Two of my favorites are by Jennifer Niven: *The Ice Master *and Ada Blackjack.
Arctic exploration and survival, full of well-researched details. Both quite gripping.
I’ve mentioned this one before: We Swam the Grand Canyon: The True Story of a Cheap Vacation that Got a Little Out of Hand
A couple of guys take on the Colorado River in 1955 using surplus radio covers as their flotation devices.
As noted above, I’ve read Ada Blackjack. It’s interesting that the same idiot who “planned” that expedition was the same knucklehead who left eleven of those poor bastards on the Karluk to their dooms after abandoning the voyage. Stefansson was an adventurer whose experiences in the wild led him to some very poor theories of survival.
Sorry, I saw that you had mentioned Ada Blackjack *after *I posted.
(I just smacked myself).
It’s a wonder that Stefansson was able to continue to find audiences for his self-aggrandizing and often inaccurate “memoirs” for decades after the events. His treatment of Ada was especially cruel and dismissive. A real jerk.
I have no idea why the Arctic expeditions fascinate me so. I read every one I can find.
Check out Peter Hopkirk and his books on the exploration of Central Asia and the Great Game.
Trespassers on the Roof of the World
Foreign Devils on the Silk Road
You could also check out one of Peter Hopkirk’s early inspirations, Sir Fitzroy MacClean’s Eastern Approaches
Undaunted Courage is very good, it’s about Lewis and Clark
Oh hell: I wrote “Uncommon Valor” in the OP instead of “Undaunted Courage”. It’s an excellent book, for sure.
If you haven’t read the books about Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition, I’d recommend them highly.
The Long Walk is a gripping escape tale that goes from Siberia, across the Gobi Desert to India, but unfortunately is probably not true, at least for the author.
Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea by Steven Callahan
I don’t usually find this type of book appealing, but for some reason this one caught my eye and held my interest. It’s about very methodical survival, but surprisingly gripping.
Tom Neale’s “An Island to Oneself.” http://www.janesoceania.com/suvarov_tom_neale/index.htm
Wow. Lots more recommendations than I thought would be offered. I’m now reading Into Thin Air, which is a gripping yarn. The descriptions of crossing the crevasses on metal ladders while wearing ice cleats makes my stomach churn.
On the exploration side, you might enjoy Barren Lands, by Kevin Krajick. It’s the story of the search for diamonds in North America. A good chunk of the book takes place in the barren lands of the Canadian Arctic, where a couple of guys ultimately beat DeBeers to the punch and score one of the biggest diamond finds ever. Lots of history, lots of geology, lots of high north adventure.
Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O’Dell.
Hah, and that’s when things are still going according to plan.
I’m a huge fan of this genre but most of my favorites have already been mentioned.
I just finished Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean. It was pretty good, but the story was less about the girl’s survival and more about the nutjob who killed her family.
I scanned the thread - did anyone else mention Between a Rock and a Hard Place? It was pretty gripping.
Or the classic Alive?
I read “Alive” a long time ago. A good mountain climbing read is Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Denali, by Art Davidson.
Pete Goss has written a couple books about his solo sailing adventures. In particular, Close To The Wind tells the true story of his solo circumnavigation race round the globe.
ETA: I have recommended this book to several people who have all loved it.
Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick is good. But not available on Kindle.
Into Thin Air is the first thing I would have recommended coming into this thread but it was mentioned far before I got here.
Trying to to spoil anything (since you are reading it) so I’ll make this as general as possible. One of the other people on Everest during that time strongly disagreed with Krakhauer’s interpretation of certain events in Into Thin Air and wrote their own version of the expedition in the book The Climb. I’ve read both and personally am inclined to believe Krakhauer but that may be just because I read Into Thin Air first and was biased by my initial exposure to what happened. I’ll also say that, given what all happened over those few days, probably no one was working at full mental capacity and it is quite likely that neither of them are completely correct. But both books are a stark reminder that even with all of our modern conveniences, technology and planning there are things that can still go horribly, terrifyingly wrong.