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I am looking to expand my "library" and so I thought some inspirational real-life books would be a good subject matter to start with.
I have Joe Simpson's - Into the Void
Sir Ran Feinne's - inc' his Autobiog
Armstrong's - 2x bike books
Over to you....
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'True Tales of American Life'
Paul Auster (ed)
So emotional it'll blow your nutsack off.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean Dominique Bauby
The White Spider - Heinrich Harrer
Joe Simpson's other books especially The Beckoning Silence.
Some of my favourites:
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (story of Chuck Yeager)
Mountains of the Mind by Robert MacFarlane
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiesson
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
On a cycling note
Heroes Villans and Velodromes by Richard Moore
Flying Scotsman by Graham Obree (equally inspirational and depressing)
White Line Fever, autobiography by Lemmy
"Illusions" or "Jonathon Livingstone Seagull",by Richard Bach.Old hippy sh*t,but worth reading.
Ian
I quite liked Facing the Frozen Ocean: One Man's Dream to Lead a Team Across the Treacherous North Atlantic by Bear Grylls.
The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton - bio of one of the greatest explorers of the Victorian age.
An Extraordinary Life: Sir Edmund Hillary - achieved far greater things in his life than that ascent of Everest .
Where did Bear Grylls find a hotel in the North Atlantic?
Ian
I've not heard of 'Into The Void'. Is it his new one?
The escape artist - Matt Seaton.
Second the two above about Chris Hoy and Graham Obree.
More of a commentry on drugs in the tour but Bad blood is an excellent read.
geoff thomas - riding through the storm.??against the wall -simon yates?
oh and the climb by anatoli boukreev (check spelling lol)
Second The Climb, especially if read in conjunction with Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air...
Freefall by Tom "nish" Reid. Perhaps not overly inspiring but if I could only recommend one book; this would be it.
Read it alone, though (you'll thank me for this).
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Very interesting although I think peoples opinions of the guy are very split.
Also Mr. Nice by Howard Marks. Don't know if you'd call it inspirational, but a fascinating story. Again, peoples opinions of him are very split!
+1 Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Fermat's Last Theorem. Story of how a childhood obsession was fulfilled.
Brian Keenan "An Evil Cradling" about his 5 years (or however long) he spent in captivity, read it years ago and the only book that has seriously stuck in my memory!!!
Learning to Breathe - Andy Cave
Conquistadors of the Useless - Lionel Terray
Psychovertical - Andy Kirkpatrick
Kiss or Kill - Mark Twight
... all astonishing in different ways.
Oh, and as far as Simpson's other books go, with respect, the only one I'd bother with is This Game of Ghosts. He's at his best writing about his own life and experiences rather than moralising about mountaineering culture and ethics, imho, obviously.
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A true life guide.....
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First Light - Geoffrey Wellum
Mein Kampf
Seven Year in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
Rowing It Alone by Debra Veal (or Searle).
Thanks.
Some I've read and some I must look up and read.
Some I'd quite forgotten about.
Second Learning to Breathe by Andy Cave. I've read a load of climbing books and whilst this is big on the climbing it has a clear extra dimension with his apprenticeship as a miner in the middle of the strikes. Fascinating stuff and made me go off to the Yorkshire Mining Museum to find out more.
Ti29er - Which Lance book would you recommend ?
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Robert Tressell
Favourite of mine.
Its not about the bike.
And the most heartwarming book I've ever read is "Friends Like These" by Danny Wallace.
Apparently the Bible is all completely true. Even the bits that appear to contradict themselves.
You realise though that after the shenku book some people have started to take the mickey?
7 Pillars of Widom should be here I guess & something about Shackleton perhaps. Any recommendations for reinhold messner?
"Let My People Go Surfing" by Yvon Chouinard
Anything by Jon Krakauer.
the grass arena by john healy - the ultimate self-redemption from living hell story
Francois Bizot - The Gate - about his experiences of being a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge
Anne Frank's Diary
Still Life With Woodpecker (1980) by Tom Robbins. Quote from wickepedia: "concerning the love affair between an environmentalist princess and an outlaw. As with most of Robbins' books, it encompasses a broad range of topics, from aliens and redheads to consumerism, the building of bombs, romance, royalty, the moon, and a pack of Camels".
oh oh spaghetti-o
[url] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Life_with_Woodpecker [/url]
I've a very soft spot for The Crow Road by Ian Banks
Survive the Savage Sea - Dougal Robinson (sailing disaster) is truely insperational. What that guy endured and came up with to save his family was impressive.
Also second Dan Brown, after reading that I was inspired to never waste another hour of my life with such a unredeemable collection of banality.
A Million Tiny Peices is a shocking and inspiring read but I was incredibly angry to find out that although it's touted as a true story it's apparently a total work of fiction put forward as a true story because nobody wanted to publish it otherwise.
Just been on the Shen Ku website,highly recommended.
Ian
P.S. I'm not saying why.
I have just read left for dead about the 1979 fastnet disaster, I cannot recommend it enough even if you have no interest in sailing, a truly inspirational book!
I might have to do a search for books, now mostly out of print from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Thesiger
Ran Fiennes sites him as his explorer-hero figure.
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