“Forget the edge of your seat. Last Breath takes you to the edge of your life, for a pulse-pounding glimpse into the Great Beyond. There are many ways to risk your life in the out-of-doors, and Stark has captured them in exquisite and harrowing detail.”
–JIM ROBBINS
Author of A Symphony in the Brain

An enthralling blend of adventure and science, Last Breath re-creates in heart-stopping detail what happens to our bodies and our minds in the perilous last moments of life when an extreme adventure goes awry.

Combining the adrenaline high of extreme sports with the startling facts of physiological reality, veteran travel and outdoor sports writer Peter Stark narrates a series of adventure stories in which thrill can cross the line to mortal peril. Each death or brush with death is at once a suspense story, a cautionary tale, and a medical thriller. Will they survive, or will they succumb? Readers will shiver with a man lost in the snowy woods, suffering from hypothermia and tearsing off his clothes as he’s burning up from the cold; they will hallucinate with a young woman stranded at the top of Annapurna as she experiences a cerebral edema; and while a kayaker tumbles helplessly underwater for two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, readers, too, will gasp for their last breath.

This go-to-guide for turning wood into heat, including starting a fire with everything from flints to forearms in any type of weather; tinders easily found in nature; identifying and gathering the best kindling and types of wood; efficient splitting and stacking configurations for different needs, such as cooking; and how to safely put out a blaze. Not just for survival, Building the Perfect Fire will also discuss using wood to create a welcoming fire, such as the crackling from birch wood or the colorful flames from an old apple tree.

A beautifully presented, practical gift guide to the age-old art of whittling. There are 50 projects featured in the book, ranging from quick makes to more elaborate projects, and even a chapter on creating things from cork. The 8 main themes are: Quick Things - including a doorstop, a bookmark and a gift-box book; Into The Woods - including a willow whistle, walking stick, fish hook and slingshot; Around The House - including chopsticks, coat and crochet hooks; Cork Creations - including a succulent pot, stamp, and earphones spool; Ornamental Carving - including a boat, a deer and a spinning top; Kitchen Carving - including a carrot flute, apple candle and onion flower; The Natural World - including a bird feeder and instructions to prepare a fish for cooking, a graft an apple tree. The projects cater for a range of skill levels and the instructions are complemented by smart step-by-step illustrations, which highlight the tactile quality of the material in hand. The book also includes an introduction with advice on selecting a penknife, maintaining your blade, choosing your caving material, and carving techniques. Featuring the ultimate crossover of cool craftsmanship and savvy survival-skill projects, this book is the perfect gift for creative adventurers.

Great explorers are known for their hard-earned skills and meticulously honed character traits which have made their astonishing endeavours possible. Valuable lessons are waiting to be learned from the feats attained by the most revered names in exploration – from legendary adventurers such as Ernest Shackleton to lesser-known figures such as Junko Tabei. Life Lessons from Explorers collects 15 of the most highly prized traits shared by those who have scaled mountains and traversed tundras, proposing how these could be applied to your own life, whether you are crossing Antarctica or battling a mental obstacle. Compelling accounts of the life and times of celebrated explorers, highlighting when they have displayed these traits are accompanied by remarkable images of the people who have travelled to the ends of the Earth, and the places they discovered.

The Kid Looks Back is a collection of sixty-eight stories that cover a wide range of topics. I hope that his book will be a gentle hiding place where you can go to get away from something, return to something or go where you have never been. Some of these stories are true. Others are factually true, although bit embellished. Others are outright fabrications. Most look back to a kinder, mellower time. Digging for worms, swimming in a pond, using an outhouse or wading in a river may bring gross evaluations from our urbanized cousins. I hope that this book introduces them to life - with a smile. Most of the stories have a message. Many are simply humorous. Entertainment is the motive. Carefree is the mood. Try to find yourself within these pages. May the beak of reality crack your comfort shell. Start anywhere. Finish anytime. Enjoy!

What makes a good explorer? Adaptability, ambition, stamina, self-confidence, curiosity, optimism, authority--and fund-raising ability. Though few of us will ever have to face a charging elephant, or survive solely on penguin stew, when it comes to project management, crisis aversion, or any number of everyday problems, there is much we can learn from the larger-than-life tales of the world's most famous adventurers. Here, award-winning documentarian Mick Conefrey pulls practical advice from their original diaries and logs, like how to survive an anaconda attack (wait until it has swallowed your legs, then reach down and cut its head off), and how to keep morale up (according to Ernest Shackleton, "A good laugh doesn't require any additional weight"). In addition to the wonderful characters and stories, this book offers many lessons on how to set sail without a clear path home.

