Way Out There: The Best of Explore

by James Little (Editor)

Outdoor adventure has inspired some of the most exciting literary nonfiction of recent years, and Explore has published exemplary models of the Ian Brown on backcountry bonding in the Rockies, Adam Killick on surviving a hurricane at sea, and J. B. MacKinnon on overlanding in a war zone. Personal essays convey the taste of wild eel and the chill of a cotton tent at -28C; cautionary tales describe the death of glaciers and the deviant lifestyles of Atlantic salmon. These incredible stories of the great outdoors entertain, inform, and amaze.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

376 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2006

Reviews

[Clinton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly poor read, perhaps the context of these stories is amplified when the editor makes a whole magazine angled along their themes, but in this book this is just a rag tag of stories by amateur writers without any larger point nor direction. Desperate is the word I would explain these authors, certainly not something I would ever want someone to read to try and understand why I enjoy the outdoors so much. Honestly I don't know why it is so poorly received, perhaps it is because these stories all sound like over explained edge cases of pursuit of validity without any higher goal. "Look at me I don't care about the risks I just do it anyways" is not a motto I would ever want someone to believe is motivation nor explanation for the pursuit of adventure.