What are you reading?

[CBinmt]

Farthest North by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen Vol 2
Rivals any of the great explorer stories. Vol 1 is pretty dull. But Vol 2 will keep you awake. Can be downloaded from Gutenberg.org. Nansen designed and built the boat the Fram that Amundsen used during his successful journey to the south pole. A truly remarkable man that deserves greater recognition in the USA.

[Gabriel]

Randy Lopez goes home by Rudolfo Anaya.

[Alpineair]

Forever on the Mountain by James M. Tabor. Excellent read and investigation of what is still the most tragic expedition in American climbing history, the 67 Denali disaster. Two guys,(Washburn and Sheldon), I had held in high esteem take a serious hit for their role in this. Seven young men died.

Running Dry by Jonathan Waterman. Another good one from Mr. Waterman about water issues in the west and his journey down the Colorado River from the source to the sea.

[justiner]

Just finished the Seven Summits, "by" Dick Bass, Frank Wells and Rick Ridgeway. I don't suggest it.




I'm *also* reading Brendan Leonard's The New American Road Trip Mixtape and you should too.

Brendan also suggested, The Only Kayak: A Journey into the Heart of Alaska by Kim Heacox, so that's in my queue.

Pouring over Dawson's Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners, Volume 2 and I like it a lot. Volume 1 must be a little more difficult to find for sale...

[12ersRule]

"The Kid - The Immortal Life of Ted Williams", an extremely thorough biography of the Splendid Splinter's life. I'm in awe of how much research the author did. He interviewed over 600 people and spent 10 years writing this book. Williams is definitely an interesting subject with a lot of unique qualities and serious glaring weaknesses, definitely his own worst enemy.

In the queue is Nate Jackson's book about his time with the Broncos.

"The Big Year" is back in some pay TV channel's heavy rotation. Still fun to watch a few minutes of here and there.

[3rdGenNative]

Since I help take high school students to camp every year I'm reading the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) Guide to Outdoor Leadership. Almost half done now. It's given me some great insights into the duties of a leader (maximize learning, maximize fun, minimize risk), leadership styles, and risk management.

Next on the list will be Tony Campolo's How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshiping Nature. I guess if I want to show kids the wonders of nature I should also show them how to take care of it.

[highpilgrim]

Salt, Sugar, Fat. http://michaelmossbooks.com/books/salt-sugar-fat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As I've gotten older, my love of hiking and climbing has gotten stronger while at the same time, I need to do more to stay fit enough to tackle the aggressive list of to dos that I have. Taking care of my fitness and health has become more important and the old adage, you are what you eat has become more apparent to me. With awareness I've learned some important lessons.

If activity and fitness are important to you, read this book and you will change the way you eat. It's not about climbing but it is about making it possible for you to climb later into your life.

[EZSide]

Stumbled upon The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition at a library closeout. I know it's in this thread in other posts.

+1.

What a story - one incredible survival adventure! It was a great read in the deep of a real winter, and knowing the general background and outcome before picking it up actually made it more enjoyable for me.

[SurfNTurf]

I read these two back-to-back, and in my opinion they're great companion pieces. Terray and Rebuffat were the pre-eminent French climbers of their day. Most of you will recognize their names from Annapurna.

Conquistadors of the Useless - Lionel Terray
The coolest part about this book is the personal perspective it gives on the mountaineering legends. Terray gives detailed descriptions of many famous people and records his interactions with them in a frank manner. Oh, and the climbs he did were badass. I'd compare this work to Bonatti's Mountains of My Life, with much more personal insight. It's not quite as cut-and-dry. Terray says near the end of the book that it was already too long and he kind of skims through his ascents in South America, which is definitely a shame. I could have easily lived with another 100 pages. Highly recommended; it's a classic.

Starlight and Storm - Gaston Rebuffat
Perhaps the greatest name for a mountaineering book of all time? This is a short, simple read with lots of flowery language. It's a welcome respite from the usual fact-and-detail based recollections of many climbing memoirs. Rebuffat is infinitely quotable and my copy is highlighted and underlined throughout. The final chapter, "The Brotherhood of the Rope," is an outdated how-to manual on climbing, but it's interesting to see the prevailing thoughts of the day first-hand.

[flatlander51]

Don't know exactly why, but several months ago I got this hankering to learn more about North Korea. This was way before Rodman and his last 2 trips over there. I think it's partly because one of my clients spent some time in northern China a while back and he had some interesting stories about China and North Korea. So I thought I would read more about North Korea, especially if I could find books that depict the REAL situation there. Well, I found 2 especially good books: " Escape From Camp 14" by Blaine Harden and "Aquariums of Pyongyang" by Kang Chol-Hwan and Pierre Rigoulot. These are written by North Koreans who have managed to escape after spending a number of years in the prison camps. Very enlightening and frightening, too. Then I read "Act of War" by Jack Cheevers that chronicles the capture and incarceration of the crew of the U.S.S. Pueblo during the LBJ years. I'll tell you all one thing, after reading these, I have a new appreciation for my life and freedoms in the good ol' US of A!!!! I won't go into any more details, but they all are fascinating reads. P.S. I just saw a book on the voyage of Magellan that sounds real good - the ultimate survival story from what I could tell.

[aLiEn]

I'm currently reading this:

Ultralight Backpackin' Tips: 153 Amazing & Inexpensive Tips for Extremely Lightweight Camping

http://www.amazon.com/Ultralight-Backpa ... 0762763841" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I dig it...an example of OCD at its finest lol!

[Hungry Jack]

I have been on a roll lately. I finished Skeletons on the Zahara (thanks to the recommendation made here), and then just completed Into Africa, which is the tale of Henry Stanley locating David Livingston in the heart of Africa.

I just started The Signal and The Noise by Nate Silver, who is a genius.