Where There's a Will: Hope, Grief and Endurance in a Cycle Race Across a Continent


Emily Chappell - 2019
    On her second attempt, she won the women's event, covering nearly 4,000 miles in 13 days and ten hours, sleeping in short bursts wherever exhaustion took her.In the aftermath of a win that troubled as much as pleased her she worked with Mike Hall, the founder of the race, until his tragic death on the road.Where There's a Will is a book about a normal person finding the capacity to do something extraordinary; the paradoxes of comradeship, competition, vulnerability and will and the shock of grief, combined in a beautifully written and very human story.

My Old Man and the Mountain: A Memoir


Leif Whittaker - 2016
    He returned home a hero. My Old Man and the Mountain is Leif Whittaker's engaging and humorous story of what it was like to "grow up Whittaker"―the youngest son of Jim Whittaker and Dianne Roberts, in an extended family of accomplished climbers. He shares glimpses of his upbringing and how the pressure to climb started early on. Readers learn of his first adventures with family in the Olympic Mountains and on Mount Rainier; his close yet at times competitive relationship with his brother Joss; his battle with a serious back injury; and his efforts to stand apart from his father's legacy. With wry honesty he depicts being a recent college grad, still living in his parents' home and trying to find a purpose in life―digging ditches, building houses, selling t-shirts to tourists―until a chance encounter leads to the opportunity to climb Everest, just like his father did. Leif heads to Nepal with all the excitement, irony, boredom, and trepidation that are part of high-altitude climbing. Well-known guides Dave Hahn and Melissa Arnot figure prominently in his story, as does "Big Jim." But Leif's story is not his father's story. It's a unique coming of age tale on the steep slopes of Everest and a climbing adventure that lights the imagination and fills an emotional human endeavor with universal meaning."Whittaker writes as he climbs mountains, with courage, grace, and a dash of humility. The result is an utterly compelling tale of a young man who bravely tackles two great challenges--one made of rock and ice and one made of doubts and fears. Its's a great read." --Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys in the Boat. "Leif Whittaker, son of the first American to summit Everest, has given us a deliciously irreverent perspective on growing up in the shadow of a famous father, and how that journey helped shape a unique perspective on one young man's own relationship with a mountain...and a dad." --Tom Hornbein, author of Everest: The West Ridge. "It might be easy to feel lost in the shadow of a father who was the first American to stand on top of Mount Everest. Leif Whittaker tells the unique story of finding his own identity--as a son, and as a climber--with humility, candor, and a wonderful sense of humor." --Brendan Leonard, author of Sixty Meters to Anywhere.

Car Camping: The Book of Desert Adventures


Mark Sundeen - 2000
    He's like Huckleberry Finn Sort of. He's a twenty-two-year-old housepainter living at his parents' house in Southern California, across a four-lane street from a gated subdivision. Now this suburban innocent is striking out on the only type of adventure he can afford: he's getting into his station wagon and going camping in the desert. Join Mark Sundeen on his rumble-tumble journey across the Southwest, and find that the mystical home of Butch Cassidy, Chief Cochise, and Major John Wesley Powell has been transformed into something entirely strange yet unexpectedly familiar. It's a new West of low-rent trailer parks and high-dollar houseboats, of hot-springs singles scenes and homeless river guides and hapless soul-searchers, for sun-beat old-timers chewing the cud of the land and survivalist teenagers hiding out form the Man. It's a place far from the America you thought you lived in, but close enough to drive to in your car. Car Camping is a modern-day western adventure in the spirit of Mark Twain and Jack London, and you're invited to come along.

The Simple Six: The Easy Way to Get in Shape and Stay in Shape for the Rest of your Life


Clinton Dobbins - 2018
    Free of all the usual filler and hype, The Simple Six is a real program, for real people, offering real results. The unique programming method found only in The Simple Six is based on the idea that repeating a small amount of work consistently can lead to great changes in the way you look, the way you feel, and the way you think about fitness and exercise.  If you're looking for a simple, straightforward way to build a strong, balanced, and capable physique, then The Simple Six is for you. The Simple Six truly is the easy way to get in shape and stay in shape for the rest of your life!

