics alike adore J. Maarten Troost for his signature wry and witty take on the adventure memoir. Hailed by Entertainment Weekly as a funny, candid, and down-to-earth travel companion,” Troost’s bestselling debut, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, is an enduring favorite about life in the South Seas. Headhunters on My Doorstep chronicles Troost’s return to the South Pacific after his struggle with alcoholism and time in rehab left him numb to life. Deciding to retrace the path once traveled by the author of Treasure Island, Troost follows Robert Louis Stevenson to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Gilberts, and Samoa, tumbling from one comic misadventure to another as he confronts his newfound sobriety. Somewhere en route from the shark-infested waters of Fakarava to the remote islands of Kiribati, Troost gradually awakens to the beauty of life and reconnects with his family and the world. Headhunters on My Doorstep is a funny yet poignant account of one man’s journey to find himself that will captivate travel writing aficionados, Robert Louis Stevenson fans, and anyone who has ever lost his way. .
"An extraordinary life." --The New York Times Book Review"A fitting homage to one of the great outdoor extremists." --Kirkus ReviewsLegendary… climber Scott Fischer found in Mount Everest a perfect landscape for his fearless spirit. Scaling the world's highest peak tested his skills, his courage, and his endurance. His legendary final expedition--and its tragic outcome--are portrayed in Everest, the 3-D movie adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer. Robert Birkby, one of Scott's close friends, captures in this intimate and stirring portrait who Scott Fischer really was and what led him to climb to the top of the world--before he left it altogetherUpdated with a New Introduction and EpiloguePlus new photos exclusive to the digital edition!This book is not an official tie-in to the film Everest.
Moving between fact and fiction, past and present, this dizzyingly inventive novel reimagines the story of the Mutiny on the… Bounty It started with a coconut . . . In the early hours of April 27, 1789, Fletcher Christian, master's mate on the HMS Bounty, took a coconut from a pile on the quarterdeck. This random, seemingly inconsequential act set in motion a snowballing series of events that culminated in a revolt. In this strikingly original novel, equal parts time-travel adventure, travelogue, and fictional memoir, Diana Souhami moves across time and place, from eighteenth-century Tahiti to modern-day Pitcairn Island, from Knightsbridge to Tauranga, Mangareva to Tubuai. Along with Fletcher Christian, the sprawling cast of characters includes the unforgettable Captain William Bligh, who is cast adrift in an open boat on ferocious seas with eighteen men and no maps or supplies. Readers will also meet Pitcairn Island sex offenders, the Native American crew of a seventeen-thousand-ton ship called the Tundra Princess, the narrator's elderly mother, and a mysterious lesbian aristocrat known as Lady Myre. Weaving together history, destiny, and chaos theory, this captivating adventure is for anyone who has ever yearned to travel to an exotic, faraway place.
The snow forms the beginning of a near vertical chute that falls at least a thousand feet. My feet, shaking,… manage to hug the thin edge of solid rock. I feel my heart creep to my throat and warm sweat drip down my back, defying the subzero Arctic air. Somehow I reach a plateau and think the worst is behind me. I couldn't be more wrong.This is the story of Dave Metz's death-defying, breathtaking, and passionate journey through the Arctic outback. Driven by his lifetime reverence for the outdoors, Dave, with the help of his two beloved Airedale terrier dogs, embarks on a three-month epic of survival and astonishing determination that rivals the most daring world-class explorations.I find myself on a gigantic trench hemmed in on both sides by peaks that look like ice-daggers from another world. The idea that I'm at the mercy of the wild sinks in. . .and I desperately want out of this endless, icebound maze.Skiing up frozen rivers, enduring bitter nights at twenty below zero, and staggering across vast reaches of barren tundra and scrub woodlands, Metz's unprecedented 600-mile trek took him to the remotest regions of the untamed North. In frightening and stunning detail, he shows us an unwavering spirit and a compelling sense of adventure that can only be satisfied when truly free. . .Dave Metz has been to Alaska over a dozen times in the last twenty years. He's kayaked across Alaska twice, once with his beloved dog Jonny riding in the bow, and lived there for two years in remote locations. He's also kayaked and trekked in Peru, Brazil, Canada, and Borneo, and has hiked across most of Oregon and Washington. Despite his forays away from home, he managed to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Portland State University, where he also did course work in zoology. He currently works for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as a seasonal fish biologist. In addition to studying mammals and the preservation of indigenous cultures in rain forest regions, he continues zealously to embark on wilderness survival and exploration adventures, cycling, and hiking trips. He lives Philomath, Oregon.
