Zek: An American Prison Story


Arthur Longworth - 2016
    Zek lays bare the brutality of life spent behind bars. It is naked. It is ugly. And it is beautiful.Arthur Longworth was born in Tacoma, Washington, was state-raised, and entered prison at the age of 21 with a seventh-grade education. He has written for the Marshall Project, Vice News, and Yes Magazine, and is the recipient of three National PEN awards. Completed in 2005, Zek utilizes the literary structure of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to tell the story of a day in the life of a prisoner in the United States. It is likely Arthur Longworth’s most widely read work, as it has been passed among prisoners and prison guards for over a decade. Zek is available now for the first time on the outside.

Wild Mama: One Woman's Quest to Live Her Best Life, Escape Traditional Parenthood, and Travel the World


Carrie Visintainer - 2015
    World travel? Adios. Solo explorations in the mountains? Ciao. Creative outlets? She wondered, are diapers my new white canvas? Immersed in a whirlwind of sleeplessness and spit-up, she was madly in love with her new baby, yet also felt her adventurous spirit and core identity crumbling.So Carrie laced up her boots and set out on a soul-searching journey, with revelations near and far. Inside a local Walmart, she realized that new motherhood is like traveling to a foreign country, with a new vocabulary, unknowable customs, and extreme jetlag. Lying in a yurt in the Colorado forest, she came to terms with her postpartum depression. While sailing on a gulet off the coast of Turkey, she examined feelings of guilt about leaving her child in pursuit of adventure. And then, while perched in a handsome stranger’s motorcycle sidecar in the Mexican jungle, she found herself face-to-face with her central quandary: Domesticity vs. Wanderlust.Finally, she discovered she could—and should—have both.

Death in a Lonely Land: More Hunting, Fishing, and Shooting on Five Continents


Peter Hathaway Capstick - 1990
    The articles showcase a literary style that prompted Kirkus Reviews to say of Last Horizons, "No one since Hemingway (with the possible exception of Ruark) has written on these subjects with such literary gusto."The stockbroker-turned-outdoorsman recalls his days as an African pro hunter in "The Killer Baboons of Vlackfontein." "Four Fangs in a Treetop" records a foray into British Honduras for the jaguar, "a gold-dappled teardrop of motion." Capstick narrowly escapes the Yellow Beard, Central America's deadly tree-climbing snake, and cows "The Black Death (Cape buffalo) in the kind of article that makes this author "the guru of American hunting fans" (New York Newsday). On Brazil's forsaken Marajo Island, he bags the pugnacious red buffalo, which has the "temperament of a constipated Sumo wrestler and the tenacity of an IRS man."The author discusses 12- and 20-gauge shotgun loads; recalls the pleasures of "biltong" (African beef jerky); describes the irresistible homemade lures of snook fishing expert John Gorbatch; and kills a genteel take of Atlantic salmon with the brilliantly simple tube fly.Over thirty gorgeous drawings by famous wildlife artist Dino Paravano make this volume yet another collector's item by a writer who "keeps the tradition of great safari adventure alive in each of his books" (African Expedition Gazette).Peter Capstick's eight prior titles include The Last Ivory Hunter (SMP, 1988); Peter Capstick's Africa (SMP, 1987); and Death in the Long Grass (SMP, 1978).

The Fly-Tying Bible: 100 Deadly Trout and Salmon Flies in Step-By-Step Photographs


Peter Gathercole - 2003
    Fly-tying is a highly prized fisherman's craft, but it's also an art form, wonderfully captured in this volume's hundreds of color photos. Each of 100 fly patterns is presented in a two-page spread: an enlarged photo and textual description on the left-hand page, complemented with a set of step-by-step, clearly captioned photos on the facing page. In addition, fishing enthusiasts will find sections on fly-tying tools and materials plus general instructions for getting started. The author, a well-known fly-tier and sport fisherman gives instructions on making traditional trout and salmon flies--all of them fish catchers of proven effectiveness in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Examples vary in complexity, with patterns to fit every skill level from novice to expert fly-tier. Here are dry flies, nymphs and bugs, wet flies, streamers, and hairwings--a virtually complete selection of traditional and up-to-date examples of the art. The book's hidden spiral binding keeps its pages opened flat, which makes it ideal for reference at the workbench. More than 600 color photos.