Answers to some important questions, courtesy of "The Adventurer's Handbook: "* How many corpses are believed to be on Mt. Everest?
Answer: 120 * How is polar bear meat best prepared?
Answer: Raw and frozen.
* What do you do if attacked by a charging lion?
Answer: Stand very still and stare it down. * What should you wear when crossing a desert?
Answer: Lots of layers--fabric absorbs sweat and prolongs
its cooling action.

Since its establishment as a federally protected wilderness in 1964, the Boundary Waters has become one of our nation's most valuable-and most frequently visited-natural treasures. When Amy and Dave Freeman learned of toxic mining proposed within the area's watershed, they decided to take action-by spending a year in the wilderness, and sharing their experience through video, photos, and blogs with an audience of hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens. This book tells the deeper story of their adventure in northern Minnesota: of loons whistling under a moonrise, of ice booming as it forms and cracks, of a moose and her calf swimming across a misty lake. With the magic-and urgent-message that has rallied an international audience to the campaign to save the Boundary Waters, A Year in the Wilderness is a rousing cry of witness activism, and a stunning tribute to this singularly beautiful region.

Climbing: Protection is a pocket-size instructional climbing book with the backing of the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) that focuses on climbing protection and safety. Complete with color photos throughout, the book features information on environment and terrain, best practices, gear, and more.

This is not another backpacking gear book. Backpacking the Light Way by author Rick Light is for both beginner and advanced backpackers who want to pack more efficiently, carry less weight, still be fully prepared for contingencies, and have more fun in the backcountry. It will benefit instructors and guides by giving them methods to teach their clients, and it will help them refine their risk assessment and trip planning techniques. This book presents field-tested, proven methodologies including gear organization, modular packing systems, and creating gear lists that work. Assessing conventional gear currently owned and understanding the mindsets of both conventional and ultralight backpacking. Navigating the mindset shift required to seriously lighten up and redefining each gear system to meet your needs. Dealing with winter conditions and packing to minimize frustration. Assessing risk, effective trip planning and much more.

Once the dust has settled, you'll need to know how to barter, perform basic first aid, preserve food, cut your own hair, clean a chimney, navigate by the stars, stitch a wound, darn socks, and sharpen blades. You'll also want to build a stable and safe community, so you'll need to master the arts of conversation, child raising, listening, music making, and storytelling. This fascinating and entertaining book, full of quirky illustrations by artist Brian Cronin, will provoke surprise, debate, and laughter while it provides a road map to greater self-reliance and joy, whatever the future brings.

Take on the toughest challenges that nature can throw at you with the ultimate visual guide to camping, wilderness, and outdoor survival skills. Written by Colin Towell, an ex-SAS Combat Survival Instructor, The Survival Handbook is bursting with survival tips, manual skills, camping essentials, and advice on how to improvise, survive, and get found - on land or at sea. Combining proven, no-nonsense military survival skills with ingenious bushcraft techniques, specially commissioned illustrations and accessible step-by-step instructions show you how to survive in the wild. Learn how to plan your expedition, how to make a fire, and how to build a shelter, and everything you need to know about wild food and natural dangers. Revel in inspirational real-life survival stories and be prepared for every outdoor situation. From survival basics, such as finding water and catching fish, to extreme survival situations including being adrift at sea or lost in the jungle, The Survival Handbook will steer you through life's toughest adventures in the world's harshest climates. Whether you are preparing for a camping trip, or going further afield, The Survival Handbook is a perfect guide to the great outdoors in a handy size to pack.

Who says you have to travel far from home to go on a great hike, paddle, or bike ride? Best Outdoor Adventures the Colorado Front Range details the best hikes, paddles, climbs, and mountain biking routes within a few hour's drive of the Denver metro area, perfect for the urban dweller and suburbanite who may be hard-pressed to find great outdoor activities close to home. This guide not only include the best mountain biking, hiking, and paddling, but also rock climbing and zip-lining-- perfect for families!

From beach peas to serviceberries, hen of the woods to Indian cucumber, ostrich ferns to sea rocket, Foraging New England guides the reader to the edible wild foods and healthful herbs of the Northeast. Helpfully organized by environmental zone, the book is an authoritative guide for nature lovers, outdoorsmen, and gastronomes.

