When I was in 5th grade, we had family day, and a friends dad came to give a presentation about his mountaineering background, specifically his attempt along with Wili Unsoeld to be the first to summit Everest via the West Ridge in 1963.( which was about 4 yrs previous).
It was fascinating, although I am afraid my aunts presentation about her work in India, ( she lived there for 40 years), I had a harder time relating to.
I have only done a little bouldering, and indoor climbing, but Ive always found climbing, especiallt mountaineering, to be impossibly romantic.
I am definitely an armchair climber now.
@TatinG, the name of that book is Stiff.
Love this thread! I’m searching through this thread for a disaster/survival book that my soon-to-be 89 years old father hasn’t read. We share a rather peculiar fascination with that genre! I haven’t read Granny Gatewoods Walk, mentioned upthread by Dragonmom, but it sounds great, and a young friend is a currently a bit more than halfway through his AT hike. The book is currently a part of Kindle Unlimited, so if you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you can read it as part of your membership.
I’m not a military history buff, but I loved reading “What if?” (both 1 and 2) and also “Ten Battles: Decisive conflicts you may not know about, but should”.
Isaac’s Storm is a good one, very informative about the Galveston Hurricane, the formation of the National Weather Service. Because warnings from weather watchers in Cuba were ignored or disregarded the people in Galveston had no idea what was coming their way.
Truth and Beauty- A Friendship by Ann Patchett (memoir). I actually read Wonder by RJ Palacios first (fiction), then read T&B, and found them to be good companion pieces. Another vote for Glass Castle, too.
I highly recommend reading Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett (about her friendship with Lucy Grealy) back to back with Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy (which is largely about many of the same events).
Another fascinating pair of memoirs to read back to back are A Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff and Duke of Deception by Geoffrey Wolff. Tobias and Geoffrey are brothers who, in a positively barbaric move, were split up with their parents divorced – the mom took one, the father took the other. The went on to lead very different childhoods, and years later each one wrote a fascinating memoir of his childhood. Highly recommended.
Second the recommendation for reading Patchett’s Truth & Beauty along with Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face. My book group read these a few years ago and they duo generated great discussions.
The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger, is a compelling read, but I expect your dad has already read it, ShyParentalunit.
Has he read Tim Egan?
He might like The Worst hard time, about the Dust Bowl.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/books/review/the-antijoads.html?_r=0
Geez, I am so lazy, I just googled for the name of this book, rather than go look in the bookshelf.
Those interested in WWII history, especially in the northwest, should read, On American Soil: How Justice became a Casualty of WWII, by Jack Hamann.
Am reading the emperor of All Maladies right now. I am convinced that one day Brian Druker will will the Nobel Prize for Gleevec. It has become a total game changer.
I’ve bookmarked this thread – I read mostly nonfiction and am always looking for new topics!
Beyond the Beautiful Forevers was interesting, although depressing to read at times given the subject matter.
I have been reading books about/by Dr. Ben Carson lately, very inspirational man:
-America the Beautiful.
-Gifted Hands.
Although he is a politician, he does present words of wisdom that are very beneficial.
For comedic biographies I recommend
-Ron Burgundy: Let Me Off The Top. (I know this is fiction but I thought this biography may be of interest to you)
Hilarious, but poorly structured, novel. It does present some raunchy humor so be prepared.
For history, if you haven’t read it yet:
-The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglas.
Very vivid book about American slavery.
I just read “The Pious Ones: The World of the Hasidim and their Battles with America” by Joseph Berger and it was a terrific read.
That would be “Everest: The West Ridge” by Thomas Hornbein (Seattle doctor and UW professor), a well-written memoir and an iconic climbing story.
Another in mountaineering history is “K2 - The Savage Mountain,” by Charles Houston. For those who don’t know the story I won’t spoil it for you.
If you don’t know anyone born with the vertical climbing bug, it’s kind of hard to understand. My D was 160’ up in a Douglas Fir, holding on to the tippy-top portion bent over at 90 degrees. She was 2 1/2 years old. All 5 of us did a family climb this past Saturday.
Another vote for “Emperor of All Maladies”. Also, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”.
An oldie but goodie…The Snow Leopard. A trek in the early 1970s to one of the most isolated places on the planet combined with a sort of guide to Buddhism.
@Magnetron - Yup, its hard for me to understand based on my own personality. I did know a guy into extreme sports who died leaving behind a wife and 3 children. On the one hand, I respect the adventurous, gung-ho spirit with which he tackled most things in his life. It’s still sad that his family is missing out on his presence in their lives. Given the time involved in training and the actual attempts, the money, and the risk, I do think its a little selfish.
Did anyone read this book when it came out a few years ago: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss.
It looked really interesting, but I never got around to reading it. It won a Pulitzer.
Here’s the Amazon description (which makes it sound like a good read for someone looking for an adventure story):
“Generations have been enthralled by Alexandre Dumas’ characters, especially the wronged hero in The Count of Monte Cristo and the daring swordsmen in The Three Musketeers. Yet few realize that these memorable characters were inspired by Dumas’ father, General Alex Dumas, the son of a French count and a black Haitian slave. Tom Reiss brings the elder Dumas alive with previously unpublished correspondence and meticulous research, providing the context necessary to understand how exceptional his life as a mulatto general in a slave-owning empire truly was. From single-handedly holding a bridge in the Alps against 20 enemies to spending years held captive in a fortress, Alex Dumas is a fascinating character that not even his son’s vivid imagination could have dreamed up.”
I just finished “The Lady in Gold” by Anne-Marie O’Connor. It’s the story of the painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt, it’s confiscation by the Nazis and the legal fight to have it returned to the rightful heirs.
It’s interesting overall, a compelling story. But O’Connor includes too many tangential characters and extraneous stories so that the cast of characters is like a Russian novel. Some pruning would have improved the book.