Living Dangerously

by Ranulph Fiennes

Brought up in South Africa, he never knew his father, who had died in the Italian Campaign the year before he was born. Ranulph followed his father's path into the Royal Scots Greys. After that came the SAS, from which he was dismissed for blowing up an American film set at the idyllic Cotswold village of Castle Combs, then two vicious years as a volunteer fighting communist insurgents in Oman. Then began the series of expeditions for which Fiennes is best known and which caused The Guinness Book of Records to hail him in 1984 as 'the world's greatest living explorer.' Up the White Nile in a hovercraft, parachuting onto Europe's highest glacier, forcing his way up 4,000 miles of terrifying rivers in northern Canada and Alaska, overland to the North Pole and to the ends of the earth, across the world's axis-the Transglobe Expedition-which took ten years from conception to completion. He writes here too about his attempt to reach the North Pole without dogs or motorised equipment, beating the world record by 300 miles, his determination to find the lost city of Urbar in the Arabian desert and, finally, his extraordinary journey across the Antarctic Continent via the South Pole. Living Dangerously is a remarkable testament from a remarkable man.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Biography

452 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 1988

About the author

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE, better known as Ranulph (Ran) Fiennes, is a British adventurer and holder of several endurance records.

Fiennes has written books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists. In May 2009, aged 65, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest. According to the Guinness Book of World Records he is the world's greatest living adventurer.

Reviews

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Living Dangerously” by Ranulph Fiennes (read 8/16/20)

Recommended to me by Alastair Humphreys, a British adventurer whose books I enjoy, this is a classic biography from legendary 70’s and 80’s explorer. It isn’t something I normally would have read. Indeed, it isn’t something I would have ever even heard of, had it not been for the chance mention in a Humphrey blog post, but I am glad I did. Fiennes was, among other things, the first man to circumnavigate the Earth vertically, through both poles, without use of aircraft. This sounds somewhat trivial until you realize that at the time he did it, few people had ever crossed the relatively tame Antarctica, let alone the Arctic. His tales of that journey are among the book’s best and most gripping. His early life is the most boring segment, but even that was shocking at times. Especially his descriptions of how he dodged continual rape attempts at his all boy’s Eaton school, as well as his later service in the SAS against communists in Dofar. This biography rarely suffers from the inanity of its source material. Further there is no philosophizing about the meaning of life or any grand picture musings of that sort. It is just adventure after adventure. That may not be to everyone’s taste, but it was to mine. 8/10

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

After 150 pages, I'm sorry to say, this book is soooooo boring. I'm sure Fiennes has an interesting life and the stories he tells are well worth listening to, but the way they are written is terrible (sorry!). I had to really force myself to pay attention to what the author was talking about because the stories he tells are a bit all over the shop.

I gave this a go and I'm still excited to see his presentation later this year in Sydney, but this book is just too boring for me and hard to read.

[Emily Hume · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one obtained from the closing down second hand bookshop. Not my normal kind of read, a bit boring at times (I internally cheered when he finally left Oman), but Ran Fiennes has certainly lived a colourful life.

[Anthea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The man is quite mad. Crazy exploits from an adrenaline junkie old school baronet. Fascinating book though slightly plodding writing. 3.5 stars.

[Stephen Litt · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a life and an adventure this fella had,really enjoyed the book from start to finish.

[kunkku · Rating 5 out of 5]

unbelievable...

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amazing life story, yet reading becomes quite tedious during some extremely slow parts.