As the title say's I'm looking for some good recommendations. Books I have enjoyed have enjoyed recently.
Tour de Force by Daniel Coyle
French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour De France by Tim Moore
ICon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon
Spanish Steps: Travels Wih My Donkey by Tim Moore
Some good climbing books around:
The Hard Years (Joe Brown)
Touching the void, the beconning silence, game of ghosts (Joe Simpson)
Learning to Breath (Andy cave)
- The flying Scotsman
- all the Colin Thubron books but particularly the earlier Russian ones (travel)
Living Dangerously by Ranulph Fiennes is good, although it is a biography, it covers the first few major expeditions as well.
If you like climbing books, then W.H.Murray wrote a couple which detail the exploits of the pre-war climbers in Scotland, climbing big winter routes in a wool jumper and with a knapsack!
Currently just started reading Psychovertical by Andy Kirkpatrick... this guy is a nutter in the finest sense!
I enjoyed Adrift in Caledonia: boat hitching for the unenlightened by Nick Thorpe
psychovertical
the gringo trail
and second the Joe simpson stuff, he can be fantastic when writing about climbing, but also fills in with a lot narcasicm and dull name dropping about the climbing scene.
Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado
In search of Captain Zero, is a fun read.
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oh and "Journey to the centre of the earth", by Nick Crane (the bloke from the first series of coast etc) which was written when he was younger.
Never ever EVER!!! books with titles like "its not about the tapas" or "flinging the fish"
more about adversity than adventure but i loved Papillon.old book but good.
Anything by Eric Newby but especially 'A short walk in the Hindu Kush' and 'Love and war in the Apennines' - real adventure in a golden age of exploration by a true hero.
Also Heinrich Harrer... the White Spider or Seven Years in Tibet..
The Call of the Wild by Guy Grieve.
Awesome book about a Scottish guy living in Edinburgh and working in advertising. Decides enough's enough and goes off to Alaska for a year. Builds log cabin and lives in it. Encounters bears, wolves, etc. Learns to drive a dog sled. Includes recipes for Beaver ribs. 😯
saw the film "into the wild" recently.that was bloody good.twas originally a book apparently.cant say if the title was the same tho..
Team on the Run - John Deering
Playgroung of the Gods - Ian Stafford
In Your Dreams - Ian Stafford
Vroom With a View - Peter Moore
Race to Dakar - Charlie Boorman
Touching the Void - Joe Simpson
saw the film "into the wild" recently.that was bloody good.twas originally a book apparently.cant say if the title was the same tho..
Same title. Book was by John Krakauer and is excellent (sitting on a shelf right in front of me in fact!).
The Jon Krakaeur book is 'Into thin air' about a disatrous Everest climb, gripping stuff. Just read 'The man who cycled the world' by Mark Beaumont, really excellent, an amazing feat covering 18,200 miles in 195 days on a bike!!
Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane is very well written, as is anything by Jon Krakauer and Sebastian Junger.
These have been my favourites over the years:
Discovery Road -by T. Garratt and A. Brown.
A Bike Ride: 12, 000 Miles Around the World - by Anne Mustoe.
Caught inside: a Surfer's Year on the California Coast - by Daniel Duane
Two Feet, Four Paws: Walking the Coastline of Britain - by Spud Talbot-Ponsonby
And how about: Five Hundred Mile Walkies: One Man and a Dog Versus the South-west Peninsular Path - by Mark Wallington
The Jon Krakaeur book is 'Into thin air'
He's written more than one book, you know! Off the top of my head:
Into Thin Air
Eiger Dreams
Into the Wild
4th one I can't remember the title of, but it's about the Mormons (and is also good reading).
