'Adventure' reading list

[Giacomo]

Hi all, thought it might be good to start a reading list of all your favourite 'adventure' and outdoorsy books.

I have just finished reading View From the Summit by Sir Edmund Hillary, a great read detailing his life and achievements. Particularly interesting chapter on media relations and controversy over who reached the summit of Everest first, him or Tenzing. Anyway, I'd recommend it. Next on my list is Millican Dalton: Search for romance and freedom by M. D. Entwistle.

What are your favourite books? What should I put on my 2015 reading list?

Giacomo

[Bearbonesnorm]

Next on my list is Millican Dalton: Search for romance and freedom by M. D. Entwistle.

A very good read, I did a little review a couple of years ago.

[ianfitz]

The unlikely voyage of jack de crow by AJ mackinnon is an entertaining story of some sailing a mirror dinghy from Shropshire to the edge of Europe. The first half is especially good.

Also recommend him perineal biographies. Menlove Edwards and don whillans are both well worth reading about.

Every inch of the way by Tom Bruce is self published on kindle. Tom rode the bearbones in 2013 It's his story of his round the world ride. It's fair to say he's not quite as good a writer as jim Perrin (which is hardly an insult!!) but it's got some great stuff in it that keeps you going and I found it an interesting and enjoyable read.

[jameso]

I mentioned this book in another thread here today .. Mountains Of My Life by Walter Bonatti. At times it's a bit dry and climbing-descriptive but what he experienced in search of adventure in the mountains was incredible.

[Dave Barter]

Some great books by contemporary climbers:-

Psychovertical - Any Kirkpatrick
Echoes - Nick Bullock

Or if you want to go the other way and read about some stuff that is just plain barking mad

Caverns Measureless to Man - Scheck Exley

[Joshvegas]

I was going to suggest a book by Ernest Shackleton which I thought was called no surrender. I'll need to dig it out.

I simply don't believe its possible to have an adventure of such magnitude now. Two years on the ice under an upturned boat then an open boat trip across the southern ocean to get help. And not a single death.

[Bearbonesnorm]

If you can track a copy down then, Into The Remote Places - Ian Hibell, is well worth a read .... a true mentalist of our time.

[rando nomad]

The Big Open by RIck Ridgeway- tale of him and a couple of other climber/adventurer types hauling carts into a remote part of Tibet looking for the breeding ground of a rare antelope. Very out there in terms of any chance of rescue or such.

Everest- Kangshung face by Stephen Veanables- For the climber types- small team on the Tibet side of Everest, no oxygen. All happened prior to the commercialization of Everest. Wonderful photos.

Stu- how was the crunching Gravel Book? I have it on my list of books from Abe books.

[jodra]

Eric Newbys a short walk in the Hindu kush should be on everyone's list, as should Maurice herzogs Annapurna (proper type 3 fun) and edward whimpers scrambles in the alps ( although my 1900 5th edition is just looked at now lovingly and no longer read).

More recently, climbers would enjoy feeding the rat (Al Alvarez), one mans mountains (Tom patey), the games climbers play (edited by Ken wilson, a contentious character), the recent Johnny Dawes biog as well as the aforementioned psychovertical.

I also enjoyed Richard askwiths feet in the clouds.

Also it is rare that a Jim Perrin book is poor and his countryside diary in the Grauniad is worth reading as well.

[Yorlin]

I'm just reading 'Eat, Sleep, Ride' by Paul Howard, about the Tour Divide - it's good! I got given it for christmas, and my cousin-in-law is in it as a training partner for the author, I didn't know that!

'Always a Little Further' by Alistair Borthwick is a classic.
'Hamish's Mountain Walk' by Hamish Brown is great.
'Book of the Bivvy' by Ronald Turnbull is also excellent.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Stu- how was the crunching Gravel Book? I have it on my list of books from Abe books.

I'm only about 1/3 through yet. The writing's generally good with enough sidetracks to keep things interesting.

