Publisher's Synopsis
Nineteen fast-paced and exhilarating accounts describing what happens when things go terribly wrong in some of the world's most perilous places: Himalayan peaks, African plains, vast oceans, the remote Arctic wilderness.;Many of the accounts are told first-hand, by storytellers who have lived the experiences they describe. World-famous mountaineer Chris Bonington portrays his struggle to descend the 23,900-foot Ogre after partner Doug Scott breaks both legs in a fall. Flyer Beryl Markham searches the plains of Africa for a lost fellow flyer. John Beattie, during a failed attempt to sail around the world, achieves something much greater when he rescues a starving stranger.;Other stories offer different perspectives on the book's theme. Wilfred Grenfell struggles to survive on a disintegrating chunk of ice as he drifts out to sea off the coast of Labrador. Ensio Tiira battles sharks for his friend's corpse and his own life, as the beasts attack his flimsy raft in the Indian Ocean. Antoine de Saint-Exup ry explores the outer limits of thirst after he and a companion crash-land in the desert. On a remote lake in Quebec, Alan Kesselheim races to save two capsized paddlers - one of them, editor Dorcas S. Miller, offers her account of the episode which nearly killed her.
