Best Outdoor Recreation

The #1 New York Times –bestselling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany and now the inspiration for the PBS documentary “The Boys of ‘36” For readers of Unbroken , out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. In doing so, he offers a vivid picture of the socioeconomic landscape of 1930s America (brutal), the relentlessly demanding effort required of an Olympic-level rower, the exquisite brainpower and materials that go into making a first-rate boat, and the wiles of a coach who somehow found a way to, first, beat archrival University of California, then conquer a national field of qualifiers, and finally, defeat the best rowing teams in the world.

This invaluable book includes. • recommendations on what equipment you will need—and what you can do without—from clothing to cutlery to camping gear to weapons. • basic and advanced hunting strategies, including spot-and-stalk hunting, ambush hunting, still hunting, drive hunting, and backpack hunting. • how to effectively use decoys and calling for big game. • how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land, and how to locate areas that other hunters aren’t using. • how and when to scout hunting locations for maximum effectiveness. • basic information on procuring hunting tags, including limited-entry “draw” tags. • a species-by-species description of fourteen big-game animals, from their mating rituals and preferred habitats to the best hunting techniques—both firearm and archery—for each species. • how to plan and pack for backcountry hunts. • instructions on how to break down any big-game animal and transport it from your hunting site. • how to butcher your own big-game animals and select the proper cuts for sausages, roasts, and steaks, and how to utilize underappreciated cuts such as ribs and shanks. • cooking techniques and recipes, for both outdoor and indoor preparation of wild game. Steven Rinella is the author of Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter, American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon, and The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine.

The classic bestselling book for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses*, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age-old question of what the big deal with girls is. Equal parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), The Dangerous Book is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book's ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own). Conn taught for many years before becoming one of the most admired and popular young historical novelists with his Emperor series, based on the life of Julius Caesar, and his newly embarked series on Genghis Khan, while Hal is a theater director. Amazon.com: It's difficult to describe what a phenomenon The Dangerous Book for Boys was in the UK last year. They need to fall off things occasionally, or--and this is the important bit--they'll take worse risks on their own. Amazon.com: You made some changes for the U.S. edition, and I for one am sorry that you have removed the section on conkers, if only because it's such a lovely and mysterious word. In the entire history of the world, no one has ever been hurt by a conker, but it's still been banned by some British schools, just in case . I notice in both editions you have an excellent and useful section on table football, as played with coins. As for paper football, ever since I thought of putting the book together, people keep saying things like "You have rockets in there, yes? Have you seen boys getting up from their Xboxes to go outside and perform first aid or tan animal skins or build go-carts? Iggulden: I've had a lot of emails and letters from boys who loved the book--as well as fathers. I've had responses from kids as young as ten and an old man of 87, who pointed out a problem with the shadow stick that we've since changed. If it's hard, you don't make it easy, you grab it by the throat and hang on for as long as it takes. Good, heroic stories don't appear much in modern school curriculums--and then we wonder why boys don't seem interested.

For readers of Unbroken , out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. In doing so, he offers a vivid picture of the socioeconomic landscape of 1930s America (brutal), the relentlessly demanding effort required of an Olympic-level rower, the exquisite brainpower and materials that go into making a first-rate boat, and the wiles of a coach who somehow found a way to, first, beat archrival University of California, then conquer a national field of qualifiers, and finally, defeat the best rowing teams in the world.

The #1 New York Times –bestselling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany and now the inspiration for the PBS documentary “The Boys of ‘36” For readers of Unbroken , out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. In doing so, he offers a vivid picture of the socioeconomic landscape of 1930s America (brutal), the relentlessly demanding effort required of an Olympic-level rower, the exquisite brainpower and materials that go into making a first-rate boat, and the wiles of a coach who somehow found a way to, first, beat archrival University of California, then conquer a national field of qualifiers, and finally, defeat the best rowing teams in the world.

In the decade since its original publication, On Rope has gained worldwide recognition as the most authoritative book on single rope techniques (SRT).

The heroic dash of dog teams across the Alaskan wilderness to Nome inspired the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and immortalized Balto, the lead dog of the last team whose bronze statue still stands in New York City's Central Park. Readers will be on tenterhooks as they follow the mushers and their dogs through minus-60-degree temperatures, unbroken trails, "ice fog," treacherous ice floes, gales, and blizzards, from the January day when Dr. Curtis Welsh realized that he faced an epidemic with only three nurses and an outdated supply of serum to that early morning less than five days later when Gunnar Kaasen and his Balto-led dogsled team arrived in Nome, exhausted and frostbitten, and carrying the new serum.

