There’s nothing like a true story of adventure to expand your worldview and help put life’s weightiest concepts, like life, death, and second chances into perspective. Maybe you’re not quite ready to climb the fourteenth-highest mountain in the world, complete a fifty-mile race virtually barefoot, or sail in a transatlantic race, but you can start by reading true accounts of people who have attempted these missions and more. The authors featured here have taken enormous risks and challenged themselves in varying degrees by choice or necessity, and sometimes both. With insight into what might drive them, “Adrift" author Steven Callahan writes: “There is a magnificent intensity in life that comes when we are not in control but are only reacting, living, surviving.”

“Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer

Christopher McCandless, also known as Alexander Supertramp, a nickname he bestowed upon himself, was a bit of an oddball looking to shed his life of privilege and trade it for a nomadic existence. After donating his savings and possessions to charity at age twenty-four, McCandless hitchhiked into the Alaskan wilderness with nothing but a rifle, a roughly thirty-pound backpack (which held a ten-pound bag of rice, the only food he had packed), and no compass or watch. Nobody knew of his plans. McCandless, in search of solitude, and the chance to “live off the land for a few months” outside the confines of mainstream civilization, did so for about twelve weeks before making a minute but serious mistake that would ultimately cost him his life. While foraging for food, he mistook poisonous wild sweet pea for harmless wild potato, ending his adventure in an abandoned bus beside the Stampede Trail where he had spent much of his trip. In the year after his death, Jon Krakauer published a 9,000-word article about McCandless in Outside magazine. Haunted by McCandless’ story, he researched it further, elaborating on the piece and including accounts of his own wilderness adventures to create “Into the Wild,” eventually turned into a movie directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch.

 “Adrift: Seventy Six Days Lost at Sea” by Steven Callahan

Shortly after he began sailing at age twelve, Steven Callahan was inspired by the book “Tinkerbelle” by Robert Manry, an account of Manry’s sailing his thirteen-and-a-half foot boat across the Atlantic in seventy-eight days, a record when he did it in 1965. By the spring of 1981, then a seasoned boat builder and designer, Callahan was ready to follow in Manry’s wake. Set asail on the Napoleon Solo, a small twenty-one foot cruiser he built, Callahan sailed from Newport to Bermuda, then onto England with a companion. Next he set out on sailing solo from the U.K. to the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, with a final destination of Antigua. Before he could arrive, he set a record of his own, spending seventy-six days adrift at sea on a life raft named Rubber Ducky III (too small for stretching out; he had to curl up to sleep) after his beloved Napoleon Solo was struck during a tumultuous night at sea. Callahan captures his arduous journey in “Adrift,” recounting his constant repairing and repumping of Rubber Ducky and his struggle to catch dorado and triggerfish with a spear salvaged from his long-lost boat. He contemplates the mistakes that led him astray while occasionally reciting the mantra “You’re doing the best you can” for assurance and hope. Though Callahan takes pride in being “able to hang in there” and survive, being labeled a hero still makes him uneasy.

“Forget Me Not” by Jennifer Lowe-Anker

There was never a dull moment in the lives of romantic partners Alex and Jennifer Lowe (now Lowe-Anker), both voracious mountain and ice climbers, ambitious travelers, and general lovers of the outdoors. Alex, who made a living of their shared passion  --  he was considered one of the greatest modern climbers  --  tragically died in an avalanche on the Himalayan mountain Shishapangma in 1999, leaving behind Jenni and their three young sons.  “Forget Me Not” is the story of life before and in the wake of Alex’s death, told through letters from Alex, and memories and reflections of Jenni’s. The book takes an unexpected twist when Conrad Anker  --  Alex’s best friend, longtime climbing partner, and also survivor of the very avalanche that killed Alex   --  and Jenni slowly become romantically involved, eventually marrying. (Conrad has since adopted Jenni’s sons, as well.) This book is ambitious in its exploration of Alex’s insatiable hunger for exhilarating yet dicey expeditions, Jenni’s struggle to cope with the massive loss of her original life partner, and the complex love triangle that ensued in the face of tragedy. 

“Between a Rock and a Hard Place” by Aron Ralston

You may know Aron Ralston’s story, or at least a version of it, from Danny Boyle’s major motion picture 127 Hours starring James Franco (as Ralston). The book is a more time-consuming yet worthy investment. On a seemingly ordinary Saturday afternoon, Ralston, an experienced mountaineer and outdoorsman, went hiking in Blue John Canyon in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, and (like McCandless), didn’t tell anyone where he was headed. After departing from new friends he met en route that morning, Ralston was all alone a few hours later when he became trapped by an 800-pound boulder that came loose, pinning his right hand and forearm against the canyon wall. A determined Ralston, as a last hope for escape, eventually self-amputated his right arm just below the elbow with the dull blade on the multi-use tool he had with him. Shortly after hiking out of the canyon, Ralston was picked up by a rescue helicopter and flown to a nearby hospital. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” flashes back and forth between Ralston’s early forays into outdoor life to his nearly unfathomable struggle to stay alive over six excruciating days. There are perhaps no better examples of the lengths we’ll go to in order to survive.

“Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen” by Christopher McDougall

“Born to Run” begins in Mexico’s Sierra Madre as runner, author, and journalist Christopher McDougall searches for Caballo Blanco (“White Horse”), a kindred spirit of the ancient tribe of the Tarahumara, a Native American people renowned for their ability to run long distances in “barefoot” running sandals. After meeting, Blanco shares with McDougall his plan to recruit some of the world’s best ultrarunners to compete against the top Tarahumara runners in Copper Canyons, the Tarahumara’s turf, on a 50-mile ultra marathon course. What comes next is a litany of characters  --  Barefoot Ted, Scott Jurek, and the Tarahumaras, naturally  --  who prepare to participate in the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon. Among them is McDougall himself, a dedicated runner who is no stranger to injury, yet still trains for nine months with the help of his coach Eric Orton. McDougall surprises himself with his physical stamina and willpower as he makes his way, slow but steady, ending in a trance so intense he can’t remember crossing the 50-mile race finish line.