Hi Readers. Here's a version of the book list I printed in the newsletter of Bay Area Sea Kayakers a few months ago. Have fun, Barbara (now in Moss Beach, California) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- Good Reads I just recently read "Into Thin Air," and I'm just finishing up "The Perfect Storm." (Men against the Mountain, Men against the Sea) Do you know of any other great true life adventure stories out there? Extra points for Kayak Related. I've already read the following: Running the Amazon Heart of Darkness (ok it's not true life) Moby Dick (ditto) Gee, I've read more but I forget. What do you recommend? Barbara Kossy I collected the following reading recommendations via email from friends and the denizens of buzz_at_bask.org. Celeste Marin: i just remembered two books i read by robyn davidson. she is an australian woman who decided to walk across the outback with 3 camels. she was sponsored by national geographic so it got quite a lot of coverage at the time, which was maybe 20 years ago(?). in my view she did it partly for the adventure, partly because she didn't like people much. "tracks" is about the camel trip, starting with her idea to do it, trying to get experience working with camels, confronting sexism and other obstacles (like lack of money and equipment) and then the trip itself. "traveling light" is a collection of essays about a number of trips and experiences, including one on the camel trip, one on riding across the u.s. on (the back of) a harley davidson, and i forget what else. it's thoughtful and reflective about a lot of things, like values, solitude, society.... i think; i read it a few years ago. she has also written a book about a trip to india and traveling with a nomadic tribe (don't know the name), and i saw her give a reading of it last year, and she said that "tracks" was about success and this book is about failure. it sounded worth reading though. Roger Lamb: Barbara I'm reading Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose It's an historical adventure about Lewis and Clark's search for a water route from the east coast to the mouth of the Columbia River in 1804. Lewis was trained and commissioned for this project by Thomas Jefferson. David Dolberg: Try "ENDURANCE - Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing. It's the story of Sir Alfred Shackleton's attempt to be the first to cross the continent of Antarctica in 1915. Their ship and crew of 28 became icebound. The ship was destroyed. The story of their year-long self-rescue is incredible. Cathy Chute: Sea Kayaker's "Deep Trouble" by Matt Broze and George Gronseth Edited by Chris Cunningham. An engrossing accounts of kayak misses and near misses. "Caught Inside" by Daniel Duane local writer discusses surf, the CA coast and does mention a kayaker. Man against the Mountain genre: "Touching the Void" by Joe Simpson . My favorite mountaineering book. General: "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt. Everybody I know has read this one. "Desert Queen The Life of Gertrude Bell" Biography of an English woman who helped shaped the modern middle east, especially Iraq. (Strong woman genre). Mike Higgins: I found "Adrift, 76 days lost at Sea" by Steven Callahan fascinating. A guy sailing around the word solo has his boat sink and spends months trying to fix his leaky life raft... From the www.amazon.com review: The author, Steven Callahan , 09/02/97: Alone & adrift, I came to terms with nature and my humanity. For 2.5 months, I drifted about 2,000 miles across the Atlantic, learning to become an aquatic caveman. For many, Adrift is strictly an "adventure" survival story in which I starve and dehydrate, battle sharks and slowly adapt to the ocean wilderness in which anything that floats slowly develops an island-like ecology. While writing Adrift, I struggled to keep the pace without losing readers in sailor's jargon. However, deeper themes swim throughout the story, particularly with a school of fish that follow the raft. Although I experience a sort of living death, I am awakened to new sensitivities about my place in the universe and society, which infuses the experience with a sense of awe and wonder as much as pain and desperation. The fish, representatives of the sea's majesty and mystery, become my friends, test me and almost kill me, yet bring about my salvation. Alone, I learn to face my substantial failures, accept myself as a part of humanity, and find a balance between the rational, physical an [the author's comment mysteriously ends in the middle of a sentence] For male bravado, it's tough to beat J. Muir bragging about We're getting farther and farther from kayaking, but for an incredible woman, read "West With the Night" by Beryl Markham. This woman lead a life that was four times as exciting as any three "great white hunters" you've ever read about. Mauled by a lion as a child, hunting half naked with the natives when a teenager, killing a warthog with a spear (she had to, to save her dog from it), becoming a barnstormer in Africa and a pioneer in the early days of aviation... The title comes from her solo crossing of the Atlantic. The