When I Fell from the Sky: The True Story of One Woman's Miraculous Survival

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Aron Ralston · 368 pages

Hiking into the remote Utah canyonlands, Aron Ralston felt perfectly at home in the beautiful natural world. Then, at 2:41 p.m., eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, an eight-hundred-pound boulder tumbled loose, pinning Aron's right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. Through six days of hell, with scant water, food, or warm clothing, and the terrible knowledge that no

Miracle in The Andes

Nando Parrado · 315 pages

In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence.Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying--among them his own mother and s

Left For Dead: My Journey Home from Everest

Beck Weathers, Stephen G. Michaud · 304 pages

I am neither churchly nor a particularly spiritual person, but I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling--quite literally a dead man walking--into camp and the shaky start of my return to life. On May 10, 1996, nine climbers perished in a blizzard high on Mount Everest, the single deadliest day ever on the peak. The following

Beyond the Bear: How I Learned to Live and Love Again after Being Blinded by a Bear

Dan Bigley, Debra McKinney · 218 pages

A 25-year-old backcountry wanderer, a man happiest exploring wild places with his dog, Dan Bigley woke up one midsummer morning to a day full of promise. Before it was over, after a stellar day of salmon fishing along Alaska's Kenai and Russian rivers, a grizzly came tearing around a corner in the trail. Dan barely had time for "bear charging" to register before it had him on the ground, altering

Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea

Steven Callahan · 255 pages

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Cheryl Strayed · 315 pages

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she'd lost everything when her mother died young of cancer. Her family scattered in their grief, her marriage was soon destroyed, and slowly her life spun out of control. Four years after her mot

Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival

Yossi Ghinsberg · 320 pages

Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle

Ingrid Betancourt · 528 pages

Ingrid Betancourt tells the story of her captivity in the Colombian jungle, sharing teachings of resilience, resistance, and faith. Born in Bogotá, raised in France, Betancourt at age 32 gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism, violence, fear, and hopelessness. In 2002, while a candidate in th

Last Man Down: The Fireman's Story

Richard Picciotto, Daniel Paisner · 236 pages

QF32

Richard de Crespigny · 368 pages

On the Edge

Richard Hammond, Mindy Hammond · 309 pages

Everything to Live For: The Inspirational Story of Turia Pitt

Turia Pitt · 336 pages

The Ledge: An Adventure Story of Friendship and Survival on Mount Rainier

Jim Davidson, Kevin Vaughan · 268 pages

"In June 1992, best friends Jim Davidson and Mike Price stood triumphantly atop Washington's Mount Rainier, celebrating what they hoped would be the first of many milestones in their lives as passionate young mountaineers. Instead, their conquest gave way to catastrophe when a cave-in plunged them deep inside a glacial crevasse--the pitch-black, ice-walled hell that every climber's nightmares are

90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life

Don Piper · 304 pages

I Am the Central Park Jogger

Trisha Meili · 257 pages

The woman dubbed in the headlines "the Central Park Jogger," who was raped and brutally beaten in 1989 while jogging in New York's Central Park, recounts her assault and recovery and describes how the event changed her life.

Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence

Matthew Sanford · 288 pages

Matt Sanford's life and body were irrevocably changed at age 13 on a snowy lowa road. On that day, his family's car skidded off an overpass, killing Matt's father and sister and leaving him paralyzed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair. His mother and brother escaped from the accident unharmed but were left to pick up the pieces of their decimated family. This pivotal event set Matt o

My Next Breath

Jeremy Renner · 224 pages

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand · 514 pages

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. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Se

Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums

Travis Barker · 416 pages

Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop Who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters

Violet Jessop, John Maxtone-Graham · 238 pages

"Violet Jessop was probably the only rescued person with a toothbrush after the Britannic struck a mine and sank. But then she had been on the Titanic four years earlier and remembered what she had missed...". "In 1934, she wrote her memoirs. After a childhood in Argentina and formative years in England, she became a stewardees aboard a variety of passenger ships. She was there when Titanic sides

Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life

James Blake · 288 pages

In 2004, James Blake's life was getting more perfect by the day. A rising tennis star, with each passing year his game seemed to improve. In 2002, he was named Sexiest Male Athlete by People, and along the way he continued to gain in the rankings and earn respect on the court. Each day seemed to offer a new milestone, a new achievement; he was leading a charmed life and loving every minute of the

Not Without Hope

Nick Schuyler, Jere Longman · 246 pages

A former college football star shares the story of his dramatic survival and rescue after a headline-making boating accident that left three of his friends dead, including two NFL players.

I Knew Their Hearts: The Amazing True Story of Jeff Olsen's Journey Beyond the Veil to Learn the Silent Language of the Heart

Jeff Olsen, Lee Nelson

After being critically injured in a car accident that took the life of his wife and son, Jeff Olsen has some near-death experiences that help him cope with their loss.

Still LoLo: A Spinning Propeller, a Horrific Accident, and a Family's Journey of Hope

Lauren Scruggs, Scruggs Family · 290 pages