Adventurers, Explorers & Survival

For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was  a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe....

The River of Doubt brings alive extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived....

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood....

Into Thin Air is the definitive, personal account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest...

Gather around for campfire stories with the MeatEater crew as they share 16 harrowing true tales of survival, grit, and misfortune in the great outdoors - an immersive audio experience from the host of the long-running Netflix series and top-ranked wilderness podcast....  

In this inspiring travelogue, celebrated traveler and photographer Jessica Nabongo—the first Black woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world—shares her journey around the globe with fascinating stories of adventure, culture, travel musts, and human connections....

In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong. Of the 300 men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived....

438 Days is the miraculous account of the man who survived alone and adrift at sea longer than anyone in recorded history....

Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped....

The true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry—with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter....

Only four men survived the plane crash. The pilot. A politician. A cop... and the criminal he was shackled to....

In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of Auckland Island....

For 46 years, Carol Minto has quietly gone about her life, carrying with her the most extraordinary and heartbreaking secrets....

In this life-affirming intergenerational memoir, Lily Ebert, a Holocaust survivor, and her great-grandson, Dov Forman, come together to share her story—an unforgettable tale of resilience and resistance....

In the spirit of the bestseller Fly Girls comes the definitive and compelling true story of Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to receive a pilot's license....

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery....

On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes....

The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks....

The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance....

Ross Edgley famously ran a marathon pulling a 1.4-tonne car and climbed a rope the height of Everest (8,848 m), after living with Yamabushi warrior monks in Japan and partaking in Shamanic pain rituals with fire ants in the Amazon jungle....

The epic memoir of an Alaskan pararescue jumper, Special Forces Operator, and decorated war hero....

A profound rumination on the concept of freedom from the New York Times bestselling author of Tribe....

A new original audiobook from Penguin Random House Audio....

Nepali climber Nims Purja is the first man ever to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter "Death Zone" peaks. He did so in less than seven months, breaking the previous record of seven years.... 

In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West.... 

A couple of quiet weeks sailing the River Severn was the intention. Somehow things got out of hand—a year later, I had reached Romania and was still going. Equipped with his cheerful optimism and a pith helmet, this Australian Odysseus in a dinghy travels from the borders of North Wales to the Black Sea—4,900 kilometres over salt and fresh water, under sail, at the oars, or at the end of a tow-rope—through 12 countries, 282 locks and numerous trials and adventures, including an encounter with Balkan pirates.

Geralyn Ritter was thrown from the train with such force that she sustained catastrophic injuries to her chest, her abdomen, and her pelvis. Found unconscious, unable to breathe, and suffering massive blood loss, she was not expected to survive. After enduring weeks in the ICU, dozens of surgeries over the following years, unremitting pain, PTSD, depression, and opioid dependence, Geralyn was faced with a daunting question: Beyond mere survival after trauma, where is the path back to joy? 

Jackie was an ordinary American woman whose life changed after a blind date with rugged Antarctic explorer Finn Ronne. After marrying, they began planning the 1946-1948 Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition. Her participation was not welcomed by the expedition team of red-blooded males eager to prove themselves in the frozen, hostile environment of Antarctica.

In the early twentieth century, headlines declared that "the era of women has dawned." Against this changing historical backdrop, Harriet Quimby's extraordinary life stands out as the embodiment of this tumultuous, exciting era—when flight was measured in minutes, not miles. This untold piece of feminist history unveils Quimby's incredible story: rising from humble beginnings as a dirt-poor farm girl to become a globe-trotting journalist, history-making aviator, and international celebrity. 

All In My Head is a memoir by a woman who in her early 50s received a life-shattering diagnosis. It is about her determined search for effective treatment, the birth of a campaign to get proper data and funding for research into glioblastoma (GBM), and finally her coming to terms with the knowledge that she has reached the end of the road. 

In 2002, while on a training run in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Raul, in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon, author Kristin Abello was struck by a car. As a result, she sustained a traumatic brain injury and other physical traumas. The initial consensus was that she wasn’t going to survive. In Sunrise, she tells her story of faith, love, hope, and healing from TBI. While a love story, it is also the true story of her fight for survival. She and Raul were a young couple in love when the catastrophic car accident nearly pulled them apart.

At the age of 18, Yvonne set out to build a home from trees on 80 acres she bought on an Oregon mountainside. In 1975, log by log, she creates a cabin and heals from an orphaned past, finding a new family in the forest and with people in a valley named John Day. Babe in the Woods: Self Portrait is the second in a three-book series. It chronicles a span in Yvonne's four decades' long relationship with her log cabin and the people she meets in the valley. The audiobook continues Yvonne's story of learning to live in the wilderness within and outside of herself.

In 1973, the Wilcox family sets off to sail around the world aboard the 40-foot sailboat, Vela. Thirteen months later, they are shipwrecked on a coral reef, with surf tearing a huge hole into the side of their boat. With years invested in saving money, preparing the boat, and learning to navigate by the stars, parents Chuck and Dawn refuse to give up. Can they overcome the emotional, physical, and financial challenges to transform from castaways into circumnavigators? 

On March 20, 1822, the Missouri Republican published a notice addressed “to enterprising young men” in the St. Louis area. “The subscriber,” it said, “wishes to engage one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years. For particulars enquire of Major Andrew Henry…or of the subscriber near St. Louise.” The “subscriber” was General William H. Ashley, and among the “enterprising young men” who embarked with Major Henry less than a month later was 18-year-old James Bridger.

This is an adventure story of a man on a mission to experience the most exciting life possible. This takes place over just three months out of a five year journey of living and nonstop traveling in a van, seeking out the deepest forests with the most beautiful and extreme mountain biking adventures nature has to offer. Two countries, six states, 32 cities, spent over 75 days with 42 rides. Somewhere, not just anywhere! and definitely not lost! Oh God! this isn't a dream! My legs are toast! Wow! What a ride!

For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was  a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.   

In this work of deep reflection, insight, and vulnerability, Caroline Brunne shares her story of becoming the woman she is today. From the shores of the picturesque island of Mauritius, to suburban Victoria, through to her childhood home in Queensland, deep in the heart of her life journey is her lived experience of trauma, the impact of childhood sexual abuse and her ongoing quest to support her fellow survivors to reduce the shame they may carry.

I was born and broken in Birkenhead, abused from infancy by a network of every kind of pervert from ‘thinks it’s love’ to ‘show it hurts’. I was unwanted, beaten, sold, swapped, photographed, filmed, left for dead, corrupted, blamed, betrayed, ignored and orphaned. But I was also born with a fire inside me. I call it my Phoenix Fire. I am no victim—that word only describes what happened to me. Nor am I a survivor because that implies I am over it. I am a Phoenix—a work in progress. This is my story....

It’s 1972 when free-spirited “good girl” Fay takes off on a three-year journey around the US and Europe in search of jobs, apartments, and boyfriends. She soon finds navigating her way through the real world will take a skill set her Sunday schoolteacher never taught her. Taking off on a three-year journey across America and Europe in the early 1970s, Fay quickly learns there are three things she needs in order to be happy—an apartment, a job, and a boyfriend, a.k.a., "the holy trinity”.

On Yom Kippur, 1944, fighting to stay alive as a prisoner in Auschwitz, Lily Ebert made a promise to herself. She would survive the hell she was in and tell the world her story, for everyone who couldn’t. Now, at 98, this remarkable woman—and TikTok sensation, thanks to the help of her 18-year-old great-grandson—fulfills that vow, relaying the details of her harrowing experiences with candor, charm, and an overflowing heart.