Showing titles in Adventurers, Explorers & Survival

Why do two continents bear Amerigo Vespucci's name instead of Columbus's, despite Columbus reaching the New World first? Stefan Zweig solved this historical mystery in his 1942 final work through archival detective work. The answer: A German cartographer named Martin Waldseemüller, working in 1507, read an account claiming Vespucci reached the mainland before Columbus. Based on this likely forged document, Waldseemüller labeled the continents "America." The name spread across Europe in thousands of copies before the error was recognized—by then, too late to correct.

Gerry was only a young girl when she was first abused by her father. His evil acts were followed by abuse from her local priest, arranged by her father. After her mother found out about the abuse, and believing there was nothing she could do to help her child, she committed suicide. After finally meeting her kind and caring husband a few years ago, and after celebrating her 60th birthday, Gerry decided it was time for her story to be told. This is her true story of survival.

Stephen Alter was raised by American missionary parents in the hill station of Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he and his wife Ameeta, now live. Their idyllic existence was brutally interrupted when four armed intruders invaded their house and viciously attacked them, leaving them for dead. The violent assault and the trauma of almost dying left him questioning assumptions he had lived by since childhood. For the first time, he encountered the face of evil and the terror of the unknown.

When world kettlebell lifting champion David Keohan heard about old tales of stone lifting, he was captivated. So he set off on a quest to see if he could rediscover any of these famous stones, and whether he could match the feats of the heroes of the past by lifting them to allow the wind beneath the stone once more. As Keohan's efforts gathered more and more attention, he came to realise that this was more than a personal challenge. Stone lifting had become a way for Irish people to reclaim their lost heritage and to come together to celebrate what made their homeland special.

Charley's passion for travel and adventure continues in his new challenge - By Any Means. Travelling from his home town in Co Wicklow all the way to Sydney, he will use any means he can to reach his destination, via transport as diverse as steam train, horse, boat, kayak, truck, and tuk-tuk. And of course his beloved motorbike!

SAS trooper and trainee pilot Jamie Hull was flying solo when his aircraft caught fire. It should have been the end of his life, but it was the beginning of his story. With flames up to his chin, he brought the plane in, climbed out and jumped from the wing. As he lay on the ground, fully conscious, waiting for the emergency services, he could smell his flesh burn. Even if he survived, what would he have left to live for? But this man is made of stern stuff. He fought back from the brink of death and created a new and profoundly meaningful life from the wreckage of his experience.

The gripping true story of how leading Israeli journalist Amir Tibon, along with his wife and their two young children, were rescued from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023 by Tibon’s own father—an incredible tale of survival that also reveals the deep tensions and systemic failures that...

This gripping true story follows a biologist's human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic to rediscover her love of birds, nature, and adventure—perfect for fans of Cheryl Strayed.​ During graduate school, as she conducted experiments on the peculiarly misshapen beaks of...

An exuberant biography of the life of the iconic photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, whose life and work captured the cultural imagination Peter Beard lived an astonishing life. The artist, wildlife photographer, and bon vivant enthralled and inspired both because of his work and his...

“An intense, immersive deep dive into a wild, dangerous, and unknown world, written with the pace and appeal of a great thriller. This is nonfiction at its very best.”—Lee Child The true story of two doomed ships and a daring search-and-rescue operation that shines a light on the elite...

Mick is the novice deckhand on a yacht, skippered by an Irishman who's off with his mistress to find a new life. Set in the 1970s, this witty, well-paced rite of passage is full of freshness, sexual impulse, and a clash of values. Long Lost Log is a voyage of discovery into what it means to be free.

Rosie is facing the ultimate ‘empty mansion syndrome’ in her 22-roomed Italian villa. With both her kids now living in different countries and the funds to finish renovations going AWOL, Rosie is starting to suspect that the Sighing House might be a tad too big for just her and hubby Ronan. To make matters worse, with Ronan’s pending criminal court case—following his encounters with a toupee rat pack and the anti-Mafia special police squad—Rosie may soon be the only resident in the house.

This is a short history of the famous old seaport of Whitby, from the ancient Celts, right up to the present-day Steampunks and Goths, who I must say have revived the town's spirit and made it an even more interesting and exciting place to explore. Whitby has many connections not just with England, but with the far corners of the world; this due to its ability to produce first-class explorers like Captain Cook and the Scoresby captains, father and son.

“A bible for badass women.”—SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR “Gripping and liberating.”—ADAM GRANT, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential and Think Again “Survivor legend and gay icon, Parvati Shallow has won my heart all over again.”—BOWEN YANG NATIONAL BESTSELLER ...

The Last Blue Mountain is the heart-rending true story of the 1957 expedition to Mount Haramosh in the Karakoram range in Pakistan. With the summit beyond reach, four young climbers are about to return to camp. Their brief pause to enjoy the view and take photographs is interrupted by an avalanche which sweeps Bernard Jillott and John Emery hundreds of feet down the mountain into a snow basin. Rae Culbert and Tony Streather risk their own lives to rescue their friends, only to become stranded alongside them.

Simon McCartney was a young British alpinist climbing many of the hardest routes in the Alps during the late seventies, but it was a chance meeting in Chamonix in 1977 with Californian "Stonemaster" Jack Roberts that would dramatically change both their lives - and almost end Simon’s...The Bond is Simon McCartney’s story of these legendary climbs.

In 1810, Matthew Flinders made his final voyage home to his beloved wife, Ann, his body ravaged by the deprivations of years of imprisonment by the French. Four years later, at the age of just 40, he would be dead – a premature, tragic end to one of the world’s greatest maritime adventurers who circumnavigated and mapped the famed Great Southern Land, and whose naming of the vast continent would become its modern title: Australia.

Brought to you by Penguin. This story began because I was dying to live. It ends with having learned how. Wise beyond her years, Shell Rowe's life took an abrupt turn when, aged 20, instead of being able to follow her dream and continue her film studies in America, she discovered a lump on her...

Reinhold Messner is one of history's greatest mountaineers, a man who pushed the frontier of what is possible for a whole generation of climbers and beyond. In his new memoir, Against the Wind, Messner looks back on a life of accomplishments and recounts some of the most important episodes after turning eighty in 2024.

'I would be most unhappy to think that any part of this memoir should be cut on grounds of 'decency', for those bits are essential....' So begins the lively true story of aristocrat and travel writer Roderic Fenwick Owen. Born in 1921, Fenwick Owen had an extraordinary life, which careered between some of the biggest moments in history and took him to the ends of the earth, meeting (and even living with) some of the 20th century's most well-known people along the way, including Eisenhower, Jackson Pollock, Christopher Lee and Sean Connery.