I’d like a memoir (but would be open to other genres if its insightful) about the fierce human spirit, refusing to give up, surviving something (for ease of reading avoiding TW stuff I think a survival/nature story would be ideal). Something like Into the Wild, The Lost City of Z, The Liar’s Club, Brain on Fire, Into Thin Air (maybe 127 hours but I haven’t read it, is it good?) I wanna be inspired by the lengths the human spirit can keep you going and keep you alive.
by More_Argument1423
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Walk in the Woods
As a kid I loved Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman. It’s a mountaineering fiction book that reminds me of Into Thin Air.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place by (canyoneer) Aron Ralston.
Give me Tomorrow by Patrick O’Donnell
This is not just a man survives nature book/genre. This is a peek at what happens to boys who were molded to become a specific type of man and then left in a frozen hell of a meat grinder. Where everything got so bleak that hope no longer existed as a concept.
You know how corporations are legally recognized as a human person? This is why I am suggesting a book that is not focused on any individual humans in particular. This book about the survival of a company. With that in mind, it is a horrific ordeal. Do not forget that these were actual people and none of the survivors were unscathed.
The Martian by Andy Weir. Stranded astronaut must survive on Mars alone until he’s rescued. (edit: fiction but it really fits the prompt otherwise and feels very realistic)
None of these are memoirs, but still might be worth a look
– Endurance by Alfred Lansing
– Under pressure: the final voyage of Submarine S-5 By A.J. Hill, (A remarkable and lesser known story of survival)
– The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party by Kelly Tyler-Lewis
– Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read