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| In this section we take a look at the the latest and best Adventure sports book out there. |
| As usual we are interested in your views - please add your comments to the reviews below or better still if you have read a great book that is not here mail us with the details at reviews@chooseSPORT.com |
 We are in partnership with the Internet Bookshop. We've picked them as they tend to be the cheapest of all the major sites and have first rate delivery times. If you wish to buy any of the books click on the links and they will take you to the bookshop where you can buy that book or browse any one of the 1.5 million in stock. |
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 A great read, beautifully written, very evocative of Patrick Leigh Fermore. Crane walks 10,000 kilometres across Europe along mountain ranges in Spain, France, Italy, Austria, the Balkans and Turkey. This epic walk begins in Cape Finisterre and ends seventeen months later in Istanbul on the edge of the Orient.
Evident is not only his love of mountains but also that for the culture and history of the people that inhabit these high places. Much travel writing is enjoyable, but not literature, this is both. I can only agree with Bill Bryson 'I enjoyed it immensely'.
Comments'A briliant book by an adventurous author, readers would do well to pick up a copy of 2 Degrees West as well.' - Jeff, Welwyn Garden City
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 I have never read more amazing stories packed together in such a short space. You get positively dazed and confused with so many amazing acts of bravery and/or stupidity piled on top of one another.
The book is an anthology of excerpts from women travellers of the last 100 years or so. Until you read the stories you might think its not such a big deal for a woman to have travelled anywhere in the world but reading these stories you soon realise that here are some exceptional travellers. Some come across as unlikeable, others as great fun (but to be kept at arm's length away from your own holiday plans) but all are worth reading. All remind me of how much has been lost to us by the march of history.
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 One of the best travelling books of all time. If you ever feel in you are in a dead job and there's no way out then read this book. Eric Newby had worked unsuccessfully in the fashion industry for 10 years before he finally succumbed to the desperate need to do something else. In this case it was to go and climb an unclimbed mountain in the North Afghanistan with a friend. Realising neither know anything about climbing they attempt unsuccessfully to learn the basics in Wales before driving to Afghanistan to climb the mountain.
However this is much more than another book about bumbling incompetents trying to do something well past their abilities. Newby is aware of the ridiculousness of what they are attempting to do but always writes with great insight and charm into the land and people they meet. It is an exciting book but for me the main thing was he is an absolutely hilarious writer.
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 This is a truly great book. Written by a bit of a self confessed slob who describes himself thus
'I had never done anything adventurous in my life. I wasn't fit. I knew nothing about the desert. I couldn't speak Spanish. I had no money. With my red hair and fair skin I was probably the last person in the world to go traipsing around a sun-baked wilderness'
This book pretty well removes any justification anyone has for not doing stepping outside the ordinariness of their lives at least once. The base of the story is his ignorant choice of Baja California as a good place for a 3000 mile walk and his encounters with the landscape, people and animals of the area. The real star of the book though is the author - totally unpretentious, he is no orthodox hero but he has produced a fabulous, inspirational read.
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 A page-turner from start to finish.
The North Face of the Eiger is one of world's most dangerous mountain faces - an expanse of rock, snow and ice one mile high. The first serious attempt was made in 1938 and many climbers have died since. This book describes the memorable attempts, moments of triumph, failure, even hilarity and the epic rescue attempts which sometimes ensued. Very readable. Some black and white photographs are included.
Difficult to put down and suitable for everyone with any interest in the mountains.
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 There are fortunately a lot of terrific books around but occasionally you come across something really special. This is one of those books, a book in which every page is a treasure.
The book is a collection of 15 stories of the most staggering examples of the ability of humans to survive extreme conditions. But its much more than just stories about courage in adversity. The authors have been selected for their ability to write superbly as well as about their ability to get themselves into situations where they need the courage and determination so in abundance in this book.
Often antholgies like this are immensely frustrating as the excerpts are so short that they leave you unsatisfied, thinking more about what happened before or after the tale itself. Clint Willis, the editor, has done a brilliant job in giving substantial enough extracts that all the stories stand up in themselves as pieces of great literature.
Buy this book and savour every page!
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 Rough Water is the wet equivalent of the superb book Epic - Stories of Survival from the World's Highest Peaks. It has 16 excerpts from books of disastrous or near disastrous incidents at sea.
The stories themselves are tremendous, if you ever wanted to know what its like to be alone in a dinghy with no food or water for 76 days then don't bother to try it out just read this book!
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 An immensely practical guide to walking from Fort William to Cape Wrath, a walk the authors describe, with some justification, as possibly 'the toughest walk in Britain'. The walk itself is spread over 21 stages of varying intensity. For those who have not been to the North West of Scotland before the region is remote. It is also one of the most beautiful on earth so if you're up for a tough challenge then it's a great walk and this is a good guide.
It's a small, pocket-sized book with all the core details you need for the walk though if you are serious about the walk then you'll need the relevant OS maps. There is little in the way of rhapsody or inspiration about the book but I like this. It leaves the way for a concise guide containing the information you need, with enough route variations to remove the impression of a guide to a someone else's forced march. It is a very sparsely populated area so shopping and accommodation is extremely limited but the guide gives you all the information you need to know to plan the walk for maximum enjoyment.
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