Dangerous books

December 15, 2010 7:10 AM

Subsequent to the recommendation for High Crimes in the recent Everest thread (which I have just started listening to on my commute, and which I am enjoying greatly), I am looking for more extreme sport or other dangerous stuff writing. Writing quality is of first importance.

I read Into thin air and a bunch of less well-written Everest book. I read a recent book about finding the deepest cave, and Wave, about surfing enormous waves. I find SCUBA fascinating. I like books where scientific, technical and medical information is presented in reasonable detail. By extreme sport or other dangerous stuff I think that a lot of sea voyages would count, probably a bunch of flying stuff -- I am pretty open to different books that would scratch this same itch.

I like discussions of the economics and social contracts in the sport. I am not a big fan of biographies or autobiographies, but if the writing is really excellent I will give anything a try.

Books that were published at least a year ago (so I can get them through ILL) are better, but not needed.

posted by jeather to Writing & Language (15 answers total)

The short story "Blue" from the collection A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies is about extreme mountain climbing. I read it a few years ago and was amazed. All the rest of the stories in the book are great, too.
posted by alms at 7:27 AM on December 15, 2010

Touching the Void
posted by mkultra at 7:29 AM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey by Linda Greenlaw is about swordfishing. Her boat was in the same fleet in the same storm that inspired the book and movie "The Perfect Storm."

"Greenlaw's account of a monthlong swordfishing trip over 1,000 nautical miles out to sea, tells the story of what happens when things go right--proving, in the process, that every successful voyage is a study in narrowly averted disaster."

Also, if you're ok with fiction, you should check out Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon mystery series, which are set in US national parks and usually feature some kind of extreme activity like fighting forest fires or spelunking.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:35 AM on December 15, 2010

Sorry - I forgot to add that Barr's books are all extremely well-researched and generally stay very true to life. She is (was?) a park ranger herself and familiar with the system.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:36 AM on December 15, 2010

Best answer: Race to the Pole, about Scott's Antarctic quest, is fantastic. On that same subject, I recently read The Worst Journey in the World, which adds another layer of horror as it's by one of the men who was actually there. The beginning of that one is a bit dry but it's worth it to power through.

Also:
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
The Lost City of Z
posted by something something at 7:38 AM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I would recommend the mountaineering writings of Greg Child. He's done a lot of pretty amazing alpine-style ascents of high altitude peaks. These aren't walk-ups of crowded dog routes, these are four or five guys alone on a mountain for weeks at a time, on unclimbed routes or peaks, occasionally starving themselves or spending the night in the Death Zone with nothing but the clothes on their backs. He covers the journey to the peaks as well, dealing with porters going on strike and his team's doctor administering medicine to poverty stricken villagers.

Some of his climbs are even with mountaineering legends such as Doug Scott or Don Whillans. Others are with less-famous but equally strong/brave/intense/crazy climbers.

Real good stuff.

I'm personally not a fan of his writing (a bit overly-dramatic for me, too much nonsense about the emotional pain he puts himself through) but Mark Twight is another extreme climber who has written a great deal about the sport.
posted by bondcliff at 7:42 AM on December 15, 2010

Best answer: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - just an amazing story.

The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey - not about sports, but I think it might 'scratch the itch.' Quite a bit of scientific information.

This looks like a good list.
posted by lvanshima at 8:03 AM on December 15, 2010

Best answer: On the polar theme, also "North to the Pole" (1986) and "Crossing Antarctica" (1990?) by Will Steger. The former was the first dogsled trip to the North Pole without resupply since Peary.
posted by Melismata at 8:14 AM on December 15, 2010

It's a film, but the writing is excellent -- Deep Water.
posted by proj at 8:58 AM on December 15, 2010

Best answer: Shadow Divers, which is partly about the extreme sport of deep sea diving and partly about solving the mystery of a sunken submarine. I think you'll really the enjoy the exploration of deep sea wreck diving, which seemed to me maybe crazier and more dangerous than climbing Everest.
posted by TrarNoir at 10:26 AM on December 15, 2010

Best answer: Shadow Divers is great.

Murder in the High Himalaya
posted by cyndigo at 12:19 PM on December 15, 2010

Seconding Endurance.

Couldn't put it down.

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure it was a mefi thread that brought it to my attention.
posted by zen_spider at 3:36 PM on December 15, 2010

I came in to recommend Endurance, too. Fantastic book. Also, you might want to check out The West Ridge, an account of the first people to tackle a particularly difficult ascent on Everest. Quite well written, and a good read.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:42 PM on December 15, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks. I will see which of these my library already has and try to ILL the rest, or buy a bunch to read during the holidays. I am fine with fiction and movies, too. These look like lots of fun to read.
posted by jeather at 9:25 AM on December 16, 2010

Response by poster: Just out of curiosity, my library has several books called Endurance -- one by Alfred Lansing, one by Caroline Alexander, one (for kids, I think) by Hooper & Rovertson, and another for kids by Matt White. Which one should I look at first, or is it a different one altogether?
posted by jeather at 9:18 AM on December 22, 2010