Erik Weihenmayer is the first and only blind person to summit Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. No Barriers is Erik’s response to that challenge. Erik Weihenmayer is a bestselling author, athlete, adventurer, and motivational speaker.

Through the raft and the adventures it brings him on, Nicky finds new common ground with his grandmother, a fellow river rat, who encourages him to explore his newfound talent for art. Imagine passing a summer drifting up and down a slow-moving river, watching as cranes, turtles, raccoons, otters, and ducks grow accustomed to your presence. On hot, sticky nights, picture a tent set up on the raft, from which you have an unobstructed view of huge bucks drinking from the moonlit river.

A Voyage for Madmen is a tale of sailors driven by their own dreams and demons, of horrific storms in the Southern Ocean, and of those riveting moments when a split-second decision means the difference between life and death. He expertly tells their individual stories in great detail: why they entered the race, what they had staked on winning, and their struggles at sea. Readers will eagerly turn the pages to discover how some were defeated by the ocean or the race's harsh rules and the lengths to which one contestant went to be declared the winner.

The 4th edition is packed with amazing marine life photographs of 683 species and enough information to keep fish watchers busy for years. In the early 1970s, Paul Humann, then captain owner of the Caribbean's first live-aboard dive boat, Cayman Diver, experienced daily frustration when unable to answer his clients many questions about the host of fish they encountered on every dive.

Freedom Found is a must-read for Warren’s legion of fans, ski history enthusiasts, adrenaline junkies and anyone whose interest is piqued by an extraordinary 20th-century success story. He premiered his first annual ski film in 1950, and over the next five-plus decades millions of skiers and snowboarders flocked to his films, worshipping his unique sense of humor, candor and adventure.

Each route includes the following elements: elevation, route distance, time required, fitness level, best season, maps and permit info, driving directions and detailed route description. In addition, Volken is an instructor/examiner for the AMGA ski mountaineering program and a gear designer for top brands of skis and outdoor clothing.