REALLY FUN thing about this woman is that she is mentioned in passing in a bunch of other books about the British colonial days in Africa. "Out of Africa" (made into movie) and "Shadows on the Grass" by Isak Dinesen. "The Flame Trees of Thika" and "Memories of an African Childhood" by Elspeth Joscelin Grant Huxley. I read all those books first (highly recommended) and then discovered Markham's own book. It was out of print for years and re-discovered in a Marin County used bookstore and re-published recently (that's the local angle). Reading Markhams book provided another angle on some of the same stories! So many GOOD books, so little time.... Jim Scarff: 0 points for kayak-relatedness, but SUPERB: Martin Cruz Smith, ROSE, now available in paperback (author of Gorky Park and POLAR STAR - ocean related if not kayaks). Incredibly atmospheric mystery set in a coal mine in England in 1870. William Gibson - IDORU (author of Neuromancer). Superb science fiction novel set in Tokyo. Lead character is a wonderful 14 year old girl named Chia Pet. Also in paperback. Peter Matthiessen, KILLING MR. WATSON, amazing story based on true life. Based in the Everglades around 1900. Another paperback. And I'll second Mike's praise for Adrift. The guy obviously had a spiritual trip, but he spares the reader the stuff that might be hard to relate to. John Dixon: "Ice", by Tristan Jones, he describes his attempt to sail further north than anyone ever had before. He spent several winters locked up in the ice and describes encounters with Polar Bears, Shifting Ice and other expected hazards of such a trip. Pretty impressive-this ones non-fiction...One of my favorites is Louis Lamour's "The Last Of The Breed". It's a different genre from most of his formula cowboy novels...I think you'd like it. I'd tell you more, which would certainly entice you to read it but it would spoil the ending. "Ice", by Tristan Jones, he describes his attempt to sail further north than anyone ever had before. He spent several winters locked up in the ice and describes encounters with Polar Bears, Shifting Ice and other expected hazards of such a trip. Pretty impressive-this ones non-fiction... Carol Piasente: Try Michael Crighton's (spelling may be off) "Travels." Short pieces, no kayaking, but quite a bit of dive stories. Andy Briefer: I just finished Cold Mountain. Thetas a pretty good Civil War era novel. For easy reads I recommend Paulo Coelho -" The Alchemist" or "By the River Piedro I Sat and I Wept" For very funny stories: "Naked" by David Sedaris. In the Non-fiction department we are featuring "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner. And don't forget we provide a free bookmark with every purchase! Marjorie Little: Kayaking the Vermilion Sea by Jonathan Waterman. About a man and his wife kayaking in Baja. He (Jonathan) is quite an arrogant macho asshole type, but his wife sounds terrific. She's also a much better kayaker. I found it interesting that in the author's bio on the back of the book, there is no mention of his being married or "living" with his wife wherever it is they live. So, it looks like she left him after said journey. Anyway, if you can stand him, it's not a bad read. Kabloona in the Yellow Kayak (One woman's journey through the Northwest Passage) by Victoria Jason. I haven't read it yet, but Philip Nicoll is at about page 250 and says it's pretty good. Molly Provant: A couple of good books I've read recently are the Travelers Tales series. The "A Woman's World" has some good adventure stories from around the world. The other books in the series are all specific to certain countries. Leigh Moorehouse: Into the Wild by Krakauer Albatross Tania Ebi's book about sailing around the world. Penny Wells: Have you tried the Patrick O'Brian series? Go to the library and get volume 1 and try it out. You'll either not care for it at all or you'll become addicted, in which case, you'll be thrilled to know there are 19 volumes all together. It will keep you reading on BART for about a year. I just finished number 19. Whew, and am looking forward to getting a life again. Joe Toback: What about The Starship and the Canoe by Kenneth Brower, Savages by Joe Kane, Motoring with Mohammed and A Stranger in the Forest by Eric Hansen -- all great books in my opinion. Sally Walters: Arctic Dreams, by Barry Lopez. It does at least have the word kayak in several places. It is a thick book! Don't be put off by the 415pp. with an additional number of pages for an annotated bibliography and thorough index. A good read, and you can easily take it one chapter at a time. The author looks at the Arctic from many angles, from the eskimo to the solitary and strange oil drillers, and of course lots of science and natural science. One of my favorites was on polar bears. It is well referenced, I found myself looking up and rereading certain sections. It took me a long time to read because it wasn't gripping just really well written, easy to read and very interesting. You'll want to keep it around for a reference book. Sally Dave Cone: Many of y'all have already read "Shooting the Boh" by Tracy Johnston. It's got