[PDF] Torrents As Yet Unknown eBook

Author : Wickliffe W. Walker
Publisher : Steerforth
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 24,4 MB
Release : 2024-09-03
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1586423908

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“Will have river veterans nodding in agreement and surprise. I loved the journey." — Doug Stanton, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Horse Soldiers “An important contribution to the literature of exploration. This book had my pulse racing."— Peter Heller, author of The Dog Stars and The River A dramatic narrative tour of 10 of the world’s most incredible whitewater adventures—spanning 5 continents and 40 years—guided by a legendary whitewater trailblazer This fascinating history of daring whitewater explorers stands alongside classic works on mountaineering, outdoor survival, and extreme sports Perfect for fans of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Candice Millard’s River of the Gods In 10 thrilling real-life adventure stories, pioneering whitewater explorer Wick Walker examines what lured a generation of incredibly daring pioneers into some of Earth’s most wondrous yet forbidding river canyons: below Victoria Falls on the Zambezi, the Great Bend of the Tsangpo in Tibet, Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze, the flanks of Mount Everest, and more Loaded with great moments and personal stories, Walker details what these adventurers found there, and within themselves. The extraordinary characters, driven by different motives and visions, but united by their compulsion to seek the unknown and the pulse of free-flowing water, are as remarkable as the daunting geography and conditions they confront. Whitewater sport today stands side-by-side with mountaineering in participation and public attention, yet it has lagged in generating its own literature. Torrents As Yet Unknown helps fill that gap for readers interested in human drama played out against great natural challenges. Mountaineering history is deep and its literature rich, but whitewater adventurers approach and experience the same forbidding terrain from a different vantage, between the steep walls of their canyons and atop powerful torrents of cascading water.

Author : Wickliffe W. Walker
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 14,51 MB
Release : 2013-01-05
Category : Afghanistan
ISBN : 9781479320479

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No one knows both sides of the Pak-Afghan Frontier as [Wick] does. He has climbed the mountains, run the rivers, and sipped tea in countless tribal councils. In these thirteen tales, he offers readers a boots-on-the-ground feel for life and operations in this topographically and culturally rugged region....The small villages, the dusty streets, the smell of smoky wood fires, the pace and cadence of conversations-this is the way it was. -from the foreword by Gary C. Schroen, leader of the first joint CIA/military team in Afghanistan following 9/11 Goat Game presents the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan with originality and unmistakable authenticity. Thirteen interrelated stories capture slices of life-and of death-across two decades in that turbulent and little-understood region as al-Qa'ida evolves and reveals itself to America and the world. Each story has a specific purpose and role in the book, and together they form a unique and engaging narrative. Those unsung few Special Operations soldiers and intelligence officers who have served at the very point of the spear in Southwest Asia may find here eerie reflections of their own experiences. General readers with an interest in international affairs will find Goat Game a riveting, beyond-the-headlines depiction of that enigmatic theater of war. With vivid description, engaging dialogue, and reverence for the storied history of the region, author "Wick" Walker distills in these stories a sense of the exotic landscape-from the crowded bazaars of Rawalpindi and Peshawar to the heights of the Hindu Kush . He populates the stories with memorable characters: protagonist Bailey, an American Special Forces officer; his friend, a powerful and canny Pakistani commando officer; a wise and self-effacing Afghan interpreter; a ruthless al Qa'ida propagandist and his Somali bodyguard; and others. Goat Game explores territory untouched by conventional journalism and war memoirs.

Author : Peter Ralston
Publisher : North Atlantic Books
Page : 214 pages
File Size : 14,9 MB
Release : 1999-01-29
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781556433023

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Every once in a while you find a high impact book. Something that awakens something deep within and lasts forever. This is the one. It is a book that you can pick up time and time again and always gets something new out of it, or something deeper than you. Cheng Hsin is the best introduction for beginners to the internal practice of fighting. It is a seminal work that draws on T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Aikido, and Pa Kua Chang and was written by the first Westerner ever to win the world championship in a full-contact martial arts tournament.

