The perfect gift guide for those who love books and the outdoors.
Closer to Ground
A newly published book from Patagonia Books™, Closer to the Ground is the deeply personal story of a father learning to share his love of nature with his children, not through the indoor lens of words or pictures, but directly, palpably, by exploring the natural world as they forage, cook and eat from the woods and sea. Closer to the Ground captures the beauty and surprise of the world – and the ways it teaches us how to live – with humor, gratitude and a nose for adventure as keen as a child’s. It is a book filled with weather, natural history, and many delicious meals. Dylan Tomine, formerly a fly-fishing guide, is now a writer, conservation advocate, blueberry farmer and father, not necessarily in that order. His work has appeared in The Flyfish Journal, the Drake, Golfweek, the New York Times and numerous other publications. He lives with his family on an island in Puget Sound.
• 264 pages, including original black-and-white illustrations by Nikki McClure
• Book printed on FSC all-recycled paper
• MSRP: $29.95
• http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/closer-to-the-ground-book?p=BK450-0-000
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges profiles 50 of the most extreme marathons, triathlons, bike rides, adventure races, climbs, open-water swims and other iconic endurance events from around the world. Breathtaking full-color photographs and insider commentary from top athletes will thrill runners, cyclists, triathletes, extreme sports addicts, and outdoor adventurers.
Across the world seemingly ordinary people are undertaking extraordinary challenges that will push their minds and bodies to achieve the impossible. For many, these once-in-a-lifetime experiences become strangely addictive. From the Badwater Ultramarathon in the unforgiving heat of Death Valley to the South Pole Race in the frozen expanse of Antarctica, there is an unbreakable drive in these tenacious competitors to see just how far they can push themselves.
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges is a truly inspiring and beautiful collection of what the human body can achieve when racing to the limits. With full-color amazing imagery and every detail of these cruel challenges, plus stories from competitors who have lived to tell the tale, this book is a wonderful testament to those who face Mother Nature and survive.
• Pages: 208
• MSRP: $29.95
• Preview: http://velopress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/sample_WTEC.pdf
Merckx 525
VeloPress, is pleased to announce the publication of Merckx 525, the first biography authorized by Eddy Merckx himself and the only book he says offers a truly complete record of his career.
Revealing a dazzling trove of recently discovered photographs not yet seen outside of Europe, Merckx 525 is an all-encompassing celebration of the unmatchable career of the Cannibal, Eddy Merckx, the greatest cyclist of all time and the most dominant athlete of the 20th century.
Known as “the Cannibal” for his insatiable hunger to win, Merckx gobbled up 525 race victories, an unrivaled legacy lionized in this once-in-a-lifetime homage. Merckx 525 presents newly restored photographs from private collections, the Merckx family, and European newspaper archives, shedding new light on this awe-inspiring athlete’s career from promising youth in Belgium, to fabulous darling of Europe, to hardened veteran of the bike-racing wars.
With authoritative text and keepsake craftsmanship, Merckx 525 digs deeper than any book before to reveal the man behind the legend, cycling’s incomparable Eddy Merckx.
Merckx 525 is a unique collection of exclusive photographs, including some that even I had not seen before. It is the only work authorized by me…and the first truly complete record of my accomplishments.” — Eddy Merckx
• Hardcover with 126 full-color photographs throughout.
• MSRP: $60.00
• http://velopress.com/books/merckx-525/
The Responsible Company
The Responsible Company shows companies how to thread their way through economic sea change and slow the drift toward ecological bankruptcy. Its advice is simple but powerful: reduce your environmental footprint (and its skyrocketing cost), make legitimate products that last, reclaim deep knowledge of your business and its supply chain to make the most of opportunities in the years to come, and earn the trust (and business) you’ll need by treating your workers, customers and communities with respect.
In The Responsible Company, Chouinard and Stanley recount how the company and its culture gained the confidence – step by step and misstep – to make its work progressively more responsible, and to ultimately share its discoveries with companies as large as Wal-Mart and as small as the corner bakery.