The Everything Running Book: From circling the block to completing a marathon, training and techniques to make you a better runner


Art Liberman - 2002
    No matter your fitness level, you too can enjoy the benefits of this sport! With this book, you'll gain the knowledge and tools you need to run a 10K, a marathon, or just a lap around the block!The new edition includes:Cutting-edge information on hugely influential trends in natural running, including ChiRunning, barefoot running, and cross-training with yoga and meditationInformation on how to select the right gear and manage your nutrition, including details on new diets favored by endurance athletesA dedicated section on running for women, including specific nutritional and physical concernsWhether you're a beginner or a seasoned veteran, this book has everything you need to maximize your running potential--from start to finish!

Paddle to the Arctic: The Incredible Story of a Kayak Quest Across the Roof of the World


Don Starkell - 1995
    Paddle to the Arctic is Don's diary of his journey from Churchill, Manitoba, north and then west all the way to Tuktoyaktuk, close to Alaska. The voyage took him three Arctic summers. Each attempt almost cost him his life. The first year, aged fifty-seven and "very scared," Don paddled north through the thawing ice-fields. How he survived a spill in frigid waters miles from shore before fighting his way home is in itself an incredible story. On his return to Churchill he was greeted by a local with the words "I was hoping you wouldn't make it back." Why? "If guys like you are successful, it will encourage others to try, and the whole west shore of Hudson Bay will be piled deep with bodies." Undeterred, Don tried again the next year with two companions. Fred soon gave up, but Victoria gamely survived their jousts with polar bears, walrus, and other hazards all the way to Repulse Bay. (For most readers, one of the book's pleasures is learning the geography of the North as Don visits each community in turn.). The third year was the big test. Dragging their sleds across the peninsulas proved to be too tough, and snowmobiles had to be used to get to Spence Bay. Then it was straight across the frozen sea, hauling their kayaks on sleds. Although Victoria had to give up ("My God, he'll kill us both," she told a Winnipeg paper), Don kept on, not seeing another human being for weeks, and risking his life as he waded across the thawing ice ("Fell through the ice up to my neck at least ten times yesterday ..."). At Cambridge Bay he abandoned the sled and threaded his way through the breaking ice by kayak, out into open water. There he confronted storms, giant Arctic seas, and ("August 19 - snow!") the growing threat of freeze-up. The variety of Don's adventures will astonish every reader. "So far on my voyage," he writes, "I have seen polar bear, grizzly, caribou, reindeer, mu

Sailing Made Easy


The American Sailing Asa - 2010
    Incorporated in the textbook are useful illustrations and exceptional photographs of complex sailing concepts. There are also quizzes at the end of each chapter, and a glossary to help those new to sailing to navigate their way through the extensive nautical terminology.

Son of a Midnight Land: A Memoir in Stories


Atz Kilcher - 2018
    He also learned how to lie in order to please his often volatile father and put himself in harm's way to protect his mother and younger, weaker members of the family. Much later in life, as Atz began to reflect on his upbringing, seek to understand his father, and heal his emotional scars, he discovered that the work of pioneering the frontier of the soul is an infinitely more difficult task than any of the back-breaking chores he performed on his family's homestead. Learning to use new tools--honesty, vulnerability, forgiveness, acceptance--and building upon the good helped him heal and learn to embrace the value of resilience. This revised perspective has enabled him to tell an enhanced and more positive version of the legacy his father created and has him doing the most rewarding work of his life: mapping his own inner wilderness while drawing closer to his adult children, the next stewards of the land he helped his father carve out of the Alaskan frontier.

Mr. Shmooze: The Art and Science of Selling Through Relationships


Richard Abraham - 2002
    Shmooze: The Art and Science of Selling Through Relationships presents a composite character of the most successful and gregarious salespeople in America. This character, Mr. Shmooze, demonstrates how to turbocharge sales results by maximizing relationship-selling strategies.

The Trail Runner's Companion: A Step-by-Step Guide to Trail Running and Racing, from 5Ks to Ultras


Sarah Lavender Smith - 2017
    

Orvis Fly-Fishing Guide, Completely Revised and Updated with Over 400 New Color Photos and Illustrations


Tom Rosenbauer - 2007
    A best-selling, fully illustrated, and comprehensive book, this large-format volume has been required reading for every angler for the past two decades. Included here are instructions for tackle selection; casting and presentation; flies and their specific uses; successful techniques on stream, pond, or ocean; and the select tackle, flies, and methods for pursuing every major gamefish in fresh and salt water, from bass to bonefish, tarpon to trout.

