From Library Journal
In its latest compilation of short works and extracts about people in dire straits, Willis (editor, Dark: Stories of Madness, Murder and the Supernatural) presents stories of survival in storms. The opening piece is a riveting, disturbing essay by a man who lost his wife and boat after deciding to ride out a typhoon instead of seeking shelter. In another, one of the guides of the doomed 1996 Everest expedition describes what led to his losing several members to exposure. The 18 stories are a mixture of fiction, memoir, and description and cover a variety of circumstances and times. John Muir, Leo Tolstoy, Wallace Stegner, Richard Byrd, Jack London, and Sebastian Junger are among the writers represented. The individual pieces are interesting, sometimes even absorbing, but the overall effect is much the same for all: storms are big, man is small, and strength, character, and preparation make the difference between survival and disappearance. For sports collections in large libraries.DEdwin B. Burgess, US Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Perfect for armchair travelers, this collection of wild survival stories allows any listener to live vicariously through the world's worst weather without even donning a raincoat. Each story--whether fiction or recollection--recounts in vivid detail the hardships and suffering caused by snowstorms, rain, winds, and hurricanes around the world. While each performance is stellar, some are better than others. High points of the tapes include The Storm, by Sebastian Junger, read by Rick Foucheux; The House of Mapuhi, by Jack London, read by Gary Telles; and The Hermit's Story, written by Rick Bass and read by Telles. Through the sheer strength of performance, these tales not only transport the listener to turbulent weather, they make one never want to leave the comfort of home. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Independent Publisher
"Listening to these audio books is an armchair adventurer's dream..."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Adrenaline Books' search for the world's best and most exciting reading has taken readers from the peaks of Everest to the jungles of Papua, New Guinea. Now, publishing's most successful adventure literature series returns with Storm, first-hand accounts of battling the elements: hurricanes; blizzards; tornadoes; sandstorms - in mountains, seas, plains, and jungles. Included are sections from sailors, climbers, captains, and other hardy souls, such as Patrick O'Brien, Stephen Venables, Chris Bonington, Sebastian Junger and Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Harrowing adventures that test human endurance, Storm contains stories of individuals who must fight to stay alive: Barry Lopez is trapped among arctic floes by a sudden squall; Art Davidson's team freezes in a wind storm on Mt. McKinley as the temperature hits 148 degrees below zero; an idyllic sail turns tragic when Gordon Chaplin loses his ship and lover in a South Pacific typhoon. Adrenaline Books presents the latest installment of the most thrilling accounts of men and women who have had to face the full force of nature's fury.

FROM THE CRITICS

KLIATT

The Adrenaline Books imprint always suggests exciting tales of derring-do, and this title is no exception. Series editor Clint Willis is experienced in selecting the most stirring stories from fiction and nonfiction of people who find themselves confronted with the most hopeless odds that nature can arrange for the unwary and the unlucky. As the title suggests, this collection involves storms on land and at sea. Other series titles feature mountains and avalanches, ocean adventure, and even outright murder and madness. However lurid the book's premise might sound, Willis chooses his selections carefully from the works of authors both vintage and new, well known and obscure. A mellow Leo Tolstoy story about an existential storm on the Russian steppe, for example, stands next to a maritime yarn by Ernest K. Gann. An anecdote about Richard Byrd's experiences in spending an Antarctic winter alone early in the century is followed by a reminiscence of David Hays, author of the recently published My Old Man and the Sea. A number of the writers here are familiar, but Willis has chosen none of the old chestnuts. Jack London's name on a list of survival stories inevitably brings to mind his classic "To Build a Fire," but instead the editor offers London's spellbinding "The House of Mapuhi." In short, no matter how jaded a reader might be, he or she is assured of several evenings' worth of good entertainment. High school students will find it enticing. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. Publishers Group West/Thunder's Mouth Press, 363p, illus, 23cm, 00-108282, $16.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Raymond L. Puffer, Ph.D.;Historian, Edwards Air Force Base, CA, March 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 2)

Library Journal