Thread: Favorite real-life adventure books

OK, Jimmy's thread about great books got me thinking about this one. I've always loved a good, true, well-written adventure story with bonus points if it's written by the participant (probably with help, of course). I've read each of these multiple times over the years and will do so again. These are some of my favorites - what are yours?

Wind, Sand and Stars by St. Exupery
The Lonely Sea and The Sky by Chichester
Sailing Alone Around the World by Slocum
Two Years Before the Mast by Dana
Man-eaters of Kumaon by Corbett
South: The Endurance Expedition by Shackleton
Fatu-Hiva: Back to Nature by Heyerdahl
Stove By A Whale: Owen Chase and The Essex by Heffernan

A few that come to mind right off the get go are;

African Rifles and Cartridges by John 'Pondoro' Taylor, a classic describing the various armaments used by an Ivory poacher in Africa before WWII. Chock full of action in the field with various game animals.

Into Thin Air by Jan Krakauer, an account of the tragic 1996 climbing expedition on Everest.

Death In The Afternoon, by Ernest Hemingway. An non fiction account of the bullfight in pre WWII Spain by the former newsman turned novelist.

Few comes to mind:

Lawrence Millman: Last places. A jouney in the north.
Johnny Bealby: Running with the moon
Alfred Lansing: Endurance
Jon Krakauer: Into thin air

A rifleman went to war - H. W. McBride
African game trails - Theodore Roosevelt
Under fire - Oliver North
With a gun in good country - Ian Manning
Use enough gun - Robert Ruark
and all the books by Helge Ingstad.

Thank you for the excellent suggestions, there are some I've not heard of before. I know at least one of my Christmas presents will be a bookstore gift card - now I have some good ideas as to how to best use it!

Into the Wild, I thought was very interesting.

Also, long way round, Ewan McGregor and Charley Booreman riding motorcycles 20k miles around the world, very interesting indeed.

In Trouble Again: A Journey Between the Orinoco and the Amazon by Redmond O'Hanlon. "O'Hanlon's approach to travel borders on the lunatic" Publisher's Weekly.

O'Hanlon has a couple of other similar books -- one for Borneo and one for the Congo, both of which are also good. All are quite humorous. A more recent book of his (Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic about life on a fishing boat) I never finished.

A very interesting one, similar to the "Congo" book above was published in 1799 (!): Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa by Mungo Park. Written in a more serious nature that O'Hanlon's books but still involving series of misadventures similar to O'Hanlon's with the exception that they were actually much more dangerous. I believe the author made a second trip but never made it back to write a second book.

There are a number of World War II true-life spy stories. One good example is The Double-Cross System: The Incredible True Story of How Nazi Spies Were Turned into Double Agents by J.C. Masterman who was directly involved. It was first published contemporaneously (1945) as a confidential report for the British Intelligence higher-ups and has been publicly available for some time. There are other first-hand books about the various intelligence activities of WWII. This is a good one to start with.

Legionare-Simon Murray (the only non french legionare to be offered a commission)
As far as my feet will carry me-J.M.Bauer (escape from a siberian camp that took 3 years and 8,000 miles,on foot)
Reach for the sky-Douglas Bader

I'm going to have to look into some of the books on here, I like good non-fiction, and its hard (at least for me) to find recommendations for it.

The last non fiction I read was Generation Kill. It was a good book.

Ive been wanting to get some of those real life mobster books for a while, like the one that Goodfellas was based on, Sammy the Bull's book, and a few others.

If you can find a used copy or library "Kill the Dutchman! by Paul Sann is a great read. The story of Dutch Schultz. Another one is 'Legs' by William Kennedy. It is fiction but closely based on fact and the best book on Jack 'Legs' Diamond out there.