“The Antarctic Factor: if anything can go wrong, it will. It's basically Murphy's Law on steroids…” —Chris Turney On Christmas… Eve 2013, off the coast of East Antarctica, an abrupt weather change trapped the Shokalskiy— the ship carrying earth scientist Chris Turney and seventy-one others involved in the Australasian Antarctic Expedition—in a densely packed armada of sea ice, 1400 miles from civilization. With the ship's hull breached and steerage lost, the wind threatened to drive the vessel into the frozen continent, smashing it to pieces. If nearby floating icebergs picked up speed, they could cause a devastating collision, leaving little time to abandon ship and potentially creating an environmental disaster. The forecast offered no relief—a blizzard was headed their way. As Turney chronicles his modern-day ordeal, he revisits famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton's harrowing Antarctic expedition almost a century prior. His ship, Endurance, was trapped and ultimately lost to the ice, forcing Shackleton and his men to fight for survival on a vast and treacherous icescape for two years. Turney also draws inspiration from Douglas Mawson, whose Antarctic explorations were equally legendary. But for Turney the stakes were even higher— for unlike Shackleton or Mawson, he had his wife and children with him. Yet there was another key difference: Shackleton and Mawson were completely cut off; Turney’s expedition was connected to the outside world through Twitter, YouTube, and Skype. Within hours, the team became the focus of a media storm, and an international rescue effort was launched to reach the stranded ship. But could help arrive in time to avert a tragedy? A taut 21st-century survival story, Iced In is also an homage to Shackleton, Mawson, and other scientific explorers who embody the human spirit of adventure, joy in discovery, and will to live.
“Bascomb has unearthed a remarkable piece of hidden history, and told it perfectly. The story brims with adventure, suspense, daring,… and heroism.” —David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon Neal Bascomb, New York Times best-selling author, delivers the spellbinding story of the downed Allied airmen who masterminded the remarkably courageous—and ingenious—breakout from Germany’s most devilish POW camp In the winter trenches and flak-filled skies of World War I, soldiers and pilots alike might avoid death, only to find themselves imprisoned in Germany’s archipelago of POW camps, often in abominable conditions. The most infamous was Holzminden, a land-locked Alcatraz of sorts that housed the most troublesome, escape-prone prisoners. Its commandant was a boorish, hate-filled tyrant named Karl Niemeyer who swore that none should ever leave. Desperate to break out of “Hellminden” and return to the fight, a group of Allied prisoners led by ace pilot (and former Army sapper) David Gray hatch an elaborate escape plan. Their plot demands a risky feat of engineering as well as a bevy of disguises, forged documents, fake walls, and steely resolve. Once beyond the watch towers and round-the-clock patrols, Gray and almost a dozen of his half-starved fellow prisoners must then make a heroic 150 mile dash through enemy-occupied territory towards free Holland. Drawing on never-before-seen memoirs and letters, Neal Bascomb brings this narrative to cinematic life, amid the twilight of the British Empire and the darkest, most savage hours of the fight against Germany. At turns tragic, funny, inspirational, and nail-biting suspenseful, this is the little-known story of the biggest POW breakout of the Great War.
Long before he made his fateful crossing of the Atlantic, Christopher Columbus learned his seamanship as a young man in… the Mediterranean and then in the service of the King of Portugal. But soon his eyes turned to the ocean and what lay beyond. Opposition to his idea of finding the East by sailing west was based on differing ideas of the size--and shape--of the world. To the end of his days Columbus insisted that where his ship came aground was in the Indies, even when it became clear to his contemporaries that they were in fact in an area of the world previously unknown to Europeans. Bradford portrays Columbus's genius, stubbornness, greed and stupidity mixed with bravery and masterly navigation skills. A great book gives us a true and balanced portrait of a great explorer who forever changed the world.
On February 1, 1960, Harry Scott, conscientious objector, psychologist, and mountaineer, was killed while climbing Mt. Cook. Thirty-five years later,… his son set out to look for him. Funny, moving, and beautifully written, this is the story of a father's absence, told partly through the rich and exciting mix of biography, autobiography, and intellectual and social history. HARRY'S ABSENCE is a passionately argued book about New Zealand, addressing the distinction between nationalism and love of country. Finally, it is a recovery, from death, of reasons for living.
Biologist Caroline Van Hemert tells the story of her journey from Washington state to high above the Arctic Circle--traveling across… remote and rugged terrain solely by human power--to rediscover birds, the natural world, and her own love of science
Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov (1869-1947) was Lieutenant General of the Russian army when the revolution broke out in 1917 and one… of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary White movement afterward. According to its introduction, From Double Eagle to Red Flag "was born of the debris of Imperial Russia, conceived in the shadow of Leo Tolstoy's historical narrative, by a Russian General with exceptional opportunities." This "monumental" novel "has a naked, a terrible fascination."
<P>From the National Book Award-winning and best-selling author Timothy Egan comes the epic story of one of the most fascinating… and colorful Irishman in nineteenth-century America. <P>The Irish-American story, with all its twists and triumphs, is told through the improbable life of one man. A dashing young orator during the Great Famine of the 1840s, in which a million of his Irish countrymen died, <P>Thomas Francis Meagher led a failed uprising against British rule, for which he was banished to a Tasmanian prison colony. He escaped and six months later was heralded in the streets of New York -- the revolutionary hero, back from the dead, at the dawn of the great Irish immigration to America. <P>Meagher's rebirth in America included his leading the newly formed Irish Brigade from New York in many of the fiercest battles of the Civil War -- Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg. Twice shot from his horse while leading charges, left for dead in the Virginia mud, Meagher's dream was that Irish-American troops, seasoned by war, would return to Ireland and liberate their homeland from British rule. <P>The hero's last chapter, as territorial governor of Montana, was a romantic quest for a true home in the far frontier. His death has long been a mystery to which Egan brings haunting, colorful new evidence. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
&“An outstanding book.&” —The Wall Street Journal * &“Gripping at every turn.&” —Outside * &“A gem of a book.&” —The… Guardian * &“A hell of a ride.&” —The Times (London) An extraordinary true story about one man&’s attempt to salve the wounds of war and save his own soul through an audacious adventure. In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Mount Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceives his own crazy, beautiful plan: he will fly a plane from England to Everest, crash-land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit—all utterly alone. Wilson doesn&’t know how to climb. He barely knows how to fly. But he has the right plane, the right equipment, and a deep yearning to achieve his goal. In 1933, he takes off from London in a Gipsy Moth biplane with his course set for the highest mountain on earth. Wilson&’s eleven-month journey to Everest is wild: full of twists, turns, and daring. Eventually, in disguise, he sneaks into Tibet. His icy ordeal is just beginning. Wilson is one of the Great War&’s heroes, but also one of its victims. His hometown of Bradford in northern England is ripped apart by the fighting. So is his family. He barely survives the war himself. Wilson returns from the conflict unable to cope with the sadness that engulfs him. He begins a years-long trek around the world, burning through marriages and relationships, leaving damaged lives in his wake. When he finally returns to England, nearly a decade after he first left, he finds himself falling in love once more—this time with his best friend&’s wife—before depression overcomes him again. He emerges from his funk with a crystalline ambition. He wants to be the first man to stand on top of the world. Wilson believes that Everest can redeem him. This is the tale of an adventurer unlike any you have ever encountered: complex, driven, wry, haunted, and fully alive. He is a man written out of the history books—dismissed as an eccentric, and gossiped about because of rumors of his transvestism. The Moth and the Mountain restores Maurice Wilson to his rightful place in the annals of Everest and tells an unforgettable story about the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity.