Author : Jim Malusa
Publisher : Catapult
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 34,7 MB
Release : 2010-07-01
Category : Travel
ISBN : 1578051843

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“Delightful debut travelogue by botanist Malusa, who cycled to the lowest point on each of six continents.” —Kirkus Reviews With plenty of sunscreen and a cold beer swaddled in his sleeping bag, writer and botanist Jim Malusa bicycled alone to the lowest point on each of six continents, a six–year series of “anti–expeditions” to “anti–summits.” His journeys took him to Lake Eyre in the arid heart of Australia, along Moses’ route to the Dead Sea, and from Moscow to the Caspian Sea. He pedaled across the Andes to Patagonia, around tiny Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and from Tucson to Death Valley. With a scientist’s eye, Malusa vividly observes local landscapes and creatures. As a lone man, he is overfed by grandmothers, courted by ladies of the night in Volgograd, invited into a mosque by Africa’s most feared tribe, chased by sandstorms and hurricanes—yet Malusa keeps riding. His reward: the deep silence of the world’s great depressions. A large–hearted narrative of what happens when a friendly, perceptive American puts himself at the mercy of strange landscapes and their denizens, Into Thick Air presents one of the most talented new voices in contemporary travel writing. “I’ve followed all of Jim’s amazing and hilarious journeys, and I am happy to claim him as one of my favorite writers.” —Barbara Kingsolver, New York Times bestselling author “His descriptions of desert landscapes can be extraordinary . . . You can almost feel the dry gusts turning Malusa’s lips into cracked leather.” —The New York Times Book Review

Author : James Duthie
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 44,32 MB
Release : 2015-10-13
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0143196189

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If you’re a sports fan, you know James Duthie. The biggest games, the biggest trades, the juiciest rumours—chances are Duthie is the guy you tuned in to hear talk about them. There are other experts and insiders, stats guys and analysts, but no one else who can talk about sports with the humour, the knowledge, and the charisma Duthie brings to every event he covers. He also makes the best spoof videos. The Guy on the Left tells the story of Duthie’s career in broadcasting, from a nerdy appearance on a game show to chatting with Tiger Woods in the men’s room at The Masters. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at celebrated moments like Sidney Crosby’s famous game-winning goal at the Vancouver Olympics, but also less celebrated insights, like the disclosure that sports broadcasters often aren’t wearing pants on air. There are stories about goofing around with NHL superstars like Roberto Luongo and Anze Kopitar. There are also stories about wandering into the wrong house after walking his dog and surprising his neighbour in her underwear. His stories can also be serious. Tragedy strikes more than once in the sports world. Most notably, he had to go to air on the evening of September 11, 2001. His reflections on the way sport is part of all of our lives, from the athletes and sports figures on the planes to the kids who lost coaches and parents, are a powerful reminder of both the importance of sport and how lucky we all are to be part of it. Funny, thoughtful, self-deprecating, and wry, The Guy on the Left is everything fans love about James Duthie.

Author : Duncan Glenns
Publisher : Author House
Page : 462 pages
File Size : 36,1 MB
Release : 2010-11-19
Category : History
ISBN : 1452093016

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Imagine yourself being the powerful, magical and now legendary creature which has been recognized world-wide throughout history as most likely the most powerful being whom has ever existed. Used to being the top of the food chain and even having had dominion over these upstart human beings for all of the time which they have called Mother Earth their home. You have seen many of their kind make somewhat valiant attempts at the creation of a life that would be in tune with that of the "mother" within this world for innumerable of their lifetimes, only to see them fail at every important crossroad with which they were faced. Now imagine that you have seen these humans remove most of the Magic from the world that you love and have called home for time longer than they can even begin to realize how to measure and that they are causing the ending of the existence of many of the beings that have existed here since times untold, who were all vessels which truly contained the strong essence of the old magic that was once so fully saturated this lovely world, but their advancements and the Technology of which they were so very capable of creating had now begun to unchangeably, possibly negatively alter the world which you had called home for such a very, very long time. Yet imagine as well, that you the Piasa, possibly the last of dragon kind had discovered within these humans, something that was quite possibly some new sort of Magic one which you had never seen before, called love; which at first you had been unfamiliar with, but now that you had experienced it through relationships with several of these unique beings felt that it was the one and only hope for us all?