Your First Triathlon


Joe Friel - 2006
    This clear and comprehensive book prepares aspiring triathletes for the challenge of their first tri through a simple, 12-week training plan that requires fewer than 4 hours a week. By race day, you'll have the confidence and fitness to enjoy your first triathlon: swimming a half mile, riding a bike 12 miles, and running 3 miles.Your First Triathlon offers a 12-week training plan for total beginners as well as custom plans for athletes already experienced in swimming, cycling, or running. The easy-to-use plans include achievable swim, bike, run, and optional strength workouts that will slowly but surely build you into a triathlete. As you build endurance, Joe Friel's technique workouts will improve your speed and efficiency. Helpful tips will ensure you'll know how to handle problems like a flat tire, soreness, and how to navigate questions about etiquette in the pool or on a group ride or run.Joe simplifies the complexities of the swim-bike-run sport with his smart advice on gear, how to prepare a transition area, finishing a stress-free swim, and ensuring that race day goes as planned. Joe offers tips on choosing a beginner-friendly triathlon and then walks you through your entire race week covering packet pickup, knowing the course, the pre-race briefing, what to eat for breakfast, check-in and body marking, how to set up your transition area, warming up, what to do in unexpected weather, a smart race plan, and what to do after you've finished your first triathlon.Joe Friel is the coach experienced triathletes trust most. His book The Triathlete's Training Bible is the best-selling resource in the sport and now his trusted advice is available to help you enjoy your first triathlon.

The Talent Lab: How to Turn Potential into World-Beating Success


Owen Slot - 2016
    Something no other host nation had ever achieved in the next Games.In The Talent Lab, Owen Slot brings unique access to Team GB’s intelligence, sharing for the first time the incredible breakthroughs and insights they discovered that often extend way beyond sport. Using lessons from organisations as far afield as the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music, the NFL Draft, the Royal College of Surgeons and the SAS, it shows how talent can be discovered, created, shaped and sustained.Charting the success of the likes of Chris Hoy, Max Whitlock, Adam Peaty, Ed Clancy, Lizzy Yarnold, Dave Henson, Tom Daley, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katherine Grainger, the Brownlee Brothers, Helen Glover, Anthony Joshua and the women’s hockey team, The Talent Lab tells just how it was done and how any team, business or individual might learn from it.

The Looniness of the Long Distance Runner


Russell Taylor - 2001
    His journey from the treadmill in North London to the mountains of Wales to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway illuminates the meaning of the egalitarian race, the only sport where any weekend jogger can run with world-class champions. For everyone who has contemplated running the marathon or watched from the sidelines feeling an uneasy mix of envy and gratitude, this comical and inspiring account will change their understanding of the legendary race.

Shook: An Earthquake, a Legendary Mountain Guide, and Everest's Deadliest Day


Jennifer Hull - 2020
    Elite members of the climbing community have likened him to the Michael Jordan, Cal Ripkin, or Michael Phelps of the climbing world. The 2015 expedition he would lead came just one short year after the notorious Khumbu Icefall avalanche claimed the lives of sixteen Sherpas. Dave and his team--Sherpa sirdar Chhering Dorjee, assistant guide JJ Justman, base-camp manager Mark Tucker, and the eight clients who had trained for the privilege to attempt to summit with Dave Hahn--spent weeks honing the techniques that would help keep them alive through the Icefall and the Death Zone. None of this could have prepared them for the earthquake that shook Everest and all of their lives on the morning of April 25, 2015. Shook tells their story of resilience, nerve, and survival on the deadliest day on Everest.

The Last Season


Eric Blehm - 2006
    Blehm narrates this true account of the disappearance and search for Randy Morgenson, a National Park Service ranger who, one morning after 28 seasons on the job, failed to answer his radio call.The introverted Morgenson was more comfortable with the natural world than with people. A gifted photographer and a lyrical writer, he dropped out of college to begin a career that would send him into the remote parts of California's Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Passionate about the mountains, he excelled at his responsibilities, which ranged from clearing away garbage left by careless campers to rescuing injured hikers. Dedicated to keeping the wilderness undisturbed, he was proud of his ability to leave no trace of himself wherever he camped.That skill would prove costly when, at age 54, he went missing. Blehm seamlessly combines a detective story with a celebration of nature that calls to mind the works of classic American writers like Thoreau and Emerson. His gripping narrative will cause readers' hearts to ache at the disappearance of this undervalued soul. But their spirits will soar at the grandeur and mysticism of nature expertly captured in its most primal state.