Edible wild plants are nature’s natural food source, growing along roadsides, sprouting in backyards, and blooming in country fields. North America’s diverse geography overflows with edible plant species. From alyssum to watercress, chicory to purslane, Foraging Wild Plants of North America provides everything you need to know about the most commonly found wild greens with over 200 mouth-watering recipes. Fully revised and updated, this full-color field and feast guide with images to the most common edible wild plants is the ideal companion for hikers, campers, and anyone who enjoys eating the good food of the earth. Look inside to find recipes such as: Stirfry Amaranth Yellow Pollen Pancakes Chickweed Deluxe Nettle Soup Root Coffee Earth Bread Cattail Stew Fennel Crunch Prickly Pear Ice Cream

Outward Bound Canoeing Handbook is a handy, illustrated resource on the fundamentals of canoeing, including solid, sound instruction on all aspects of canoeing, from types of canoes to equipment choices, paddle and on-the-water techniques, safety tips, and more. In partnership with outdoor leader Outward Bound, this book combines expert instruction with practical tips to ensure a fun and a satisfying canoe trip for your next outdoor adventure. About Outward Bound: Outward Bound is the premier provider of experience-based outdoor leadership programs for teens, adults and professionals. Outward Bound is a non-profit educational organization and expedition school that serves people of all ages and backgrounds through active learning expeditions that inspire character development, self-discovery and service both in and out of the classroom. Outward Bound excels in curricula developed for struggling teens, groups with specific health, social or educational needs and business and professional organizations.

Foraging is one of the fastest-growing nature-related pastimes in the UK and US. There are many books about foraging but this is the only one that focuses on what is arguably everyone's favourite plant - trees! It profiles 40 incredible trees from the UK and US - from apple, ash and bay to walnut, willow and yew, gorgeously illustrated with watercolour, pen and ink botanical illustrations. In her humorous, inspiring and warm text, Adele explains how we can forage from our trees, not only for food, but also for home remedies, for ingredients to use in cocktails and ferments, and for materials to make toys, musical instruments and other useful things. Did you know that you can grind acorns into flour to make pancakes, for example, or use oak galls for ink? Or that Willow can be used for weaving; ash, hazel and oak are all good for making charcoal. Packed full of recipes and things to do, there is also a sprinkling of folklore and superstition, as well as helpful recognition tips. Overall it traces the fascinating story of the intimate relationship between humankind and our trees.

Master outdoorsman Tristan Gooley was just about to make camp when he sensed danger--but couldn't say why. After sheltering elsewhere, Gooley returned to investigate: What had set off his subconscious alarm?

Suddenly, he understood: All of the tree trunks were slightly bent. The ground had already shifted once and could easily become treacherous in a storm.

The Nature Instinct shows how we, too, can unlock this intuitive understanding of our surroundings. Learn to sense the forest's edge from deep in the woods, or whether a wild animal might pose danger--before you even know how you know.

Publisher's note: The Nature Instinct was published in the UK under the title Wild Signs and Star Paths.

GIVE THE GIFT OF ADVENTURE THIS CHRISTMAS.

THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL GUIDE FROM THE WORLD’S LEADING SURVIVAL EXPERT.

Do you know how to...

Survive a bear attack?

Make fire from virtually nothing?

Fly a plane in an emergency?

Survive in the most extreme conditions?

Bear Grylls does.

There is barely a terrain he hasn’t conquered or an extreme environment he hasn’t experienced. From his time in 21 SAS, through to his extraordinary expeditions in the toughest corners of each of the seven continents, Bear has accumulated an astonishing wealth of survival knowledge.

Now, for the first time, he is putting all his expertise into one book. How To Stay Alive will teach you all of the essential skills you need to survive in the modern world.

No one wants to think about needing first aid while out in the wilderness. Hoping it does not happen will not help you when it does. Wilderness First Aid covers simple techniques to treat common injuries and sickness in a wilderness situation. This waterproof flexible folding guide includes tips and techniques to help you be more comfortable while awaiting rescue or keep you mobile to effect self-rescue if required. Be smart, be safe, be skilled. Co-authored by noted survival expert and woodsman Dave Canterbury, this is one of a 10-part series on survival skills.

Outdoor Skills for Kids delivers relevant, expertly curated content perfect for kids. Outdoor skills expert and veteran author Buck Tilton provides readers with essential information on wilderness survival. With colorful illustrations, activities, and anecdotes that strengthen the reader’s understanding of the material, this is the perfect book to teach children essential outdoor skills.

This essential review of knife- and axe-throwing basics presents and analyzes the best throwing knives and axes on the current market, different throwing techniques, the basics of competition rules, legal issues to understand, and the general care of throwing knives and axes. The budding knife and axe thrower will also receive valuable tips for getting started in throwing and how to prepare physically and mentally for training, as well as your first competition.