From brilliant young polymath Andrew Rader—an MIT-credentialed scientist, popular podcast host, and SpaceX mission manager—an illuminating chronicle of exploration that… spotlights humans&’ insatiable desire to continually push into new and uncharted territory, from civilization&’s earliest days to current planning for interstellar travel.For the first time in history, the human species has the technology to destroy itself. But having developed that power, humans are also able to leave Earth and voyage into the vastness of space. After millions of years of evolution, we&’ve arrived at the point where we can settle other worlds and begin the process of becoming multi-planetary. How did we get here? What does the future hold for us? Divided into four accessible sections, Beyond the Known examines major periods of discovery and rediscovery, from Classical Times, when Phoenicians, Persians and Greeks ventured forth; to The Age of European Exploration, which saw colonies sprout on nearly continent; to The Era of Scientific Inquiry, when researchers developed brand new tools for mapping and traveling farther; to Our Spacefaring Future, which unveils plans currently underway for settling other planets and, eventually, traveling to the stars. A Mission Manager at SpaceX with a light, engaging voice, Andrew Rader is at the forefront of space exploration. As a gifted historian, Rader, who has won global acclaim for his stunning breadth of knowledge, is singularly positioned to reveal the story of human exploration that is also the story of scientific achievement. Told with an infectious zeal for traveling beyond the known, Beyond the Known illuminates how very human it is to emerge from the cave and walk toward an infinitely expanding horizon.
'If you're going to get one book this year get Beyond Possible.' - Ant Middleton <P><P>'Not only does Nims have… exceptional physical stamina, he's also a leader with great skills in financial management and logistics.' - Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb all fourteen highest mountains in the world***Welcome to The Death Zone. <P><P>Fourteen mountains on Earth tower over 8,000 metres above sea level, an altitude where the brain and body withers and dies. Until recently, the world record for climbing them all stood at nearly eight years. So I announced I was summiting them in under seven months. People laughed. They told me I was crazy, even though I'd sharpened my climbing skills on the brutal Himalayan peaks of Everest and Dhaulagiri. But I possessed more than enough belief, strength and resilience to nail the job, having taken down enemy gunmen and terrorist bomb makers while serving with the Gurkhas and the UK Special Forces. <P><P>Throughout 2019, I came alive in the death zone. Soon after, I was showing the world a new truth: that with bravery and enough heart and drive, the impossible was possible...
The fate of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1847 is an enigma that has tantalized generations of historians, archaeologists and… adventurers. The expedition was lost without a trace and all 129 men died in what is arguably the worst disaster in Britain's history of polar exploration.In the aftermath of the crew's disappearance, Lady Jane Franklin, Sir John's widow, maintained a crusade to secure her husband's reputation, imperiled alongside him and his crew in the frozen wastes of the Arctic. Lady Franklin was an uncommon woman for her age, a socially and politically astute figure who ravaged anyone who she viewed as a threat to her husband's legacy.Meanwhile John Rae, an explorer and employee of the Hudson Bay Company, recovered deeply disturbing information from the Expedition. His shocking conclusions embroiled him in a bitter dispute with Lady Franklin which led to the ruin of his reputation and career. Against the background of Victorian society and the rise of the explorer celebrity, we learn of Lady Franklin&’s formidable grit to honor her husband&’s legacy; of John Rae being discredited and his eventual ruin, despite later being proven right. It is a fascinating assessment of the aftermath of the Franklin Expedition and its legacy.