[voodoo_simon]

-The White Spider by Heinrich Harrier is a classic climbing book (I also enjoyed 7 years in Tibet, although the writing style is different due to a different interpretater)
-I choose to Climb by Bonnington is a great read too,
-Alistair Humphreys books on cycling around the world are good reads, I thought the first one of the series was very open and honest

and finally, one of my favourite books is about a cycle-courier
The Immortal Class by Travis Hugh McCulley. Never has anyone wrote a book (IMHO) about cycling that feels like you're riding with him

[Mart]

For a lighter look into adventure my favourite is 'One Mans Mountains' by Tom Patey

[Bearbonesnorm]

I nearly forgot, Journey to the centre of the earth by Nick Crane ... a real ultralight epic

[SRS]

+1 for Psychovertical

Also:
Left For Dead, Nick Ward & Sinead O'Brien
A Voyage For Madmen, Peter Nichols
Endurance, Alfred Lansing
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer

[BreninBeener]

My faves are "touching the void" epic story of climbing, disaster and survival. Annapurna by Herzog is fabulous, the first 8000m peak.

And a book written by a friend of mine "The longest climb" by Dominic Faulkner. He rode a bike from the lowest point on the planet...the dead sea....to the Himalayas and then climbed Everest, en route finding a dead friend, and retrieving his wedding ring for his wife. Hero!

[Ian]

Paul Pritchard's books are good: Deep Play was a good account of the pushing of climbing boundaries in the 1980's. In contrast, his second book, The Totem Pole, covers his recovery from a climbing accident that left him paraplegic. Probably haven't sold the second one very well, but it's a compelling read.

On the lighter hearted and sometimes humorous side, A Gringo's Journey by Cris Osborn comes recommended, covering his ride down the west coast of America (North and South).

[evilgoat]

Like psychovertical, all the Joe simpson books, into thin air etc.

A little different:
River Dog by Mark Shand - story of a trip following the brahmaputra with a stray dog.
narrow dog to carcassone - mental trip in a narrow boat from the midlands to carcassone in france. very odd writing style, the bit crossing the channel is ace/insane
surely Endurance: Shackleton has to be on everybody's list.

[Giacomo]

Some great suggestions here.

Waiting for a copy of the Millican Dalton: A search for romance and freedom book to arrive in the post and started reading Paul Howard's '2 wheels on my wagon'. Its about a novice cyclist dreaming of bigger things who decided to take on the Tour Divide. Enjoyable, easy reading...

Thanks all for the suggestions, should take me well into 2020...

[Gari]

Total Alpinism by Rene Demaison is a bit of an epic. Him and Hamish MacInnes, they don't make 'em like that anymore

[24tom]

May I add "The Ascent of Rum Doodle" - pretty much a how-to of lightweight alpinism ;-)

Also (and ever so slightly more seriously) Feeding the Rat - Al Alvarez. Superbly written - a look into the world of mountaineering and climbing from someone almost on the outside, but with enough experience and passion to "get it" - and articulate it very, very well.

[whitestone]

Sat on my bookshelves is a smorgasbord of mountaineering tomes, pretty well all those mentioned.

I'd add Walter Bonatti's "On the Heights", Dave Robert's "Moments of Doubt", "Savage Arena" by Joe Tasker.

For historical reading: "The Black Cliff" is worth searching out, if you can find it that is.

On the humour side, "Rope Boy" by Dennis Gray had me giggling all the way through.

[trickyname]

My absolute favorite adventuring book has to be
Clear Waters Rising by Nicholas Crane.
An amazing journey across europe in the 80's.
Also :
Atlas Biker: Mountain Biking in Morocco
by the same author. Hilarious photos of old bikes and kit, and a pretty epic journey.

[drjon]

anythign by : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Robe ... climber%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Leopard - and his other books too....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_the ... Antarctica notably...

[jameso]

Total Alpinism by Rene Demaison is a bit of an epic. Him and Hamish MacInnes, they don't make 'em like that anymore

Been meaning to get a copy of that. Wasn't he the guy who got trapped below the summit of the Grand Jorasses for a week or more in winter? On those same lines of legendary European climbers,

Conquistadors Of The Useless by Lionel Therray - hard as nails that guy, a great read. Also Hermann Buhl's Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage, stories of some bold solo climbing leading to an amazing account of reaching the summit of Nanga Parbat solo and barely making it back after an unplanned standing bivi on a ledge above 8000m

Mick Fowler's On Thin Ice is probably one of the best adventure books I have, if only for his attitude towards getting things done as well as having an eye for interesting stuff rather than 'big tick' routes. Going through a load of books on the shelf over lunch and feeling the need to see some big mountains again : ) or at least re-read the books!