I’ll be focusing my recommendation for this month on adventure books related to mountaineering. Hiking on mountains is one of my biggest passions, one thing that helps me relax and disconnect so I can then be back “at work” with energy and focus.  

Still, I am not aiming to climb the highest mountains in the world – although I did climb Kilimanjaro and went to Everest Base Camp. I realized that I enjoy going up and admiring the view while having plenty of oxygen and not risking my life. But that doesn’t stop me from reading such adventures, which feel unbelievable, strong men achieving the impossible most of the time. Ready to dig into this list?  

INTO THIN AIR, by Jon Krakauer  

Jon is a journalist that was part of the tragic 1996 Everest expedition where Scott Fisher and Rob Hall died alongside many clients. It’s a book I purchased from Namche Bazaar on the way back from Everest Base Camp. The book is an account of how it is to be up there, with good and bad. It details how easily so many things can go wrong in a place where the lack of oxygen does affect your ability to think logically. I think I read this book in a day. Of course, I have watched the movie Everest previously, so it was like adding more pieces to the puzzle. Highly recommended if you’re into a thrilling journalist-style type of reading!  

MY LIFE AT THE LIMIT, Reinhold Messner’s autobiography   

A book written by the mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner, talking about his crazy life in the Alps, where he was born, and then all the record-breaking things he did and how he perceived all this. Again, a book I finished fast and kept my breath many times along its pages. He was the first climber to reach Everest on his own, do all 14 peaks above 8,000 m without oxygen and with minimal equipment, traversed Antarctica and Greenland on foot and many more such superhuman deeds. Enjoy the read!  

BEYOND THE HORIZON, by Richard Parks  

A professional rugby player suffered a back injury that put him to bed and made him unable to come back on the field. Fighting depression, he managed to get out of it by pursuing a world-record. He had become the first person in history to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents and ski to the North and South Poles in the same calendar year, completing the feat in less than seven months. It is a book about the human condition, the power of thoughts, training, goals, and endurance to get to overcome your limits.  

I hope you enjoy this list, happy reading! And if curious, you can also check out the January reading list here.