• 150 pages
• Printed on FSC Recycled paper
• MSRP: $19.95
North Cascades Crest: Notes & Images from America’s Alps
Mountaineers Books is proud to reissue three stunning photography books by award-winning cameraman and mountaineer James Martin that feature some of the most beloved peaks in the West.
These books offer a visual journey through the craggy crest of the North Cascades, the glaciers and wilderness of Mount Rainier, and the luminescent peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Each book gives context to the images by detailing the geological history of the mountains, describing the flora and fauna and relating stories from the human climbing history of these peaks.
“. . . Martin’s photos leap from the pages with vivid colors and extreme contrasts . . . Recommended for most public libraries but especially for those in the Pacific Northwest.” — Library Journal
The North Cascades comprise one of the wildest landscapes in the country, with sharp pinnacles, high lonesome ridges, pristine alpine lakes, lush meadows, and luminous glaciers. James Martin’s images capture the spirit and beauty of these remote mountains — America’s Alps.
• 128 Pages
• MSRP: $21.95
• http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/North-Cascades-Crest-P996.aspx
Rowing into the Son: Four Young Men Crossing the North Atlantic
“Truly an epic of adventure and perseverance, this is great inspiration for anyone who thinks of someday tackling the impossible.” — New York Times best-selling author Clive Cussler
On June 10, 2006, college friends Dylan LeValley, Greg Spooner, Brad Vickers, and Jordan Hanssen stepped into a 29-foot rowboat as the only American competitors in the first North Atlantic Rowing Race, pulling across the northern ocean.
From the first dreams of race planning to heaving through ocean waves, Rowing Into the Son: Four Young Men Crossing the North Atlantic takes the reader along with team Outdoor Adventure Racing (OAR) Northwest as they head out from New York Harbor, catch the Gulf Stream current, and make the final dramatic push for the finish line, a narrow 50-mile wide “gate” at Bishop’s Rock Lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall. Hurricane-level winds, giant eddies, passing freighters, flying fish, and sharks are all elements of the journey, and the race comes to a tense head on day 17 — with another 55 days to go — as the crew realizes their food supplies are running out and they must drastically restrict their eating.
This is lead rower Jordan Hanssen’s intimate account of team OAR Northwest’s journey, set against the backdrop of Hanssen’s reflections on the teachings of both his stepfather and his biological father, who passed away many years previously. How Hanssen and his teammates cope within the confines of their tiny ocean rowing boat and their determination to push their limits will keep readers enthralled in this remarkable true tale of coming-of-age and adventure.
• 256 Pages
• MSRP: $18.95
• http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/Rowing-into-the-Son-P989.aspx
Psychovertical
Psychovertical is the story of what happens to a nice lower-class kid with dyslexia who gains control over his circumstances by clinging to giant stone faces, thousands of feet in the air, for days at a time. In this case, Kirkpatrick uses his 12-day solo climb of the Reticent Wall on California’s El Capitan as the experience that helps him understand how growing up poor and struggling with dyslexia and low self-confidence set him on a path of extreme adventure.
Kirkpatrick’s writing is gripping and highly entertaining — even non-climbers will enjoy his raw intensity, gallows humor, and honest, self-deprecating storytelling style. This book is a Boardman-Tasker Prize winner, which is recognition given for outstanding mountaineering literature. From the judges’ remarks:
“The book is very cleverly structured….The cuts from scene to scene and climb to climb work wonderfully well — a sort of mountaineering Day of The Jackal — as Kirkpatrick comes closer and closer to his nemesis on Reticent Wall. And it is this climb, the running narrative of the book, that grips the most: 14 pitches of aid climbing, unrelieved by conversation with a partner other than himself, should by rights be boring. But it grips the heart further and further.”
• 288 Pages
• MSRP: $18.95
• http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/Psychovertical-P1007.aspx