Meditations on Hunting


José Ortega y Gasset - 1943
    It's the finest work on the essence and ethics of hunting. Today when both hunting and fishing are often condemned, Meditations takes on an even greater significance. Ortega points out that life is a dynamic interchange between man and his surroundings. He explains that hunting is part of man's very nature, that "hunting is a universal and impassioned sport it is the purest form of human happiness. The essence of hunting or fishing involves a complete code of ethics of the most distinguished design. The sportsman who accepts the sporting code of ethics keeps his commandments in the greatest solitude with no witnesses or audience other than the sharp peaks of the mountain, the stern oak, and the passing animal." This important book of sporting literature belongs in the library of every sportsman. This edition is bound in rich cloth, on acid-free linen paper, with a silk ribbon and a handsome slipcase. Datus Proper, author of the acclaimed iWhat the Trout Said/i and iPheasants of the Mind/i, wrote a special introduction. Eldridge Hardie, one of today's foremost sporting artists, created the full-page illustrations especially for this edition.

Nanda Devi: A Journey to the Last Sanctuary


Hugh Thomson - 2004
    But in 1934 Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman made the first of their great Himalayan expeditions by forcing a way up the river gorge. In 2000, the Sanctuary was entered for one single visit. Hugh Thomson was offered a place on this unique expedition led by Eric Shipton's son, John Shipton and the great Indian mountaineer, Colonel Kumar. This journey forms the basis of the book. Woven through it are all the amazing stories that surround the mountain—a powerful blend of myths and politics.

The Ascent


Jeff Long - 1992
    In a novel set in the majestic Himalayas, ten men and two women brave the treacherous "dark side" of Mount Everest--a high-stakes adventure that pits climbers against their own fears.

The Principles of Running: Practical Lessons from My First 100,000 Miles


Amby Burfoot - 1999
    and about life. From a key figure in the running world comes a unique little compendium of information and anecdotes about a life in motion. Champion marathoner Amby Burfoot has created a distinctive resource to help runners run better, faster, and farther. More than this, his succinct and sure-footed text will help runners rediscover and deepen their own joy in the sport. This is a celebration of running.Training, racing, nutrition, injury prevention, issues for women, weather, mental preparation, and the marathon are discussed in detail with plenty of solid information. Each chapter ends with a list of relevant principles of running. Interwoven among the facts and fundamentals are enlightening personal notes from a learned lifelong runner. The Principles of Running is much more than a simple manual. It is a book that you will not be able to put down, although you are not sure whether you are reading it for the running tips or the life lessons. It is a book that you will keep on your nightstand, tuck in your briefcase, and give to your friends. It is a book that is certain to help you hit your stride--whether your running shoes are off or on.

Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival


Norman Ollestad - 2009
    Resentful of a childhood lost to his father’s reckless and demanding adventures, young Ollestad was often paralyzed by fear. Set in Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, the book captures the earthy surf culture of Southern California; the boy’s conflicted feelings for his magnetic father; and the exhilarating tests of skill in the surf and snow that prepared young Norman to become a fearless surfer and ski champion--which ultimately saved his life.In February 1979, just as he was reaping the rewards of his training, a chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father’s girlfriend, and the pilot, crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California and was suspended at eight thousand feet, engulfed in a blizzard. Norman’s father, his coach and hero, was dead, and the 11-year old Ollestad had to descend the mountain alone and grief-stricken, through snow and ice, without any gear.Stunningly, the boy defied the elements and put his father’s passionate lessons to work. As he told the LA Times after his ordeal, “My dad told me never to give up.”

California Hiking: The Complete Guide to 1,000 of the Best Hikes in the Golden State (Moon Outdoors)


Tom Stienstra - 1994
    Including 21 new hikes and unique "best-of" lists—including Best Hikes to Waterfalls and Best Hikes to See Wildlife—Moon California Hiking leads beginner and expert hikers alike to the best trails the state has to offer. Complete with detailed regional maps, hiking tips, difficulty and quality ratings for each hike, Moon California Hiking provides hikers with all the necessary tools to head outdoors.