I seem to remember I quite enjoyed this by Woody Harrelson: Admittedly it is a bit hippyish, but its a good account of his "Simple Organic Living (SOL) Tour” in 2001 where he and his companions rode their bikes along the coastline of the West Coast (from Seattle to Santa Barbara)
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reread Hermann Buhl's Nanga Parmat Pilgrimage on recent hol
truly inspirational tales of climbing in the alps in the 40's and 50's
Feet in the Clouds: A Story of Fell Running...
by Richard Askwith
surprisingly readable
Over The Edge: A Regular Guy's Odyssey in Extreme Sports
By M. Bane
just finished "two wheels on my wagon" by paul howard - which when combined with steve wilkinsons account "story of eight" gives a very good insight into the tour divide from different perspectives
also
Dean Karnazes "ultramarathon man" when i finished that i found my self wanting to run and run - unfortunantly im pish at it !
Charlie boormans books are good and well written , avoid the "long way" books ... ewans writing style is poor.
fiennes book is good !
Chris hoys auto biog (not the one richard thingy wrote - again his writing style is annoying) very inspirational
A Voyage for Madmen, by Peter Nichols.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voyage-Madmen-Peter-Nichols/dp/1861974655
Tell the story of the first Golden Globe race, in 1968. Fascinating characters (all bonkers) and a ripping yarn from a world which seems so far removed from our modern one with all its technological safety nets, even though it was only 42 years ago (and the year I was born!)
[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jupiters-Travels-Ted-Simon/dp/0140054103 ]Jupiters Travels - Ted Simon[/url]
In the late '70s Ted Simon rode 63,000 miles over four years through fifty-four countries in a journey that took him around the world. Through breakdowns, prison, war, revolutions, disasters and a Californian commune, he travelled into the depths of fear and reached the heights of euphoria. He met astonishing people and was treated as a spy, a welcome stranger and even a god. For Simon the trip became a journey into his own soul, and for many others - including bikers Charley Boorman and Ewan McGrergor - it provides an inspiration they will never forget.
- warning: may induce a desire to go travelling -
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I really enjoyed this one, but I heartily recommend Into The Wild as well. Great book, excellent film. Never get bored of Touching the Void
Avoid "Between a rock and a hard place" by Aron Ralston, unless you enjoy being irritated by precocious idiots
Almost forgot - look up Edward Abbey - American author - Desert Solitaire will give you a real idea of what Moab was like before real tourism.
Just to be contradictory, I find Desert Solitaire almost impossible to read, takes far too much effort and I really enjoyed Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Razzle. No further choices necessary...
In search of Captain Zero, is a fun read
+1
also for surf books try "Stealing the Wave"
but the best surf book I've ever read is "All For a Few Perfect Waves" David Renson's biography of Miki Dora which is simply superb. You may have to be a surfer or at least have an appreciation of Dora's significance, but it is a fantastic, poignant tale of one of surfing's finest...
Annapurna by Maurice Herzog - stunning account of the first 8000m summit and the devastation in its wake.
Filming the impossible by Leo Dickinson - how to film people doing this stuff.
First footsteps in East Africa by Burton - exploring in the 19th century
three very different approaches, all worth a look.
Fiennes book is fantastic, amazing life, my wife got me an autographed copy for my birthday. Pride of place on the bookcase.
Try Three men on a bike by Rory Spowers, travelling through Africa on the Goodies trandem, pretty funny, mechanical mishaps and the loss of a testicle.
oh and Pedalling to Hawaii was good too
Anyone who reads Krakauer's book about the Everest tragedy should read the late Anatoli Bourkreev's book about the same event, [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Climb-Tragic-Ambitions-Everest/dp/0330488961 ]The Climb. [/url] Krakauer has an agenda, and it's nice to get a balanced view about this awful event.
[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clear-Waters-Rising-Mountain-Across/dp/0140243321 ]Clear Waters Rising [/url] is another great book by Nicholas Crane, and despite what you may think about the ethical issues of desecration of grave sites etc, [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=detectives+on+everest&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=3119708576&ref=pd_sl_621doluziy_e ]Detectives on Everest [/url]is a great account of the 2001 expedition to find the bodies of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine.