Outdoors Memoirs

Through the seventies and into the mid-eighties, a cohort of young climbers challenged the siege mentality of their seniors on high mountains in the Greater Ranges with fast moving, lightweight expeditions run on a shoestring. Brian Hall was one of them and, in High Risk, he describes their daring adventures and the counterculture they lived within, their rivalries and relationships, and the terrible price many of them paid.

Ray Lewis, legendary Baltimore Ravens linebacker and one of the greatest defensive players of his generation, holds nothing back on the state of football as well as his troubled childhood, his rise to athletic greatness, the storm that threatened to ruin his NFL career, and the devastating injury that nearly cost him a final moment of glory.

In between Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan there was Joe Namath, one of the very few sports heroes who transcended their game. The son of a Hungarian immigrant, Namath left the steel country of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for the Deep South, where he played quarterback for Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama. Almost four years later, he signed a $427,000 contract with the New York Jets that changed football forever, transforming a crude, violent game into show business.

Both Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are undeniable kings of college football, two coaches at Alabama who have each won more national championships - six apiece - than anyone else in the history of the game. Chasing the Bear examines how they did it, revealing along the way their similarities in style, background, football philosophy, and recruiting methods, while providing listeners a rare inside look at two of the greatest leaders in the history of sports.

Agassi’s incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of thirteen, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker.

Superman. Diesel. The Big Aristotle. Shaq Fu. The Big Daddy. The Big Shaqtus. Wilt Chamberneezy. The Real Deal. The Big Shamrock. Shaq....From growing up in difficult circumstances and getting cut from his high-school basketball team to his larger-than-life basketball career, Shaquille O'Neal lays it all out in Shaq Uncut: My Story.

Millions of us increasingly seek happiness in fads and self-help books, reaching upward every day toward some enlightened state that we wish to attain. Surfing icon Laird Hamilton is more intent on looking inward and appreciating the brilliant creatures we already are. In Liferider, Laird uses five key pillars - Death & Fear, Heart, Body, Soul, and Everything Is Connected - to illustrate his unique worldview and life practices. This is Laird Hamilton in his own words - raw, honest, and unvarnished - on topics he has rarely explored before.

What does it mean to explore and confront the unknown? Beyond the Trees recounts Adam Shoalts's epic, never-before-attempted solo crossing of Canada's mainland Arctic in a single season. It's also a multilayered story that weaves the narrative of Shoalts's journey into accounts of other adventurers, explorers, First Nations, fur traders, dreamers, eccentrics, and bush pilots to create an unforgettable tale of adventure and exploration.

Nationally recognized and award-winning humor writer Jim Mize shares his insights from forty years of writing humor. In addition to discussing techniques, Mize credits his original sources so readers can view the materials that first inspired him. Readers will also be entertained with examples from his writing and see firsthand how Mize put these skills to work in his stories. Topics covered include joke writing, humor formats, misdirection, tension, timing, workshops, finding markets, and more. Of course, along the way, quite a few humorous things happened and these stories are shared as ...

Edmund Hillary - A Biography is the story of the New Zealand beekeeper who climbed Mount Everest. A man, who against expedition orders, drove his tractor to the South Pole; a man honored around the world for his pioneering climbs, yet who collapsed on more than one occasion on a mountain, and a man who gave so much to Nepal yet lost his family to its mountains.

With his body-covering tattoos and ever-changing fluorescent hair, Dennis Rodman—one of the NBA's greatest rebounders—dishes on everything from fame, money, and race relations to sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Rodman's sideline antics and celebrated benchings captivated sports fans as much as his record-breaking on-court performances and earned him a reputation as a rebel with a penchant for shocking behavior. In Bad as I Wanna Be, Rodman tells his unique, uncompromising life story, demonstrating why he is one of a kind and unforgettable.

In you are fan of action—adventure movies with the accent on action—then you no doubt love watching Jackie Chan risk his life to create sensational cinema. As one of the biggest stars to burst into U.S. theaters, Jackie has put America's hottest heroes to shame, wowing audiences with the breathless death-defying stunts that are the highlight of such movies as Rumble in the Bronx, Supercop, Operation: Condor, and his newest blockbuster Rush Hour. But who really is the boyishly handsome, lightening-fast Charlie Chaplin of martial arts movie making?

How does a lower middle class kid, who suffered through school with undiagnosed dyslexia, get into Notre Dame and become the inspiration for millions in a Hollywood film that has become one of the most inspiring sport movies ever made? He never gave up. For the first time, read Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger's real life story and learn the behind-the-scenes details of the ten years it took to make the movie and how that tossed him into a new career of public speaking that continues on stages today alongside world-class leaders and speakers.

A memoir of more than three decades of fishing trips, The Mud Daddy Chronicles follows three journalists and several of their friends through the seasons of their lives. Mysterious omens over the years reveal that a supernatural current courses through these annual weekend quests for fish. Three young men with dreams and goals become gray-haired guys with grit and guts. These stolen weekends of revisited boyhood antics pile up year after year until the years and trips blend one into the other and the years turn into decades. All soon realize that both a spiritual dimension and environmental...

One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley. This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.

Through most of the Roaring '20s, Jack Dempsey was the heavyweight champion of the world. With his fierce good looks and matchless dedication to the kill, he was a fighter perfectly suited to his time. In A Flame of Pure Fire, renowned sports writer Roger Kahn not only chronicles the thrilling, brutal bouts of the Manassa Mauler, but also illustrates how the tumultuous 1920s shaped Dempsey - and how the champ, in turn, left an indelible mark on sports and American history.

The Boxing Kings tells the story of the heavyweight title in the days when it was a defining institution in the United States. Author Paul Beston places special emphasis on those champions who held a central place in American culture beyond just in the boxing ring, including John L. Sullivan, who made the title a commercial property; Jack Johnson, who in 1908 became the first black man to claim the title; Joe Louis, whose contributions to racial tolerance and social progress transcended even his greatness in the ring; and many more.

Dean Karnazes has run 350 continuous miles through three sleepless nights, ordered pizza during long runs, and inspired fans the world over with his adventures. Now in this heart-pounding book, Dean reveals how he pulled off unfathomable feats with a determination that defied all physical limitations. But Dean goes beyond the story of the Endurance 50 marathons to share his invaluable secrets and advice for athletes of all levels.

In this sports memoir, Wayne Gretzky weaves memories of his legendary career with an inside look at professional hockey and the heroes and stories that inspired him. From minor-hockey phenomenon to Hall of Fame sensation, Wayne Gretzky rewrote the record books, his accomplishments becoming the stuff of legend. Dubbed “The Great One”, he is considered by many to be the greatest hockey player who ever lived. No one has seen more of the game than he has - but he has never discussed in depth just what it was he saw.

At the pinnacle of motorsports, a humble young man from Stevenage, England, has risen to become the greatest Formula One driver of all time. Lewis Hamilton’s journey from remote-controlled car hobbyist to seven-time world champion, knight of the realm, and global superstar is the stuff of sporting legend. This authoritative biography follows Hamilton’s path from his early days karting on local tracks to the glitz and pressure of the Formula One circuit.