My Life of Adventure


Book Description

A master dog-sledder, wartime hero, and world-renowned explorer recounts the story of his life in an upbeat, plainspoken style. And what a life it is! From his expeditions to Antarctica to his World War II service to his part in rescuing downed pilots in Greenland, Vaughan, at 89, has lived--and is still living--a life of adventure.




My Adventurous Life


Book Description

Entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist ... Australian icon Dick Smith shares his extraordinary life story for the first time. 'Part Bear Grylls, part Bill Gates, but 100% Aussie larrikin. Dick is a great innovator, philanthropist and adventurer, who in my eyes can do no wrong.' - Paul Hogan 'Businessman, adventurer, philanthropist . . . Dick Smith is a true Australian legend.' - Greg Mortimer OAM 'I have been charmed by good fortune to be born in Australia in the 1940s. I have lived through a time of great prosperity and every day I am reminded of my good luck.' Dick Smith is a remarkable and proud Australian. He has been part of our national consciousness for over fifty years as an innovative and astute businessman, a ground-breaking adventurer, a generous philanthropist and a provocateur for the causes he feels deeply about. Yet, despite his great successes and achievements, Dick has remained down to earth and close to his roots. So how did the young boy who was one of the most academically hopeless in class become the national living treasure he is today? And what was it within that kid with a speech impediment that allowed him to create three successful businesses, and take on some of the world's greatest and most dangerous aviation challenges? In My Adventurous Life, Dick shares his inspiring story and the lessons he's learned about staying true to yourself. He has welcomed the freedoms that wealth brings, but has found the simple life more fulfilling. His responsibility is to the world and the people we share it with.




Forever Young


Book Description

He walked on the Moon. He flew six space missions in three different programs--more than any other human. He served with NASA for more than four decades. His peers called him the "astronaut's astronaut." Enthusiasts of space exploration have long waited for John Young to tell the story of his two Gemini flights, his two Apollo missions, the first-ever Space Shuttle flight, and the first Spacelab mission. Forever Young delivers all that and more: Young's personal journey from engineering graduate to fighter pilot, to test pilot, to astronaut, to high NASA official, to clear-headed predictor of the fate of Planet Earth. Young, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James Hansen, recounts the great episodes of his amazing flying career in fascinating detail and with wry humor. He portrays astronauts as ordinary human beings and NASA as an institution with the same ups and downs as other major bureaucracies. He frankly discusses the risks of space travel, including what went wrong with the Challenger and Columbia shuttles. Forever Young is one of the last memoirs produced by an early American astronaut. It is the first memoir written by a chief of the NASA astronaut corps. Young's experiences and candor make this book indispensable to everyone interested in the U.S. space program.




Always an Adventure


Book Description

Hugh Dempsey recounts his interesting and varied careers as journalist, historian, archivist and museum administrator.




Never Give Up


Book Description

Admired by millions as the star of Man vs. Wild and the acclaimed NGC series Running Wild, global adventurer Bear Grylls has explored places few would dare to go. Now, he shares time-honored lessons for leading an adventurous life through stories drawn from his personal experiences, as well as encounters with a diverse group of celebrities who have participated in his wildly popular television shows. In these inspiring pages, Grylls chronicles his life since stepping onto the small screen, taking readers on his most famous adventures, sharing stories from his favorite expeditions, and capturing his hairiest survival challenges. The followup to the internationally best-selling Mud, Sweat and Tears, this new autobiography goes behind the scenes on infamous Man vs. Wild shoots and provides an insight into what it's really like to "Run Wild" with guests including President Obama, Roger Federer, and Julia Roberts. Along the way, Bear explores the valuable lessons he's learned in the wild, opens up about his most personal challenges and achievements, and celebrates the true value of adventure and the enduring importance of courage, kindness, and resilience. Written for outdoor enthusiasts and armchair adventurers alike, Never Give Up offers an inspiring path to help readers live their best lives.




