Adventurers, Explorers & Survival

Ultrarunner Andy Glaze has spent years moving through landscapes that test the limits of the human body—hundred-mile races, multi-day marathons, mountains and deserts that demanded everything.

THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER & ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2025 ALSO NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2025 BY NPR, VOGUE, TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, AND MORE “This is nonfiction that reads like fiction – the best kind. Elmhirst’s...

A majestic tale of discovery thatchanged many long-held views about the world In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities -- cloves, pepper, and nutmeg --...

In August of 1914, the British ship Endurance set sail for the South Atlantic. In October 1915, still half a continent away from its intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in the ice

Acclaimed actor Jeremy Renner narrates his gripping and inspiring story of a near-fatal accident and what he learned about inner strength, endurance and hope as he overcame insurmountable odds to recover, one breath at a time. This program includes a note written and read by his daughter, Ava...

When the wild strips everything away, what’s left is who you are. In the raw, untamed wilds of Alaska—where the wind howls, predators hunt, and the sun disappears for months—only a rare few figure out how to survive. Sue Aikens, the breakout star of National Geographic’s long-running TV...

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A “thrilling and superbly crafted” (The Wall Street Journal) account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook’s death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day. One of...

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Most people assume that the world has been explored and true adventure is dead: This book is one man’s rebuttal. Explorer and conservationist Paul Rosolie shares his incredible life in the Amazon rainforest—and what we can learn from the people fighting to...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day, the definitive book on Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the most momentous expedition in American history and one of the great adventure stories of all time. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson...

* Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature * Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Air Mail, Smithsonian Magazine, and Financial Times “A triumph. Fedarko doesn’t describe awe; he induces...

From the creators of the New York Times bestselling audio series Campfire Stories and MeatEater’s American History comes a new audiobook original that plunges listeners into the untamed world of a celebrated and misunderstood group of nineteenth-century outdoorsmen: the Mountain Men. Steven...

LT Dick Thompson, codename Dynamite, describes in detail that takes your breath away, brutal firefights and hand-to-hand combat against overwhelming odds. Follow Dynamite as he transitions from a Airborne Ranger Special Forces warrior into one of the most elite, tier-one special operators.

From the creators of the New York Times bestselling series Campfire Stories: Close Calls comes a new original audiobook that brings to life the bold, hair-raising, and often tragic adventures of a generation of eighteenth-century frontiersmen: the Long Hunters. Steven Rinella (The MeatEater...

A transformational journey through Italy, India, and Bali searching for pleasure and devotion—the massive bestseller from the author of The Signature of All Things This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made...

As thrilling as any novel, as taut and exciting as any adventure story, Peter Hathaway Capstick’s Death in the Long Grass takes us deep into the heart of darkness to view Africa through the eyes of one of the most renowned professional hunters.

New York Times Bestseller A victim of her mother’s Munchausen by proxy and child abuse survivor, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard’s unique and controversial case made headlines across the world. Now, she’s finally free to start living her life on her terms—and to tell her own story as only she can...

From the award-winning author of American Sirens and A Thousand Naked Strangers comes a real-life thriller about the most daring rescue in air-medical history. JULY 2014. Two American medical volunteers who joined the fight against the deadliest Ebola outbreak in world history have gotten...

In a tour de force of historical reportage, Timothy Egan’s National Book Award–winning story rescues an iconic chapter of American history from the shadows. The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since...

A Pulitzer Prize–winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, Angela’s Ashes is Frank McCourt’s masterful memoir of his childhood in Ireland—now with a new introduction by Patrick Radden Keefe. “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a...

From the #1 bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat and Facing the Mountain comes an unforgettable epic of family, tragedy, and survival on the American frontier “An ideal pairing of talent and material.… Engrossing.… A deft and ambitious storyteller.” — Mary Roach, New York Times...

Unravel one of history's greatest mysteries in this spellbinding narrative exploring three leading theories of Amelia Earhart’s tragic disappearance.

Gather around for campfire stories with the MeatEater crew as they share sixteen harrowing true tales of survival, grit, and misfortune in the great outdoors—an immersive audio experience from the host of the long-running Netflix series and top-ranked wilderness podcast. In Campfire...

Many people dream of escaping modern life, but most will never act on it. This is the remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality—not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own. A New York...

Ultrarunner Andy Glaze has spent years moving through landscapes that test the limits of the human body—hundred-mile races, multi-day marathons, mountains and deserts that demanded everything. But the toughest endurance challenge Andy faced wasn’t found in any of those miles, it was in rebuilding a life shattered by addiction, institutional abuse, and a childhood full of chaos. This is the unfiltered story of how a kid fell hard but got back up even harder.

