Adventure Biography

In Grandpa's Adventures in the US Navy: Soul Searching on the Way to Mars, Jerry Werner shares his inspiring journey from rural Wisconsin to the dream of becoming an astronaut.

For more than 200 years, the wreck of the Whydah (and the riches that went down with it) eluded treasure seekers, until the ship was finally found in 1984 by marine archaeologists. The artifacts brought up from the ocean floor are priceless, both in value and in the picture they reveal of life in that much-mythologized era, changing much of what we know about pirates.

Joe Simpson, with just his partner Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed west face of the remote 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June of 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck. A few days later, Simon staggered into base camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead.

Ben Hatch is on the road again. Commissioned to write a guidebook about France (despite not speaking any French) he sets off with visions of relaxing chateaux and refined dining. Ten thousand miles later his family's been attacked by a donkey, had a run-in with a death-culti, and, after a near drowning and a calamitous wedding experience involving a British spy, his own marriage is in jeopardy.

Since Wilde's condemnation of modern biography, the genre would appear to have accelerated its descent into bad taste. As Carl Rollyson points out, writers as various as Rebecca West, Ted Hughes, and Joyce Carol Oates have deplored biographers' tendency to cut up lives and render the bloody data so as to make their subjects seem unhealthy, unwholesome, and unsound. Janet Malcolm has compared biographers to burglars; modern novels feature the biographer as grave robber and victimizer.

In Ley Lines of Love, Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle shares wisdom gained from a lifetime of spiritual seeking and devoted practice. A dedicated practitioner of Buddhism, she shares many remarkable stories about her inner journey, including the joys of learning from enlightened teachers. She also recounts how her years of involvement with a devotional tradition from India ended in an archetypal story of disillusionment.

A collection of life experiences, observations, and musings from the mind of singer-songwriter Dan May.

Growing up beside the Chisholm Trail, captivated by the songs of passing cowboys and his bosom friend, an African American farmhand, John A. Lomax developed a passion for American folk songs that ultimately made him one of the foremost authorities on this fundamental aspect of Americana. Across many decades and throughout the country, Lomax and his informants created over five thousand recordings of America’s musical heritage, including ballads, blues, children’s songs, fiddle tunes, field hollers, lullabies, play-party songs, religious dramas, spirituals, and work songs.

Bogen "Adventure race. Ét skridt længere" blev oprindeligt udgivet i 2002. Forfatter Søren Brahe fortæller om sine oplevelser og erfaringer fra, samt vejen til verdens hårdeste og længste adventure race: Eco-Challenge (i Marokko, Patagonien og på Borneo) og Raid Gaulouises (Trans Himalaya fra Tibet til Nepal). Adventure race en sportsgren, hvor små hold af mænd og kvinder kæmper mod uret for at tilbagelægge op til 800 kilometer gennem nogle af de mest ufremkommelige landskaber på kloden.

When Lou Henry married Herbert Hoover in February 1899, she looked forward to a partnership of equality and a life of adventure. She could fire a rifle and sit a horse as well as any man. The Quaker community of Whittier, California, where she lived as a teen, reinforced the egalitarian spirit of her upbringing. But history had other ideas for Lou Henry Hoover. Conveying Lou’s humor, personality, and intelligence, A Woman of Adventure takes a fresh look at the first lady who preceded Eleanor Roosevelt and her also-extraordinary accomplishments.

Joseph Plumb Martin (1760-1850) was a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Martin participated in the Battles of Brooklyn, the White Plains and Monmouth, and the siege of Fort Mifflin, and the Battle of Monmouth. The Adventures of a Revolutionary Soldier relates the adventures of a young private serving his country under terrible conditions. There are engaging accounts of army life, adventures, dangers, and suffering during the years 1776-1783.

Wallace picked up the name "Big-Foot" while in a Mexican prison, because the prison attendants couldn’t find a boot large enough to fit him. Not only was he large of foot but also of deeds. Big-Foot Wallace was an Indian-fighter, hunter, and Texas Ranger. Few men have witnessed as many stirring incidents, had more hair-breadth escapes, or gone through more of the hardships and perils of a border life than Big-Foot Wallace.

Wisenberg may have lost a breast, but she retained her humor, outrage, and skepticism toward common wisdom and most institutions. While following the prescribed protocols at the place she called Fancy Hospital, Wisenberg is unsparing in her descriptions of the fumblings of new doctors, her own awkward announcement to her students, and the mounds of unrecyclable plastic left at a survivors' walk.

Follow the thrills, drama, heartbreak and incomparable joy of a lifetime filled with dogs. Hold onto your chair as two Golden Retrievers get swept away by a roaring river. Chuckle at the misadventure of hiking up to a neighbor's house at night to retrieve a puppy that wandered into a...rattlesnake rescue.

On June 19, 1953, Harry Truman got up early, packed the trunk of his Chrysler New Yorker, and did something no other former president has done before or since: he hit the road. No Secret Service protection. No traveling press. Just Harry and his childhood sweetheart Bess off to visit old friends, take in a Broadway play, celebrate their wedding anniversary in the Big Apple, and blow a bit of the money he’d just received to write his memoirs. Hopefully incognito. In this lively history, author Matthew Algeo meticulously details how Truman’s plan to blend in went wonderfully awry.

Tony Howard rose to fame in 1965 as a member of a group of young climbers from northern England who made the first British ascent of Norway's Troll Wall. Tony went on to design the modern sit harness, now used universally by every climber in the world. Tony has dedicated his life to travelling the world in search of never before climbed rock faces and remote trekking adventures. The scale of his travels is vast. Quest into the Unknown, the last word in adventure travel, is the jaw-dropping account of a life of adventure that is the very definition of true exploration.

A passionate skier since he was a child, Anders Morley dreamed of going on a significant adventure, something bold and of his own design. And so one year in his early 30s, he decided to strap on cross-country skis to travel across Canada in the winter alone. This Land of Snow is about that journey and a man who must come to terms with what he has left behind, as well as how he wants to continue living after his trip is over.

For over two decades Charles Long thrilled opera audiences, performing at some of America's and the world's most famous venues, and singing alongside some of its greatest stars. In his insightful, frank and humorous new memoir, Long recounts many of those experiences. In the process he sheds light into a world many of us respect, admire and love, but which few of us have ever encountered in such intimate detail.

Meet our fearless adventurers Cassandra, Otto and Missy AKA the smartest raven in the universe as they set out on their next action-packed Ladybird Audio Adventure! Get ready, set, go! On this adventure, we're going to learn about some incredible sporting heroes! Grab your trainers as we're going to meet some amazing athletes, from top tennis legends to speedy formula one racers.

Adventures from the Edge follows a suddenly single, middle-aged educator coping with life after marriage, life after 50, and life on the edge. Embracing a totally new world with awe and wonder, these adventures lead the listener through the jungles of Guatemala, aboard the luxury of cruise ships, to the breathtaking wilds of Africa. Many frightening, funny, and factual accounts lead the listener to the next adventure on the edge.