Finnegan shares stories of life in a whitesonly gang in a tough school in Honolulu even while his closest friend was a Hawaiian surfer. As Finnegan’s travels take him ever farther afield, he becomes an improbable anthropologist: unpicking the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissecting the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, navigating the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little understood art. Frantically juggling work and family, he chases his enchantment through Long Island ice storms and obscure corners of Madagascar. In other words, it is, like Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, a semi-dangerous book, one that persuades young men…to trade in their office jobs in order to roam the world, to feel the ocean’s power, and chase the waves.” —The Paris Review Daily “Fans of [Finnegan’s] writing have been waiting eagerly for his surfing memoir…Well, Barbarian Days is here. )…A lyrical and enormously rewarding read…Finnegan’s enchantment takes us to some luminous and unsettling places — on both the edge of the ocean, and the frontiers of the surfing life.” —San Diego Union-Tribune “Barbarian Days gleams with precise, often lyrical recollections of the most memorable waves [Finnegan has] encountered…He carefully mines his surfing exploits for broader, hard-won insights on his childhood, his most intense friendships and romances, his political education, his career. Still, Finnegan considerately shows himself paying the price of admission in a few near drownings, and these are among the most electrifying moments in the book…There are too many breathtaking, original things in Barbarian Days to do more than mention here—observations about surfing that have simply never been made before, or certainly never so well.” —The New York Times Book Review “Without a doubt, the finest surf book I’ve ever read… All this technical mastery and precise description goes hand in hand with an unabashed, infectious earnestness. Finnegan has certainly written a surfing book for surfers, but on a more fundamental level, ‘Barbarian Days’ offers a cleareyed vision of American boyhood. Through the sheer intensity of his descriptive powers and the undeniable ways in which surfing has shaped his life, Barbarian Days is an utterly convincing study in the joy of treating seriously an unserious thing…As Finnegan demonstrates, surfing, like good writing, is an act of vigilant noticing. That pairing makes Barbarian Days exceptional in the notoriously foamy genre of surf lit: a hefty, heavyweight tour de force, overbrimming with sublime lyrical passages that Finnegan drops as effortlessly as he executed his signature ‘drop-knee cutback’ in the breaks off Waikiki…Reading this guy on the subject of waves and water is like reading Hemingway on bullfighting; William Burroughs on controlled substances; Updike on adultery…Finnegan is a virtuoso wordsmith, but the juice propelling this memoir is wrung from the quest that shaped him…A piscine, picaresque coming-of-age story, seen through the gloss resin coat of a surfboard.” —Sports Illustrated Overflowing with vivid descriptions of waves caught and waves missed, of disappointments and ecstasies and gargantuan curling tubes that encircle riders like cathedrals of pure stained glass…These paragraphs, with their mix of personal remembrance and subcultural taxonomies, tend to be as elegant and pellucid as the breakers they immortalize…This memoir is one you can ride all the way to shore.” —Entertainment Weekly “[A] sweeping, glorious memoir…Oh, the rides, they are incandescent…I’d sooner press this book upon on a nonsurfer, in part because nothing I’ve read so accurately describes the feeling of being stoked or the despair of being held under. But also because while it is a book about ‘A Surfing Life’…it’s also about a writer’s life and, even more generally, a quester’s life, more carefully observed and precisely rendered than any I’ve read in a long time.” —Los Angeles Times “Gorgeously written and intensely felt…With Mr. Finnegan’s bravura memoir, the surfing bookshelf is dramatically enriched. He makes surfing seem as foreign and simultaneously as intimate a sport as possible…Surfing is the backbone of the book, but Finnegan’s relationships to people, not waves, form its flesh…[A] deep blue story of one man’s lifelong enchantment.” —Boston Globe “Finnegan’s epic adventure, beautifully told, is much more than the story of a boy and his wave, even if surfing serves as the thumping heartbeat of his life.” —Dallas Morning News “That’s always Finnegan’s M.O. Finnegan is a sober, straightforward author, but the level of detail, emotion, and insight he achieves is unparalleled…A must-read for all surfers — not just because of its unblinking prose and subtle wit, but because it’s the only book that properly details what it’s like to cultivate both an award-winning career and a dedicated surfing life.” —Eastern Surf Magazine “Finnegan describes, with shimmering detail, his adventures riding waves on five continents. Finnegan recaptures the waves lost and found, the euphoria, the danger…the allure.” —BBC.com “Panoramic and fascinating…The core of the book is a surfing chronicle, and Finnegan possesses impeccable short-board bona fides…A revealing and magisterial account of a beautiful addiction.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Like that powerful, glassy wave, great books on surfing come few and far between.

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is the world's best-selling guide to bicycle repair and maintenance. New chapter on electronic shifting covers maintenance, service, repair, and troubleshooting of all Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo electronic shifting groups. New troubleshooting charts New master guide to press-fit bottom brackets Also covered in the 5th edition: All derailleur shifting systems (5-speed through 11-speed); all bottom bracket systems (cone-and-cup through press-fit); all brake systems (including caliper, V-brake, cantilever, and disc); all headset, stem, handlebar and fork systems; wheelbuilding for all bikes including cyclocross and disc-brake wheels; special sections on cyclocross throughout including troubleshooting, maintenance, service, repair, and equipment selection; updated and expanded torque tables; complete illustration index and complete subject index. “Longtime VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn’s maintenance books are bibles for both pro and amateur wrenches. Zinn has written this book to help both the leisure bike rider and expert mechanic handle almost any problem associated with road bikes.” ― Library Journal. “Lennard Zinn is a veritable cycling Einstein and, as a naturally gifted teacher, he has the unique ability to explain even the most difficult mechanical task. So unless you currently ride on a high-profile pro team with your own mechanic (and maybe even then), Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is an absolute ‘must-have’ book.” ― Davis Phinney, Olympic medalist, national champion, and Tour de France stage winner. But on those days when your race steed needs some serious maintenance, or even just when you’re proactively researching for a little more knowledge if the worst should strike you on the road far from home – you will be glad you have Zinn in your library.” ― AeroGeeks. “ Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is simple, easy to follow and the illustrations are magnificent…If you are looking for a bicycle repair manual, get this book.” ― Cycloculture. Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is very up to date, very clear―thanks to the profuse illustrations―and accurate and comprehensive…And it’s all in a very enjoyable format intended to be encouraging and confidence-building."