When the wild strips everything away, what’s left is who you are. In the raw, untamed wilds of Alaska—where the wind howls, predators hunt, and the sun disappears for months—only a rare few figure out how to survive. Sue Aikens, the breakout star of National Geographic’s long-running TV...

From the award-winning author of American Sirens and A Thousand Naked Strangers comes a real-life thriller about the most daring rescue in air-medical history. JULY 2014. Two American medical volunteers who joined the fight against the deadliest Ebola outbreak in world history have gotten...

As tantilizing new evidence mounts, Hartigan and her fellow investigators descend deeper into a world of conspiracy and obsession. Through its irresistible characters and prodigious research, Lost reveals not just why we remember Amelia Earhart as a trailblazer and adventurer, but why unsolved mysteries keep us forever searching for answers.

A memoir of a child's forced relocation to Siberia under Stalin's Gulag system reveals the potential for true human kindness in the face of extraordinary hardship. In April of 1940, six-year-old Ida woke to the sound of pounding on her door. Soviet soldiers forcibly packed her and her mother onto a train with thousands of their neighbors and deported them to remote Siberia, leaving them stranded to survive the brutal winter in subhuman conditions.

In the aftermath of tragedy, Barry Hoffner wanted to feel the pulse of the world again. The whole world. When Barry Hoffner lost his wife and travel partner, Jackie, in a sudden tragedy, his grief was a black hole that consumed everything. But amid the quiet wreckage of loss, something unexpected stirred: the call to move, to reconnect, and to live fully again.

In Sacred Becoming, Maria Kang - mother, movement leader, and cancer survivor - invites listeners into a raw, radiant journey of remembering. Through illness, heartbreak, and spiritual initiation, she peels back the layers of cultural expectation, familial pain, and self-betrayal to reveal the one truth that changed everything: healing is an inside job. With poetic storytelling, lived wisdom, and unapologetic honesty, Maria shares the soul work that carried her from a Stage IV cancer diagnosis to a life of embodied purpose. This is not just a memoir... it’s a manual for awakening.

After thirty years cultivating fruits and vegetables, raising children, and teaching literature, Deborah Lee Luskin stepped out of her garden and into the forest. At sixty, it was time to age fiercely, overcome her suburban fear of getting lost in the woods and her urban reliance on street signs to know where she was. She wanted to forge her own path through the forest by following the deer. A dedicated locavore, Luskin didn’t want just to read the landscape, she also wanted to eat it.

Das Reisen ist Nina Sedanos große Leidenschaft. Ihr Leben in Frankfurt kann sie auf die Dauer nicht erfüllen und sie fasst einen mutigen Entschluss: Sie wird Geld ansparen, ihren Job aufgeben und alle 193 UN-Staaten bereisen. Voller Elan und Lebensfreude macht sie sich auf in die Ferne. Unterwegs erlebt sie Aufregendes, taucht in fremde Kulturen ein, knüpft Freundschaften, stößt manchmal an ihre Grenzen und lernt viel über das Leben, die Welt und sich selbst.

An Unlikely Prisoner recounts the experience of a physician imprisoned for 214 days on charges of alleged medical fraud. The alleged crime stemmed from genuine patient interactions spanning five years. After a court trial in late 2023, an initially deadlocked jury, on a second attempt, found the defendant guilty and sentenced him to sixteen months. With the appeal process still ongoing and likely to last longer than the sentence, he was ordered to start serving his time. An Unlikely Prisoner is the first part of a daily journal about the author’s time as an inmate in a prison camp, at a ...

From the crystalline headwaters of the Rocky Mountains to its shocking demise in a foamy, polluted pit in the Sonoran Desert, the Colorado River's story is one of both epic beauty and profound loss. In this deeply personal and visually stunning narrative, acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Pete McBride sets out to document the lifeblood of the American West. What begins as an assignment close to his childhood home transforms into a twenty-year odyssey that will change him forever.

As a 13-year-old, Rafiq Williams travelled the desolate, sometimes violent, always drug-laced streets of Philadelphia’s inner city. Those streets could easily swallow up the most stable, strong adult. As a child, he learned to navigate those streets on his own---and he buried so many secrets that could destroy him. Could he silence the overwhelming traumas he experienced? Could he ignore the panic, the anxiety, the fear? Laser-focused, Rafiq chose survival---at any cost. That dark side he knew, and the only person he could rely on was himself. Until he was accused of murder.

This memoir is a testament to surviving the many storms life has thrown my way. Through the shadows of grief and the weight of physical trauma, 1 was never alone; the faith of my family and the unwavering power of God's belief carried me through. I have seen His hand protect me when the winds were at their fiercest. 'His praise shall continually be in my mouth' (Psalm 34:1).

ICE COLD is a true story of control, survival, the cost of silence, and a mother who refused to disappear. Written with restraint and clarity, this book documents what happens when a mother is erased by narrative, a child becomes leverage, and truth is delayed—but not denied.