near-drownings, creepy insects, crazy people, local angle, and feminine perspective. For male bravado, it's tough to beat J. Muir bragging about surfing avalanches, climbing frozen waterfalls, etc. He did some stupid stuff, but he did it without goretex or corporate sponsors. Joe Petolino: On the subject of travel books, one travel writer who's also a sea kayaker is Paul Theroux. Unfortunately, the book he wrote about traveling by sea kayak ('The Happy Isles of Oceania') isn't one of my favorites. Mary-Marcia's advice about avoiding books written when the author is going through a divorce seems to apply here. A better bet is his classic railroad travel book 'The Great Railway Bazaar'. For those times when you just can't commit to reading an entire book at once, try Tim Cahill's 'Jaguars Ripped my Flesh', a collection of adventure travel essays reprinted from Outside magazine. I don't recall if there were any sea kayak stories in there, but there were some ocean adventures. Another excellent outdoor essay collection is 'Desert Solitaire' by Edward Abbey. The only boating connection in this one is a story about running Glen Canyon in a K-Mart raft just before it was flooded by Lake Powell. Ken Manshardt: Barb, I second John's recommendation of "Ice". Totally gnarly is my comment about that book. Tristan Jones has a bunch of other books as well. Another great adventure book is about him trying to sail/motor a small boat all the way up the Amazon, to the headwaters of Lake Titty Caca. I'm just finishing up a great pair of books about paddling Hudson Bay & the Northwest Passage. The first is called "Paddle to the Arctic by Don Starkel (sp?). The second is "Kabloona in a Yellow Kayak" by Victoria Jackson. They did this incredible trip together, (at least part of it together), with lots of fighting & yelling thrown in. Don is an anal, over-driven, goal seeking, masochist with severe testosterone poisoning. Victoria seems much more level headed. She's always stopping to smell the roses. Well, they each wrote a book about it. Check it out. I'll lend them to ya, or anyone else. Here is another great book that I read about 10 long years ago. "Kayaks to the Arctic", by Nickerson. It is about a family that paddled down the whole McKenzie River in Kleppers about 1965. They spent the whole summer paddling from the Great Slave Lake to Inuvik (sp?), on the Arctic Ocean. I have the book if anyone wants to borrow it. In fact, I found an extra copy in an old book store once. I bought it to donate to the BASK library. Just haven't donated it yet. It is a real well written book about their trip down the river and all the people & adventures that they came upon. Plus lots of pictures. Ric Miller: I think it's spelled "Titicaca", although I catch your drift. I have read most of Tristan Jone's books. He spoke around here a couple of years ago (I think) although I wasn't able to get in to hear him. I wonder if he's still around. Rob Gendreau: If you liked previous suggestions Endurance by Lansing and Into Thin Air by Krakauer, then I have a few more related suggestions. On the Antarctic: Shackleton, and Amundsen and Scott, by Roland Huntford. Excellent biogs of these great explorers. The Endurance is the greatest outdoor survival story ever. A classic. On mountaineering: Anatoli Boukreev's book Climb, a kind of answer to Krakauer's book, made more interesting, unfortunately, by Boukreev's tragic death a month ago. Also, The Endless Knot, by Kurt Diemberger, about K2 in 1986 when several people died on that peak. More introspective than most mountaineering books. Mountaineering seems to inspire far more writing, especially good writing, than any other sport. So even though it's not kayaking, the books are a good bet for any adventure-loving boater. I'd especially recommend Deborah, and the Mountain of my Fear by David Roberts. His writing strongly influenced Krakauer. Actually, ANYTHING by Roberts is good. Some kayaking books: Kayaking the Full Moon by Steve Chapple, about a paddle down the Yellowstone; Where Rivers Run by Gary & Joanie McGuffin, about canoeing across Canada via the voyageur routes; Commitment and Open Crossings by Bill Taylor, about the first kayak circumnavigation of Britain and Ireland. None of these is great lit, but they are about paddling. Finally, Oceanography and Seamanship by William Van Dorn. Source of much of the info for The Perfect Storm. Very technical in parts, but readable and informative on everything from edible fish to big waves. A great reference for any sea boater. For the best selection of adventure literature, try Chessler Books at 800-654-8502. They've got just about every mountain book ever written, guide books, polar books, maps, and lots of paddling books. They also stock signed books, rare books, and first editions. * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- * --*--*-- Barbara Kossy Communications PO Box 434 Moss Beach, California, 94038 tel. 650-728-8720 fax 650-728-8753 * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- * -- *--* -- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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