Adventure/Exploration from The Vespiary Book Restoration & Bindery

No one said life on the road would be easy. Navigating the rails, mapping bus lines, and hitching rides. Dealing with hunger when you don't have a nickel to chew on. Picking up an odd job here and making a few bucks there. But that's why it's exciting. It's one hell of an adventure. It's a thrilling road to follow if… Read more about this item

In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceived his own crazy, beautiful plan: he would fly a plane from England to Everest, crash land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit — all utterly alone. Wilson didn't know how… Read more about this item

Winterdance is an unforgettable account of Gary Paulsen's most ambitious quest: to know a world beyond his knowing, to train for and run the Iditarod. Fueled by an all-consuming passion for running dogs, Paulsen entered the grueling 1,180-mile race across Alaska in dangerous ignorance and with fierce determination. For seventeen days, Paulsen and his team of fifteen dogs ran through… Read more about this item

The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is one of the most challenging sporting events in the world. Every February, a handful of hardy souls spends over two weeks racing sleds pulled by fourteen dogs over 1,023 miles of frozen rivers, icy mountain passes, and spruce forests as big as entire states, facing temperatures that drop to forty degrees below… Read more about this item

In the spring of A.D. 587, John Moschos and his pupil Sophronius the Sophist embarked on a remarkable expedition across the entire Byzantine world, traveling from the shores of Bosphorus to the sand dunes of Egypt. Using Moschos's writings as his guide and inspiration, the acclaimed travel writer William Dalrymple retraces the footsteps of these two monks, providing along the… Read more about this item

Overweight, overworked, and physically unfit, Kerkeling was an unlikely candidate to make an arduous pilgrimage across the French Alps. But that didn't stop him from trying, which he describes in this humorous and inspiring travelogue. 35 photos throughout.

Part gonzo misadventure, part cultural history, God's Middle Finger explores a fascinating land - the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico - where few outsiders are foolish enough to venture.

The authors describe their experiences during a two month trip through the waters of the Antarctic observing the region's wildlife. (Adams is the author of Watership Down)

The Tsangpo Gorge in southeastern Tibet has lured explorers and adventurers since its discovery. Sacred to the Buddhists, the inspiration for Shangri La, the Gorge is as steeped in legend and mystery as any spot on earth. As a river-running challenge, the remote Tsangpo is relentlessly unforgiving, more difficult than any stretch of river ever attempted. Its mysteries have withstood… Read more about this item

Ice Ghosts weaves together the epic story of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845 — whose two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and their crew of 129 were lost to the Arctic ice — with the modern tale of the scientists, divers, and local Inuit behind the recent incredible discoveries of the wrecks. Paul Watson, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist… Read more about this item

Epic is a mountaineering term that evokes a sense of treacherous disaster the climb that went wrong; fighting blinding snowstorms and horrific avalanches; days spent tentbound, running low on food, water, and oxygen; surviving broken bones and shattered spirits. Editor Clint Willis has gathered the most exciting climbing literature of the modern age into one cliff-hanging volume with 15 memorable… Read more about this item

In 1911 Hiram Bingham, a pre-historian with a love of exotic destinations, set out to Peru in search of the legendary city of Vilcabamba, capital city of the last Inca ruler, Manco Inca. With a combination of doggedness and good fortune he stumbled on the perfectly preserved ruins of Machu Picchu perched on a cloud-capped ledge 2000 feet above the… Read more about this item

From working as a timber faller and a tree doctor to profiling environmental protestors and parsing through his own preoccupations with Ken Kesey, Fred Haefele has followed his curiosity into the most extraordinary corners of the place he's chosen to call home. This anthology of seventeen pieces of nonfiction gives us access not only to one of our most talented… Read more about this item

This true-life wilderness survival epic recounts seventeen-year-old Alex Messenger's near-lethal encounter with a grizzly bear during a canoe trip in the Canadian tundra. The story follows Alex and his five companions as they paddle north through harrowing rapids and stunning terrain. Twenty-nine days into the trip, while out hiking alone, Alex is attacked by a barren-ground grizzly. Left for dead,… Read more about this item

In 1921, four men and one woman ventured deep into the Arctic. Two years later, only one returned. When 23-year-old Inuit Ada Blackjack signed on as a seamstress for a top-secret Arctic expedition, her goal was simple: earn money and find a husband. But her terrifying experiences--both in the wild and back in civilization--comprise one of the most amazing untold adventures… Read more about this item

In 1912, the Saint Anna, a Russian exploration vessel in search of fertile hunting grounds, was frozen into the polar ice cap, trapping her crew aboard. For nearly a year and a half, they struggled to stay alive. As all hope of rescue faded, they realized their best chance of survival might be to set out on foot, across hundreds… Read more about this item

This is a truly sad and chilling book. Grief and pathos burst from its covers. It is an account of the 1974 American Pamirs/USSR Expedition. So much death and fear and so concentrated in place and time has never been recorded in climbing history. Over a period of a few weeks, earthquakes set off avalanches that killed one American, nine… Read more about this item

In the spring of 1983, massive flooding along the length of the Colorado River confronted a team of engineers at the Glen Canyon Dam with an unprecedented emergency that may have resulted in the most catastrophic dam failure in history. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named "The Emerald Mile" at the… Read more about this item

Laurence Gonzalez combines hard science and powerful storytelling to illustrate the mysteries of survival, whether in the wilderness or in meeting any of life's great challenges. This gripping narrative, the first book to describe the art and science of survival, will change the way you see the world. Everyone has a mountain to climb. Everyone has a wilderness inside.

While climbing in the Peruvian Andes, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates came face to face with disaster. Simpson fell and broke his leg and then was lost. As his partner Yates was starting to break camp four days later, Simpson crawled in through a blizzard. How both men overcame those four harrowing days is an epic chronicle of fear and… Read more about this item