In Mastering Mountain Bike Skills, Third Edition, world-champion racer Brian Lopes and renowned riding coach Lee McCormack share their elite perspectives, real-life race stories, and their own successful techniques to help riders of all styles and levels build confidence and experience the full exhiliration of the sport. Whether you’re a recreational rider looking to rock the trails with friends, are a seasoned enthusiast, or are aspiring to be a top pro, Mastering Mountain Bike Skills will improve your ride and dust the competition. He has won more than 19 titles in his mountain biking career, including nine National Championship titles, six UCI World Cup wins, and four UCI Mountain Bike World Champion titles, first in 2001 and then again in 2002, 2005, and 2007. Lee McCormack is the world’s leading mountain bike skills author and instructor. In his role as the skill development director for the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), McCormack created the curriculum and wrote the manual used to train high school mountain bike racers and their coaches throughout the United States. As the founder and CEO of RipRow, McCormack is proud to be helping riders develop their skills and fitness off their bikes as well as on their bikes. McCormack has been a mountain biker for almost 30 years, and he is still getting better, which makes mountain biking fun.

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is the world's best-selling guide to bicycle repair and maintenance. New chapter on electronic shifting covers maintenance, service, repair, and troubleshooting of all Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo electronic shifting groups. New troubleshooting charts New master guide to press-fit bottom brackets Also covered in the 5th edition: All derailleur shifting systems (5-speed through 11-speed); all bottom bracket systems (cone-and-cup through press-fit); all brake systems (including caliper, V-brake, cantilever, and disc); all headset, stem, handlebar and fork systems; wheelbuilding for all bikes including cyclocross and disc-brake wheels; special sections on cyclocross throughout including troubleshooting, maintenance, service, repair, and equipment selection; updated and expanded torque tables; complete illustration index and complete subject index. “Longtime VeloNews technical writer Lennard Zinn’s maintenance books are bibles for both pro and amateur wrenches. Zinn has written this book to help both the leisure bike rider and expert mechanic handle almost any problem associated with road bikes.” ― Library Journal. “Lennard Zinn is a veritable cycling Einstein and, as a naturally gifted teacher, he has the unique ability to explain even the most difficult mechanical task. So unless you currently ride on a high-profile pro team with your own mechanic (and maybe even then), Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is an absolute ‘must-have’ book.” ― Davis Phinney, Olympic medalist, national champion, and Tour de France stage winner. But on those days when your race steed needs some serious maintenance, or even just when you’re proactively researching for a little more knowledge if the worst should strike you on the road far from home – you will be glad you have Zinn in your library.” ― AeroGeeks. “ Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is simple, easy to follow and the illustrations are magnificent…If you are looking for a bicycle repair manual, get this book.” ― Cycloculture. Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is very up to date, very clear―thanks to the profuse illustrations―and accurate and comprehensive…And it’s all in a very enjoyable format intended to be encouraging and confidence-building."

In her new book Rusch to Glory: Adventure, Risk & Triumph on the Path Less Traveled , Rusch weaves her fascinating life's story among the exotic locales and extreme conditions that forged an extraordinary athlete from ordinary roots. Rusch has run the gauntlet of endurance sports over her career as a professional athlete-- climbing, adventure racing, whitewater rafting, cross-country skiing, and mountain biking--racking up world championships along the way. “ Rusch to Glory tells the story of Rebecca Rusch, a 38-year-old whose sporting career has had more twists and turns than the singletrack upon which she currently dominates the sport of ultra-endurance mountain biking. “ Rusch to Glory is an easy read about the rise of Rebecca Rusch from an average Chicago kid to one of the best known female cyclists in the country and the determination it took to get there.” ― Outside. “Rebecca Rusch turned to the bike to cement her position as one of the best endurance athletes in the world.” ― VeloNews. “You name it, Rebecca Rusch has tried it―get inspired by her adventures mountain biking, white-water rafting and climbing in exotic locations around the world.” ― Triathlete.com. “Written by multi-world and national champion mountain bike racer Rebecca Rusch (with Bicycling’s Selene Yeager), Rusch to Glory contains plenty of tales of riding and racing. “You name it, Rebecca Rusch has tried it―get inspired by her adventures mountain biking, white-water rafting and climbing in exotic locations around the world.” ― Triathlete magazine. “Rebecca Rusch of Ketchum is among the best endurance athletes on the planet, and how that happened is a fascinating story and a great read. She got a taste for adventure as a rock climber, then spun that into an adventure racer and mountain bike racing with lots of detours on the route to becoming a world champion. “Rebecca Rusch [was] not just one of the top female racers out there, she [was] flat-out one of the best all-around [adventure] racers of either sex.” ― Jacques Boutet, professional adventure racer.