Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance
Author: Peter Stark
A fascinating blend of adventure and science, LAST BREATH recreates in heart-stopping detail what happens to our bodies and minds in the perilous last moments of life when an extreme adventure goes awry.
With a growing number of people setting out to climb snow-capped mountains, swim choppy seas, and hike through dark, dense jungles, extreme deaths and brushes with death seem to have become everyday occurences. A compelling synthesis of science, history, possibility, and prevention, LAST BREATH examines the physiological, psychological, and emotional stages our bodies and minds endure at the brink of death. Listeners will shiver with a man lost in snowy woods, suffering from
hypthermia, as he tears off his clothes, burning up from cold. They will hallucinate with a young woman as she succumbs to a cerebral edema stranded at the top of Anapurna. And while a kayaker tumbles helpless underwater for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, listeners too will gasp for their last breath.
Jan Chapman - VOYA
This breathtaking collection of eleven adrenaline-charged tales of survival will grab a reader's interest until the very last page. Stark, a contributor to Outside magazine, presents harrowing accounts of extreme sports enthusiasts who battle for their lives when their daredevil efforts to push the envelope go awry. Each tale combines a suspenseful narrative of the events that plunge the victim into disaster along with the clinical and physiological details of how the body attempts to preserve life. The book also provides insight into why some are drawn to the high risk of extreme sports such as rock climbing and scuba diving. Readers will hold their breath as a snowboarder, buried under an avalanche, fights to maintain calm and preserve his last precious minutes of air. Not all of these accounts end happily; in one, a doomed kayaker tumbles endlessly in a remorseless, churning white-water hole, unable to find a way out. This collection will appeal to older teens who enjoy adventure and survival stories, such as Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (Villard, 1997) and The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger (W. W. Norton, 2000). The stories are based upon Stark's interviews with accident survivors. It is a wonderful recommendation for reluctant readers, combining the intensity of true-life nonfiction with a suspenseful, well-told story. The next time a bored sports or adventure fan eyes the fiction collection with a jaded eye, pull this one off the shelf. Source Notes. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Ballantine,
School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A fascinating look at how individuals can face death in the course of adventure and daring. Each of the 11 chapters is a separate saga of a fictitious character in a life-threatening situation. Scenarios include hypothermia, drowning while kayaking on a treacherous Chinese river, suffocation by avalanche, and heatstroke in a competitive bike race. Other dangers include altitude sickness, scurvy, falling, jellyfish stings, the bends, malaria, and dehydration. As readers begin each story, they have no way of knowing whether or not the character will survive. The physiological details of the body's attempts to endure, the psychological changes that occur as death is faced, and the serendipity that allows one to live and another to die all make for an engrossing book. Stark has a clear way of imparting a lot of detail. He describes the intricacies involved in each sport, the biological details of the body's response, and the nuances of the character's personality within the few pages. Each story is compelling and the mystery of the outcome holds readers' attention.-Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Book review: Nudge or The Ten Roads to Riches
Your Guide to the Alexander Technique
Author: John Gray
The Alexander Technique is a proven process of mind and body reeducation that reduces stress and muscle tension, and revitalization those who practice it. Used by many actors, athletes, and dancers, the technique can help anyone increase his or her energy and achieve a more dynamic presence.
Written by a veteran instructor of the Alexander Technique, this authentic and easy-to-follow guide allows everyone to learn the increasingly popular program, with clear instructions for each exercise, and dozens of helpful photographs that show correct and incorrect positions to use for the exercises and throughout the day.
Library Journal
After acknowledging that there already are numerous books on the Alexander Technique, Gray, a British former actor and current teacher of the technique, has written still another, designed to take the mystery out of the subject. Although wordy at times, his book is reasonably clear, with each chapter discussing the theory behind the technique and giving specific exercises the reader can do on his or her own. The content is very similar to Sarah Barker's The Alexander Technique: Learning to Use Your Body for Total Energy ( LJ 1/91) and Judith Leibowitz and Bill Connington's The Alexander Technique ( LJ 7/90). Libraries that already have these two titles, which are aimed at an American audience, do not need to consider Gray's, which is more British oriented. Recommended for libraries where there is an extensive demand for books on this subject or where copies disappear quickly.-- Natalie Kupferberg, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., New York
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