True Tales of Survival

As someone who's made his home in New York for the last 9 years — and literally watched the first of the Twin Towers fall — reading about 9/11 can be extremely difficult. This title — a literal minute-by-minute account from the moment the first plane struck to the moment the 2nd tower fell — strikes me as the perfect balance of dispassionate, inspiring and honest.

Ernest Shackleton is one of those people you see in those silvery, cracking photos from the turn of the last century who looks like he hung out with Jules Verne and Mark Twain. He also looks like a man who does NOT like to fail. Needless to say, his trying to survive a few winters in Antarctica makes for a good read.

I had absolutely no idea that "Moby-Dick" was based on a real whale. And I REALLY had no idea that the whale was so malevolent as to sink a whaling ship by ramming it repeatedly with its head. Seriously.

If you're at all a fan of the genre, it's hard to imagine that you haven't read this one yet but I included it on the off chance you haven't gotten to it yet. A word of warning? Don't start this one unless you've got a 4 or 5 hour window open in front of you. You won't set it down until you're done.

This books been out of print for a long time — maybe even 50 years. But there are enough used copies floating around (oops, sorry for bad pun) that Amazon always has one available for a few bucks. Do yourself a favor and pick one up for your next trip to the beach.

Recommended by Flashlight Worthy fan Chris Kubica, this book looks fascinating. Taking place in the 1800's, it recounts the enslavement of some white sailors by North Africans. Beyond that, all I'll write is this quote from Chris, the fellow who recommended the book: "A guy tries to eat his own arm to stay alive, and stops only when a fellow slave ties his arm out of reach." When it comes to survival stories, you can't really beat that.

Amber Smith from Syracuse, NY says:

Finally, a book I read a bit after creating this list that really, might be the very best book on the list. From the author of Seabiscuit, this is a story in 3 parts, 2 of which are each in their own right a soul-wrenching tale of survival: First, an extended period lost at sea after being shot down during W.W. II. Then, what must have felt like several lifetimes of imprisonment in a Japanese P.O.W. camp. If you have any interest in this genre, get the book now. I expect you'll read the entire thing in under 72 hours.