Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance Book

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,