Explorer Memoirs

In early 2022, Charlie Walker set out to hike 600 miles along the frozen rivers of Siberia. He hoped to cut through the myth of the gulag and the permafrost to understand who its people are and how they reckon with their haunted past, as well as what the future might hold for this remote corner of our world. But on 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine, with devastating consequences. What had begun as an adventure swiftly descended into a paranoid nightmare, as Walker began to suspect he was being monitored by the Russian authorities. Shortly afterwards he was arrested and imprisoned.

No American president has been more enthusiastic in appreciating the wilderness and in conserving our nation’s natural treasures than Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919). And no other president wrote more about nature and his explorations of it than T. R., in scattered books, such as African Wilderness, and in his countless letters, including those collected in The Selected Letters of Theodore Roosevelt).

Veteran sailor and writer Christian Williams invites us along once again on a 5,000-mile voyage of discovery around the North Pacific. Equipped with a new boat, a well-stocked toolbox, and the entire history of philosophic thought, he takes us as crew through squalls and calms deep into a laboratory of the universe that exists only out of sight of land. Funny, erudite, and at times deeply personal, Philosophy of Sailing explores who we are and how encounters with the unknown can be a path to revelation and joy.

Keith Foskett was the definition of restless. Drifting aimlessly, he knew a piece was missing from his life. But when a stranger in a Greek bar tells him about a world-famous pilgrim’s trail, the chance encounter sets Foskett’s life in a new 1,000-mile direction. On El Camino de Santiago, the wanderer copes with extreme temperatures, fake faith healers, and insatiable kleptomaniacs. Threatened with arrest for "not sleeping" and suffering with excruciating blisters, Foskett pushes himself to new limits. Can he find what he’s looking for and make it to the other side?

David Livingstone was one of the most consequential individuals who lived in the 19th century. An unpretentious Scottish missionary doctor, explorer, and abolitionist, he opened the door for Christianity in southern Africa. He was a man who overcame many deprivations and discouragements, and displayed the utmost measure of courage, self-control, faith, wisdom, and ingenuity. Christie takes a balanced look at Livingstone’s amazing achievements, but also at his very real flaws. This gripping and in-depth biography is a must-listen insight into a fascinating man.

Hailed as the adventure-writing successor to Hemingway and Ruark, only Peter Hathaway Capstick “can write action as cleanly and suspensefully as the best of his predecessors’ (Sports Illustrated). This long-awaited sequel to Death in the Silent Places brings to life four turn-of-the-century adventurers and the savage frontiers they braved. * Frederick Selous, a British hunter, naturalist, and soldier, rewrote the history books with his fearless treks deep into Africa. * English game ranger Constantine “Iodine” Ionides saved Tanganyikan villages from man-eating lions and leopards.

Memoirs of a Real Crocodile Hunter is a first-hand account of crocodile hunting in Africa, drawing listeners deep into the wild river systems of Malawi and the wider southern African region. Bartlett describes real encounters with problem crocodiles, human fatalities, and the responsibility carried by those tasked with stopping predators that have learned to hunt people.

Travel the Universe as you explore the wonders of outer space like never before! I combined all three exciting volumes into one incredible fact book for space lovers, students, and the curious.

The legendary explorer of the Titanic shares inside stories of danger, suspense, and discovery - plus previously untold stories about his own dyslexia and how it has shaped his life.

'One brilliant woman writing about so many other brilliant women, this is a wonderful treasure chest of women’s lives, full of wit, verve and emotion . . . Epic, unputdownable, gripping. I loved it’ - Professor Kate Williams “My hope is that this book will inspire as I have been inspired...

When Steve Williams lost his mother to cancer, his life shattered. Grief sent him on a path far from home a road marked by homelessness, addiction, and the raw fight to survive. From sleeping under overpasses to hitchhiking across the country, Steve encountered strangers who became unexpected teachers: mystics, drifters, healers, and everyday people whose kindness and wisdom left lasting imprints on his soul. The Trails of a Happy Horse: My Spiritual Awakening is the true account of a young man’s journey through life’s darkest valleys toward the light of understanding and peace.

The Trail is a moving story of how nature helps us find what’s missing in our lives. The tale begins with Gil, who in the wake of his father’s death and recently fired from his job, agrees to accompany his father’s old hiking partner Syd on a month-long trek on the John Muir Trail. There’s just one problem: Gil hates camping and is woefully unprepared for the rigors of the journey. Moreover, he soon learns Syd may not survive the hike.

A true story of survival, faith, and second chances. When Jose’s heart began to fail, his life changed forever. Amid uncertain diagnoses, complex surgeries, and the technology that kept him alive, he faced a reality few can imagine: depending on a machine while waiting for a heart transplant. Between Heartbeats is a powerful story about resilience, family, and the fight to make the most of every moment we are given.

Into the North Wind chronicles Jill Homer’s record-breaking bicycle ride across Alaska on the Iditarod Trail. Jill is one of those “accidental athletes” who stumbled into endurance racing shortly after she moved to Alaska in 2005. Ever since, she dreamed about the chiming of ice crystals at 30 below zero, black spruce shadows in the moonlight, the ethereal dance of the Northern Lights, and a journey that could take her deeper into this transcendental world - the 1,000-mile race to Nome.

The ultimate laugh-out-loud, good life, meet the eccentric locals, house-hunting, foodie, travel-tour, fun memoir. There were highs, heartbreaks and cliff-hangers as British-born author Diz White scrambled between the Cotswolds, looking for a bargain cottage, and Hollywood, taking every hilariously wacky acting job to earn the down payment. Her search doubles as a travel tour, taking in every delight of this area.

From the beginning, it was clear that Ralph Nutter was an exceptional navigator. Rapid promotion followed when he was assigned as Maj. Gen. Curtis the Eagle LeMay's personal navigator. Later, he was picked by Maj. Gen. Haywood Possum Hansell, the 20th Air Force Commander, to be his personal navigator. The author's vivid recollections of those halcyon years make for exciting, informative listening.

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and one of the greatest European explorers who ever lived. He fought all his life against slavery, and is remembered as a national hero for opening up the interior of the so-called "Dark Continent"; his expeditions had a tremendous influence on the colonization of Africa and the relation between Europeans and Africans. The son of a Christian missionary himself, Livingstone felt a spiritual calling to reach people in the interior of Africa in order to find new commercial routes and thus free the Africans from the plague of slavery.

Brought to you by Penguin. Surviving extreme conditions can teach us to lead a fulfilled life. No one knows this better than Erling Kagge, who was the first man in history to reach all of the Earth's poles by foot - the North, the South, and the summit of Everest. In The Philosophy of an...

If you met Ron Carlson, CEO of a Chicago-based architectural firm, you wouldn't necessarily think of him as the daredevil type. But Ron's life has been a series of death-defying exploits. Into the Unknown: True Stories of a Pilot Cheating Death chronicles a few of Ron's most brazen endeavors, from flying to the high Arctic and being stalked by polar bears to bailing out of an old World War II bomber before it crashes.

In Vienna, 1919, a gaunt, silver-haired man knocks on his sister's door. She refuses to open it. As far as the family knows, Chaim Zeidler died years ago on a battlefield in Galicia—they sat shiva, they mourned him, they let him go. So when he calls his own name through the wood, she screams that he's a dibbuk: a ghost come back to haunt the living. He isn't. He survived.