There’s nothing like a true story of harrowing adventure to keep me engrossed in a book. I’ve enjoyed books like:
[ul]In the Heart of the Sea[/ul]
[ul]South: The Endurance Expedition[/ul]
[ul]Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster[/ul]
[ul]Wreck of the Medusa: The Tragic Story of the Death Raft[/ul]
Can you recommend some additional ones I might like?
Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is an outstanding book. It is a true story about modern day treasure hunters and their search for the “Central America”, a gold rush ship. It is much deeper than that however. It is an adventure story combined with an exciting history book. It is a real page turner.
I recommend you try Cafe Society where you will probably attract more help.
Here, I’ll move this for you.
[ /Moderator Mode ]
The Perfect Storm: much better than the move that was based on the book.
Mawson’s Will. My favorite moment is the first words spoken to Mawson upon his return.
Not exactly adventure, but true life and very harrowing, none the less:
Night by Elie Weisel.
Donbas A must read. It goes in and out of print over the years. Get it while it is in print. What this teenager when through in a slave labor camp in Siberia will astound you.
I like the Ultimate Survival stories and Holocaust Stuff, what can I say?
Lighter reading: (On my Wish List to Read One Day)
The Cloud Garden (This looks very entertaining.)
The Simple Sounds of Freedom: the true story of the only american to fight for both the US and Russia during WW2. The guy that wrote this - lived this - just died in the last two years or so. He was from Michigan (or retired here…how much more badass can you get?). ( His picture alone on the cover shows you what a badass he was.)
For a great read:
Holidays in Hell PJ O’Rourke. ( Who travels to the worlds Hot Spots - Korea for a Riot, Mexico for its usual screwed up politics, Poland, Beirut…) Awesome writing and observations.
Filmore, try reading Touching the Void
Judging by the books you referenced in your OP, you’ll probably like this book. What this guy goes through is amazing.
Oh, and one more!
A Walk in the Woods
Its a hilarious account of a guy trying to hike the Appalachian Trail with absolutely no hiking experience. Kind of Survival-light, but a fun read.
I also recommend Caroline Alexander’s The Endurance. Great photographs, and well written
An aside: In the summer of 2000 there was an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History on Shackleton’s expedition. In a small room was the James Caird, the actual 22 foot long boat that was rowed 800 miles to get help. The Caird was set up so you were about eye-level with the gunwhale, and it rocked back and forth. The walls of the room were covered with a panoramic photograph of a cold, stormy sea. A soundtrack played that sounded like what the sea around the boat must have sounded like. You felt as if you were in the boat. It was scary. It was amazing.
The Great War In Africa 1914-1918
This book enjoys an honored place on my bookshelf, and I read & re-read it about once a year.
Goldfinder another excellent nautical treasure hunt.
This thread asks “Do you know of any non-fiction page-turners?”
Shadow Divers, it stunned me. I am a Jew with plenty of connections to the death camps, but, it made me sympathetic to a certain group of Nazis.
Also Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, for a different adventure.
I’d highly recommend Robert Pelton’s book:
here
Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest - Stephen Ambrose (and probably anything else he’s written)
My Father’s Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One hundred Years in the NYPD - Brian McDonald
I haven’t read it personally, but my husband was really impressed with
If you liked Into Thin Air, You might like Krakauer’s * Into the Wild*
It’s not really an adventure book, and certainly not an escapist tale of close calls and ultimate triumph. It’s more an biography (and some auto-biography) as an excuse to explore what it is that drives people to (in this case fatal) adventure. And it does it very well and is a good book.
Young Men and Fire is a wonderfully written, fascinating book. I’ve read it three times. It’s the kind of book that makes you wish the author had wriiten more than two books.
All of Pelton’s books are a good read, but TWMDP is mostly a guide with real-life examples thrown in. A better book for the OP’s purpose is The Hunter, the Hammer, and Heaven which features (what the author considers) the three most absolutely fucked-up places on earth: Sierra Leone, Chechnya, and Bougainville.
Ghost Soldiers, by Hampton Sides, is the engrossing story of a mission to rescue Allied POWs who had survived the Bataan Death March in WWII. Great story, happy ending.
Sounds like your taste in reading runs along the same as mine. I very rarely read novels anymore - this one off the top of my head which I finished not too long ago:
The Ice Master: The doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven. You will love it, a true story of a ship exploring the arctic, the ship gets caught up in an iceburg and they are stuck for a couple of years. Great read
Let me think of some more I’ve read lately and I’ll get back