Adrenaline 2000: The Year's Best Stories of Adventure and Survival 2000

I read this book from cover to cover while recovering from a knee injury at a ski hut in Canada. This thrilling book covers a wide spectrum of adrenaline filled activities. The diversity of the adventures, and the quality writing kept me so well entertained that I almost forgot about my knee. Dancing on the Edge of an Endangered Planet

Fourteen adventures: six stand alone articles and eight excerpts from longer works. Clearly Clint Willis did some homework finding these because I read most of the adventure mags and had only seen two of these during the year. Some of the excerpts come from books I would never have picked up otherwise, but now will look for - as the editor says in his intro, adventure comes in many forms, such as a foray into Golden Glove boxing or a black explorer's entry into an undiscovered African kingdom. Kira Salak's account of her capture in Rhodesia will have you sweating up to the last sentence and Rennicke's account of a trapped man journaling his last thoughts as he dies will force you to look inward, I'm sure. This is a strong collection that includes Lynn Hill as well as the controversial (and now deceased) Anatoli Boukreev, but unlike the editorial notes above it does not have a story on Willi Unsoeld or anything from Hampton Sides. Also, it isn't 364 pages - it's just under 300. This book makes a great intro to the series, or a great addition.

This is another strong addition to the series. Mr. Willis has chosen well in his selections. If you (or your gift recipient)read Outside, Men's Journal or Nat'l Geographic, or if you like the Discovery Channel - then this is a book for you. It's thicker than last year's anthology, a hefty 330 pages that go by quickly. The best part is always seeing pieces you haven't seen before, especially book excerpts, because now I know some books I want for Xmas. Mr. Willis has used tantalizing excerpts that don't always give away the ending, as is his habit and he doesn't summarize the story, so it leaves you wanting more. I will say this - if you do read those adventure magazines during the year, you've seen about half a dozen of the 17 stories already. Oh well. The up-side to that is that you probably didn't save the magazines, but now you have the best work in one volume. Great bang for the buck with this book, or with any book in the series - put them on your 'give' or 'get' list.

Proof that the age of adventure hasn't passed us by. These thirteen stories will keep you reading all night. The fact that they've all been written in the last year gives them a relevence you can't always find in a story 50 years old. At the same time, several are built around the stories of earlier explorers, like the hunt for man-eating lions in Tsavo or the search for Mallory and Irvine, and these remind us that the world hasn't gotten any safer for those who go to extremes. The stories were well-chosen: I had not read any of them before. This will make a great gift book for anyone who enjoys adventure reading. The only complaint - it's about 100 pages shorter (265) than the other books in the series.