How an Average Man Lived an Adventurous Life


Book Description

The stories in this book are all true. Its author has been held up at gunpoint at night on a road in Guatemala and shot with a machine gun in the chest and shoulder in Vietnam.He's come close to dying of thirst in the Sahara and freezing to death in the Himalayas.He's contracted malaria and typhoid fever in Ethiopia and hepatitis in India There have been accidents involving motorcycles and automobiles. He's had close calls involving lions (twice), elephants (three times) and a rhino (once). He's visited over a hundred countries, seen revolutions, famines, wars, and panty raids, feasted in palaces and fasted in caves. He's discovered paradises, been saved by dolphins, hopped freight trains, danced with an 108-year-old woman, swam with sharks, frequented whore houses and opium dens, and met a man capable of revealing God. In the pages of this book you'll meet the queen of the Ecuadorian prison system, the Dalai Lama, Dick Cheney, a swami from Katmandu who makes his living picking up large stones with his penis, yak herders, tunnel rats, 300 pound go-go girls, deep sea divers, drug dealers, stock car drivers, Indonesian princes, Bolivian miners, beanheads, powder monkeys, hookers and saints.Between the stories the author gives advice to would-be travelers, describes six tropical paradises where you can live comfortably on five hundred dollars a month, and includes his personal lists of the best things in the world. Mr. Linnemeier hails from the Hoosier state. Today he treads the path of moderation, living contentedly in a small town, surrounded by friends and family. He claims to have abandoned most of his previous vices, and has the stated aim of dying peacefully in bed at ninety five. In his own words, "I'm not the kind of person that men automatically defer to.I don't usually make women's hearts beat faster when they see me across a crowded room




The Life and Adventures of Nat Love


Book Description

Thousands of black cowpunchers drove cattle up the Chisholm Trail after the Civil War, but only Nat Love wrote about his experiences. Born to slaves in Davidson County, Tennessee, the newly freed Love struck out for Kansas after the war. He was fifteen and already endowed with a reckless and romantic readiness. In wide-open Dodge City he joined up with an outfit from the Texas Panhandle to begin a career riding the range and fighting Indians, outlaws, and the elements. Years later he would say, "I had an unusually adventurous life". That was rare understatement. More characteristic was Love's claim: "I carry the marks of fourteen bullet wounds on different parts of my body, most any one of which would be sufficient to kill an ordinary man, but I am not even crippled". In 1876 a virtuoso rodeo performance in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, won him the moniker of Deadwood Dick. He became known as DD all over the West, entering into dime novels as a mysteriously dark and heroic presence. This vivid autobiography includes encounters with Bat Masterson and Billy the Kid, a soon-after view of the Custer battlefield, and a successful courtship. Love left the range in 1890, the year of the official closing of the frontier. Then, as a Pullman train conductor he traveled his old trails, and those good times bring his story to a satisfying end.




The Pony Cart Adventure


Book Description

When eleven-year-old Elva finally finishes her chores on this beautiful summer morning, she hurries to the neighboring farm to see if her friend Linda can join her for an afternoon adventure. Come on along with the young Mennonite girls as they hitch up the pony, climb into the cart, and trot down the drive for a day filled with unexpected excitement. This charming story, the first in the Farm Life Series, is based on author Elva Hurst's growing-up years on the family farm and written for children from seven to eleven years old. Reminiscent of days gone by, this simple tale is full of good-hearted fun.




Spirit of Adventure


Book Description

An extraordinary journey alongside America's new generation of Eagle Scouts, who are discovering their purpose and bringing the values of Scouting to the world. Over the past century, Scouts have helped to guide the course of American history. But what does Scouting and the Eagle badge mean to the Scouts of today? How will they shape the future of Scouting and America itself? In Spirit of Adventure, Scouting expert and Eagle Scout Alvin Townley finds the answer. Townley traveled across the country and to the far corners of the globe to meet these young Eagle Scouts. He found them everywhere, continuing the life of adventure and service that they had begun in Scouting. He discovered them in Afghanistan providing medical care to villagers, in Australia saving coral reefs, at the Super Bowl and Olympic venues striving for victory, on desert cliffs and at inner-city schools teaching new lessons, in Africa bringing hope to children, and on the windswept deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz preparing for takeoff. Whether doctors, activists, servicemen, entrepreneurs, or teachers, these young men are changing the world through bold actions that capture the essence of the Scouting tradition. In Spirit of Adventure, Townley answers important questions about the future of Scouting and America, while revealing stories of service, courage, and pure excitement that introduce our nation to an inspiring new generation of leaders.