Wild: Stories of Survival from the World's Most Dangerous Places

by Clint Willis, Albert Coia (Reading), Richard Rohan (Reading)

The wilderness -- forest, desert, glacier, jungle -- has been the scene of the past century's most exciting stories. Wild offers gripping tales for anyone fascinated by the beauty and the danger that awaits us all in the wild.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adventure, Short Stories, Survival, Nature, Travel, History

ebook

First published September 15, 1999

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really need to start reading descriptions better. This book is nothing like I thought. Wild: Stories of Survival from the World's Most Dangerous Places should be a book about surviving in dangerous places right? I expected the author to have conducted interviews with people who had survived in harsh climates and places. I was sadly mistaken. This book is nothing but an anthology of stories and excerpts from other people, and a good majority of them have nothing to do with survival or dangerous places.

There are fourteen excerpts of stories from fourteen different authors. The author, or rather compiler of these stories writes an introduction, but that's about it. These stories range from authors Jack London to Joe Kane to Edward Abbey and take place in the Amazon, Mountains, and Rivers of the world. While some do have to do with survival, the first story put me off because it was merely a description about preparing for a trip down the Amazon, but then ends before the trip really even begins. Another involves a hike on the Appalachian Trail which is neither particularly dangerous, nor an effort in survival. Some of the stories were charming to read and some of them were rather boring. There were a couple I caught myself just skimming through.

Another point of contention for me for this book was that it was found in a non-fiction section of books, but several of the excerpts are fiction. It just seems ill classified. Most of the stories I did find myself enjoying were of the non-fiction variety.

While I'm sure the author spent a lot of time putting together these excerpts and finding the perfect one's for this novel, I just can't but help but be less than satisfied. I probably will not be reading any more from this author. Next time I'll pay a little more attention to the description of a book before reading and consider it a lesson learned.

Wild
Copyright 1999
348 pages plus a few black and white photos

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and it is a collection of short stories about different explorers or people in the wild.

Places like the jungle, a river, the open ocean, the sand dunes of the Middle East, and Alaska or Canada.

This book was disappointing and not memorable.

I cannot recommend this book.

[Jrobertus]

excerpts form adventure stories and a few short stories. quite entertaining. the story of a smoke jumper, "young men and fire", was very good, and "willow" was spooky.

[Ray Savarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

another decent selection of wilderness and adventure stories.

[Johann Fourie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whole wide collection of stories. Some better than other. It may inspire you to read the novels where the stories came from.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Patrick Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

An short collection of stories of adventures in the wild. The best story is "Building a fire" by Jack London. The rest are just OK.

[Cynthia Sprout · Rating 2 out of 5]

All very old stories and none with women.

[Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excerpts from stories. I read only the first two and they both left me hanging. It’s frustrating! I doubt I will read anything else by this author.

[Ranette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories about different people traveling the world and their adventures of Peril.

[Kathleen Damkoehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I did feel like I would have more to read about each story. It seemed like I had just gotten interested in each story, and it ended.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

by Albert Coia: The big animals eat little whereas the parasites eat all, young firefighters, journeys with camels, Yukon cold, young men in fire Maclean, in trouble again O'Hanton, from Arabian sands Thesiger, the willows Blackwood, to build a fire London, from the sea and the jungle Tomlinson, a handful of dust Waugh.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about as eclectic a collection of survival stories as you are likely to find. Fiction, non-fiction, historical, paranormal, satirical, adventure, humour, suspense and horror all make appearances in the "story genre" slot. I didn't know what to make of this then, and still don't now.

[Cedrik Wild · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not really get into the book, which made it hard to finish