Extreme Outdoor Adventures: Who Survives And Why

by Larry Mueller, Marguerite Reiss

Incredible but True Stories of Confronting Death and Emerging Victorious

The rock climber who cut off his own arm with a penknife. The hiker who fought off a mountain lion. Passengers who survive the crash of a bush plane in Alaska. We read headlines we sometimes find hard to believe, yet there are on record dozens of such events. Here is a collection of tales from everyday people who faced terrible odds, accidents, extreme weather, wild animals, or severe injury, many describing how they entered another state of consciousness – an “adrenaline high” – to get away alive. Forget reality TV – this is real entertainment for the survival-story fanatic.

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

Reviews

[Anthony Dittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response
I liked this book because it taught me a little bit about surviving in the outdoors. It taught me how to get out of a few situations that I hope never to be in. I also liked this book because it talked about the outdoors which is what I like.

Plot
This book was a bunch of short stories that all had something to do with the outdoors. All of the stories had a problem in the outdoors and people had to fix the problem before it happened to more people. Some of the stories were about hunting accidents. Others were about outdoor jobs like logging or truck driving in the mountains.

Characterizations
I remember this one character in the beginning of the book that had to cut off his own leg with a pocket knife because his leg was stuck under a log. This one dog that was a mountain lion hunter was named Brave he was a great hunter .

Recommendation
I would recommend this book to males about 10 and above that like the outdoors and is interested into the outdoors. They will like this book because it is based on true stories.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this book. I love survival stories and I love outdoor stories. This book is supposed to be a compilation of stories about why people survived. Sadly, it failed in this aspect. Many of the people that survived in the stories survived simply because of luck. Many of the stories don't even focus on the survival. They focus on tracking down cougars or random after stories. Almost all of the stories take place in Alaska and there is very little variety. I got the feeling that the authors were simply sharing anecdotes from friends they know. The quality of writing was poor which was distracting. The redeeming qualities were that many of the stories were interesting and there were a few that actually fulfilled the stated intent of the book.

[Anne Cicero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the author's daughter, and my father dictated this and his Bear Adventures of the Century to me as I typed. Another commenter disparaged this book saying the people my dad wrote about would have survived anyway. Apparently the person posting their opinion, did not read the book. They are all true stories - my father was meticulous in getting the facts, and never wrote fiction. One man and his daughter featured on the now out-of-production show, In An Instant, credited reading my Dad's book the night before his hike with his daughter, to his survival. They hiked in Glacier National Park in Alaska. The true stories are riveting; I do not recommend reading before bed! You can still see the show on the internet, this is a clip. https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/vide...

[Erin Stokes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the beginning of this book in which the author describes how people who survive circumstances that should have resulted in death have a different mindset and just won't give up. The stories were very interesting, too, but the writing was too informational and not narrative enough for me. Hard to get through.