Captain Cook claimed the honor of being the first man to sail into the Antarctic Ocean in 1773, which he… then circumnavigated the following year. Cook, though, did not see any land, and he declared that there was no such thing as the Southern Continent. Fifty years later, an Irishman who had been impressed into the Royal Navy at the age of eighteen and risen through the ranks to reach the position of master, proved Cook wrong and discovered and charted parts of the shoreline of Antarctica. He also discovered what is now Elephant Island and Clarence Island, claiming them for the British Crown.Edward Bransfield&’s varied naval career included taking part in the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816 onboard the 50-gun warship HMS Severn. Then, in 1817, he was posted to the Royal Navy&’s Pacific Squadron off Valparaíso in Chile, and it was while serving there that the owner and skipper of an English whaling ship, the Williams, was driven south by adverse winds and discovered what came to be known as the South Shetland Islands where Cook had said there was no land.Bransfield&’s superior officer, Captain Sherriff, decided to investigate this discovery further. He chartered Williams and sent Bransfield with two midshipmen and a ship&’s surgeon into the Antarctic – and the Irishman sailed into history.Despite his achievements, and many parts of Antarctica and an Antarctic survey vessel being named after him, as well as a Royal Mail commemorative stamp being issued in his name in 2000, the full story of this remarkable man and his historic journey, have never been told – until now.Following decades of research, Sheila Bransfield MA, a member of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, has produced the definitive biography of one of Britain&’s greatest maritime explorers. The book has been endorsed by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, whose patron the Princess Royal, has written the Foreword.
Learn the truth behind the famous characters of the Wild West—and how the legends got it wrong—in this lively history… that separates fact from fiction. The historic figures of the Western frontier have fascinated us for generations. But in many cases, the stories we know about them are little more than inventions. Popular legend won&’t tell you, for instance, that David Crockett was a congressman, or that Daniel Boone was a Virginia legislator. Thanks to penny dreadfuls, Wild West shows, sensationalist newspaper stories, and tall tales told by the explorers themselves, what we know of these men and women is often more fiction than fact.The Real Dirt on America's Frontier Legends separates fact from fiction, showing the legends and the evidence side-by-side to give readers the real story of the old West. Here you&’ll discover the fascinating truth about Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone, &“Buffalo Bill&” Cody, Calamity Jane, Kit Carson, Davy Crocket, and many others.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519–1574) founded St. Augustine in 1565. His expedition was documented by his brother-in-law, Gonzalo Solís de… Merás, who left a detailed and passionate account of the events leading to the establishment of America’s oldest city. Until recently, the only extant version of Solís de Merás’s record was one single manuscript that Eugenio Ruidíaz y Caravia transcribed in 1893, and subsequent editions and translations have always followed Ruidíaz’s text. In 2012, David Arbesú discovered a more complete record: a manuscript including folios lost for centuries and, more important, excluding portions of the 1893 publication based on retellings rather than the original document. In the resulting volume, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Conquest of Florida, Arbesú sheds light on principal events missing from the story of St. Augustine’s founding. By consulting the original chronicle, Arbesú provides readers with the definitive bilingual edition of this seminal text.
Richard Halliburton ran away from his hometown in Memphis at the age of nineteen to lead an extraordinary and dramatic… life of adventure. Against the backdrop of the Golden Age, the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Halliburton's exploits around the globe made him an internationally known celebrity and the most famous travel writer of his time. From climbing Mount Olympus in Greece to swimming the Panama Canal and literally flying all the way to Timbuktu, Halliburton experienced and wrote about adventures that others never even believed possible. His youthful spirit and bohemian lifestyle won the hearts of millions. Author R. Scott Williams details the spectacular exploits of a true adventurer.