Wilderness Survival Books discussion

Tell us about some great reads. Anything, anywhere. Up north freezing cold (that's pretty relevant here in the U.S. right now). Or maybe some deserted island in the south Pacific.

The Mountain of my Fear and Deborah by David Roberts. These books are both engaging accounts of danger, camaraderie, and loss as well as deep explorations of the psychology of climbers. I love Robert's honesty about the drudgery and suffering involved in mountain climbing. In a world dominated by images of extreme athletes in their peak moments, I believe that the public, kids and teens in particular, need to learn that outdoor recreation is not a video game.

Favorite Quotes from Mountain of My Fear:

"But what sort of relationship is possible between a man and a mountain? if any, an obviously one-sided one; and if the mountain only mirrors the man, if the route he chooses is not made out of rock, snow, and ice so much as out of some tortured translation of his ego, then that clean love he can feel toward his objective would become a barren narcissism."

"A man's best moments seem to go by before he notices them; and he spends a large part of his life reaching back for them, like a runner for a baton that will never come."

That's a great point about teens.
The books sound intriguing. I particularly enjoyed the second quote. I'll have to add the books to our group bookshelf.

"Dead Mountain: The Untold Story Of The Dyaltov Pass Incident" by Donnie Eichar

An interesting study in how things can go horribly wrong.

That looks fascinating, J. Excellent recommendation. I'll add it to the group's bookshelf (and my own To Read list).

As a newbie-groupie, is the group's bookshelf a good place to add good wilderness survival books that we would recommend to others? Or is the group bookshelf a place to keep track of any books we read together, like a book club?

Kris wrote: "As a newbie-groupie, is the group's bookshelf a good place to add good wilderness survival books that we would recommend to others? Or is the group bookshelf a place to keep track of any books we ..."
Hi Kris. I'd say both. I'm sure lots of us would like to know of any recommendations. I've posted a few recommendations to the bookshelf and would welcome more.

If anyone would like to take on trying to get a book club together, that would be great. We could do Book of the Month and all that.