Hi Robb,<br><br>I agree with you. I am not inspired by tales of people who intentionally put themselves in dangerous situations (or make a safe situation into a dangerous one) for no good reason other than their own ego gratification. Life is dangerous enough as it is without us trying to make it more so. While, I don't consider mountain climbing an inherently dangerous activity, there are always those people that go to far and just don't feel "alive" unless they are killing themselves. Go figure!<br><br>This one of the reasons I can't stand TV's "Survivor" series. 30 people stuck alone in the wilderness with nothing but a Producer, a Director, Camera crews, caterers, EMT staff, rescue helicopter and the hope of a media tour to help them survive. Give me a break. The only survival skill these people have is stabbing each other in the back and if I wanted to see that I would pay more attention at the office. Now if they really did give those people knives I might start watching. <br><br>You may be interested in Beck Weathers' book "Left For Dead". He was one of the climbers on Everest that year and was left for dead only to later wake up and stumble down to a lower camp. While he did not know it at the time, after he recovered he admits that his climbing obsession was a way of coping with undiagnosed clinical depression. <br><br>The tales I find inspiring are those where people through no fault of their own and despite their best preparations find themselves in difficult or dangerous situations and are left with only their wits to save themselves and the others around them. <br><br>You may enjoy Elizabeth Norman's "We Band Of Angels" about her experiences as a Navy nurse in the Philippines taken prisoner by the Japanese during WWII. Or "In The Heart Of The Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick about the crew of a 19th century whale boat that was ironically sunk by a whale in the middle of the Pacific and their 3000 mile journey in row boats before being rescued. Or Dr. Jerri Nielsen's "Ice Bound" about her battle with breast cancer while stranded at the south pole. <br><br>Have fun<br>David Koelzer<br>