The Mammoth Book of Endurance and Adventure

This collection of classic accounts comprises over 50 true-life adventures taken from contemporary memoirs, letters and journals. Inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-15 escape from the bitter clutches of Antarctica, The Mammoth Book of Endurance and Adventure is by turn inspirational, harrowing, tragic and unimaginable. It recounts stories of ordinary mortals who achieved extraordinary things. From the ice-locked poles and endless deserts of Arabia to the storm-tossed South Atlantic, the rainforests of the Amazon and sheer peaks of the Himalayas, the world's most famous adventurers recount their experiences. Includes: Ernest Shackleton describing his 800-mile voyage across Antarctic seas in a lifeboat Wilfred Thesiger on crossing the 'Empty Quarter' of Arabia Robert Falcon Scott's 1913 attempt on the South Pole Chris Bonington on descending the Blue Nile through a series of rapids Thor Heyerdahl's epic voyage across the Pacific on Kon Tiki Edmund Hillary on the first ascent of Everest in 1953 Chay Blyth encountering a hurricane off Cape Horn Beryl Markham on flying the Atlantic east to west in 1953 plus recollections from Reinhold Messner, Peter Matthiessen, Hugh Glass, Mungo Park, David Livingstone, Sven Hedin, and many more.