A hiker goes down in the rugged Cumberland Plateau. A sudden strike occurs in the remote Australian outback. A fatal encounter takes place in rural India. When the world’s most lethal predators strike, the human body becomes a battleground. This gripping collection of real-life clinical emergencies takes you to the bleeding edge of toxicology and human endurance. Featuring incredibly detailed case studies—from the devastating physiological effects of a Russell’s viper bite to the desperate scramble for African polyvalent antivenom in an American hospital—this book pulls back the ...

In the 1990s, American interest in Cuban cigars had reached historic levels—and Scott Anthony was in the middle of it. The head of an underground Cuban cigar empire, Scott was born into a world of scarce resources and few role models, where joining a street gang was easy and staying out of prison was hard.

Some stories don’t explain themselves. They stay with you. A Voice From the Road is a quiet, unsettling true account of a night spent camping in a remote canyon—a place so familiar it felt safe. Until it wasn’t. Late at night, a calm voice drifted out of the darkness, calling for help. There were no headlights. No footsteps. No sign of anyone on the road. And yet, the voice was real—heard by two men who knew the land well and knew it shouldn’t have been there.

Kidnapping : Péripéties et Révélations d'une Victime raconte l'histoire d'un journaliste enlevé à son domicile, à Port-au-Prince, Haïti, par un puissant gang. Libéré au bout de quelques jours de séquestration, l'otage partage cette amère expérience et révèle les facettes souterraines du fonctionnement de l'une des plus grandes cellules de kidnapping de la capitale haïtienne.

Why would a 57-year-old with a genetic heart condition attempt the fastest journey on foot from Cape Town to Cairo? In Running Africa, Keith Boyd tells the story of his epic run, complete with injuries, illness, being taken hostage, getting caught up in a rebel firefight, and having members of his team imprisoned.

What happens when the parachute doesn’t open? For Rex Alan Davis, a decorated Army officer, that question became a reality during a near-fatal parachute accident that left him broken, immobile, and forced into a yearlong recovery. But Free Fall is about more than a soldier’s survival—it’s about the universal moments when life rips away our safety net. Whether through divorce, betrayal, addiction, financial collapse, or unexpected loss, everyone experiences their own “free fall”—a season when the ground gives way and we’re left asking: Is there a way back?

When the sky opens and the ground vanishes, there is no time to negotiate. Nature’s most violent phenomenon strikes with the speed of a bullet and the weight of a mountain, transforming familiar landscapes into lethal corridors of debris and water. This is a visceral exploration of the terrifying physics that govern sudden rising water and the structural failures that follow. Witness the harrowing reality of these events through a minute-by-minute examination of how high-velocity currents interact with narrow canyons, failing dams, and human infrastructure. This narrative dives deep into ...

When memory shatters, can a life be rebuilt? As a child, Derry O’Leary was misdiagnosed, slipped into a coma, and survived a brain tumour—waking to a world where his past was missing. What remained were fragments of a life he could no longer fully remember, like pieces of glass scattered across the years. But even shattered glass can catch the light. In his thirties, Derry began the long journey of piecing himself back together: relearning language and relationships, rebuilding identity, and discovering what it means to begin again—not just in survival, but in hope.

All Country: Riding The Rails is an introspective travel memoir that follows the journey of Phantom, a nomadic graffiti artist who leaves behind the decaying industrial heart of Detroit to ride America's freight trains westward. Through the rhythmic clatter of steel wheels and the ever-shifting panorama of the nation's landscapes—from Rust Belt scars and Midwest prairies to snow-capped Rockies, vast Southwestern deserts, and the Pacific coast—Phantom transforms moving boxcars into rolling canvases.With spray cans in hand, he creates vibrant, ephemeral pieces: swirling wildstyle letters,...

Seven years on the road, living out of his van, The Taj Mahal Disco Fun Palace, John McManamy woke up with the sensation of an elephant crushing his chest. He just happened to be parked in the desert next to a rig with “Buddhist” on the signage. Never waste a good heart attack. A new road adventure is about to begin …“If you think you know what's going on, you have no idea what's going on.” We're in a strange new world now, where Buddha meets Oppenheimer meets brain science meets a force to be reckoned with Flower the Skunk.

Are you dreaming of a life free from utility bills, grid‑dependence, and the endless noise of modern society? Living Off‑Grid: No Glamour, Just Grit gives you a hard‑won, no‑fluff roadmap to decide whether the off‑grid lifestyle is truly right for you. Drawing from three rugged years of solo survival in the scorching Arizona desert, author Susan Ann Adams breaks down the off‑grid journey into five essential questions you must answer before you “pull the plug.” Each chapter blends raw, real‑world anecdotes with practical, step‑by‑step guidance—so you can avoid costly ...