Race Across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story


Libby Riddles - 1987
    At the age of 16 she left home for the snowy frontiers of Alaska, the Last Frontier. There her love of animals drew her to the sport of sled dog racing. When she entered the Iditarod, the famous marathon from Anchorage to Nome, she was just another Iditarod Nobody. Twelve hundred miles later, having conquered blizzards, extreme cold, and exhaustion, she and her dogs crossed the final stretch of sea ice, miles ahead of the nearest competitor... and suddenly she realised: I will be the first woman to win the Iditarod. This is the story of a courageous woman and her heroic dogs. This is the story of Libby Riddles's adventure.

The Bean Patch: A Memoir


Shirley Painter - 2002
    How school and later university became her escape route from a family filled with secrets and violence. It is also a story of how, as a mature woman and a mother herself, she came to face what had happened to her as a child. How she had to bring long-buried memories into the light in order to move on.

Adventures of a Mountain Man: The Narrative of Zenas Leonard


Zenas Leonard - 1839
     One misfortune after another happening to the company, he was deprived of all in the fall of 1835—after an absence of 5 years and 6 months. Written in response to popular demand, Leonard's account of these years, based in large part on ‘a minute journal of every incident that occurred,’ is recognized as one of the fundamental sources on the exploration of the American West. A free trapper until the summer of 1833, when he entered the employ of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, Leonard was part of the group sent under command of Captain Joseph Walker to explore the Great Salt Lake region—an expedition that resulted in Walker's finding the overland route to California. The Narrative ends in August 1835, with Leonard's return to Independence. Zenas Leonard (March 19, 1809 – July 14, 1857) was an American mountain man, explorer and trader, best known for his journal Narrative of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard.Leonard worked for his uncle in Pittsburgh before moving to St. Louis and working as a clerk for the fur company, Gannt and Blackwell. In 1831 he went with Gant and Blackwell's company of about 70 men on a trapping and trading expedition. Living off the land (Leonard reported that "The flesh of the Buffaloe is the wholesomest and most palatable of meat kind"), Leonard and his associates endured great privation while amassing a fortune in furs; the horses died in the harsh winter and the party was at times near starvation. They survived, in part, by trading with Native Americans. Among the more helpful tribal members he reported encountering was a negro who claimed to have been on Lewis & Clark's expedition, and who may have been the explorer-slave York. In 1835 Leonard returned to Independence, Missouri with enough wealth in furs to establish a store and trading post at Fort Osage. He continued to trade along the river for the rest of his life. Leonard's journal was published in book form by D.W. Moore of Clearfield, Pennsylvania in 1839, after being serialized in the Clearfield Republican. It includes many details of the different tribes with which his parties interacted. As it is in the public domain, there are numerous reprints.

Eye of the Tiger: Memoir of a United States Marine, Third Force Recon Company, Vietnam


John Edmund Delezen - 2003
    John Edmund Delezen felt a kinship with the people he was instructed to kill in Vietnam; they were all at the mercy of the land. His memoir begins when he enlisted in the Marine Corps and was sent to Vietnam in March of 1967. He volunteered for the Third Force Recon Company, whose job it was to locate and infiltrate enemy lines undetected and map their locations and learn details of their status. The duty was often painful both physically and mentally. He was stricken with malaria in November of 1967, wounded by a grenade in February of 1968 and hit by a bullet later that summer. He remained in Vietnam until December, 1968. Delezen writes of Vietnam as a man humbled by a mysterious country and horrified by acts of brutality. The land was his enemy as much as the Vietnamese soldiers. He vividly describes the three-canopy jungle with birds and monkeys overhead that could be heard but not seen, venomous snakes hiding in trees and relentless bugs that fed on men. He recalls stumbling onto a pit of rotting Vietnamese bodies left behind by American forces, and days when fierce hunger made a bag of plasma seem like an enticing meal. He writes of his fallen comrades and the images of war that still pervade his dreams. This book contains many photographs of American Marines and Vietnam as well as three maps.