The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure [Paperback]

Mark Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2003

Adventure writer Mark Jenkins has journeyed around the world, crossing wild country, probing the hinterlands, getting arrested over a dozen times. He has made a life out of doing things the hard way.

The result is a book that dives headfirst into adventure and experience. Jenkins transports the reader with him as he climbs the ice-encrusted Italian Ridge of the Matterhorn, sea kayaks from battlefield to battlefield along the Turkish coast of Gallipoli, sneaks across Tibet to reach Buddhism's holiest lake, descends unexplored canyons in Australia, and traverses the war-torn Simen Mountains of northern Ethiopia.

If you've ever dreamed of escaping, lighting out for the unknown, read this book. In a world increasingly vicarious and secondhand, we all long to make decisions that matter, decisions of consequence. This is precisely what the outdoor life still requires. The Hard Way is a book about doing, not watching -- about leaping before you look.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-A collection of nearly two dozen stories, many drawn from Jenkins's column for Outside magazine. The author whisks readers away to places where geography, weather, and the occasional political boundary pose daunting challenges for adventurers who actively seek to test their limits in extreme conditions. Whether the example is crossing a crevasse-ridden glacier in Wyoming, mountain climbing in Tibet, or hiking in a remote Ethiopian nature preserve hoping to spot endangered species, the point is the exultation of pitting oneself against the perils of natural landscapes, mastering the challenge through physical ruggedness and mental tenacity, and emerging alive. Each focused, brisk chapter wraps up cleanly with a neat sentence of observation that often reveals a darker outcome to the episode than the narrative implies. Most of the entries are based on the author's firsthand experiences, decorated with colorful descriptions of like-minded souls with whom he has partnered on various expeditions. A few tales, such as the profile of mountaineer George Mallory, smoothly complement, but do not keep to, this pattern. A cameo of Jenkins introducing his daughters at ages three and six to rock climbing in order to develop their confidence and sense of self-reliance brings an added dimension to the collection. Although Jenkins says that preparedness, conditioning, and avoiding ego-based lapses of judgment are essential to a venture's safe outcome, be aware that the spirited energy that infuses his anecdotes nevertheless leans toward celebration of reckless acts.
Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Jenkins writes a column for Outside magazine called "The Hard Way." This collection of 23 essays gives us a good feel for the column's scope and variety. Here's a visit to a holy lake; a stroll through the site of the World War I massacre at Gallipoli; a trip up Mount Waddington, one of Canada's most notorious peaks; a ride with a Tibetan bike messenger. Jenkins' lively, personal style invites us along to share his adventures, although occasionally the prose seems artificially dramatic. On the other hand, his descriptions of people and places are splendid, and his familiarity with the history of the sites he visits and the activities he engages in adds another level of interest to his work. Fans of Jenkins' two pre-Outside travel books, Off the Map (1992) and To Timbuktu (1997), will be on familiar ground here, and readers of similar books by other outdoor adventurers (Tim Cahill, for example, who is also an Outside regular) will want to give this one a look. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743249410
• ISBN-13: 978-0743249416
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Essays
  • #88 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hiking & Camping > Instructional

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Adventurous Collection, March 16, 2003

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure (Hardcover)

This is an enjoyable collection of Mark Jenkins' articles for various outdoor magazines. Jenkins shows an often morbid tilt to his writing and covers his death-defying adventures in many different types of extreme sports. The best articles here include "Hitching" about the lost art of hitch-hiking, "Ego Trip" about how an adventurer can make stupid decisions even if the quest is successful, and "From the Mouths of Babes" concerning the pursuit of extreme outdoor sports with little kids. Also enjoyable are Jenkins' tales of his dozens of severe injuries and his exploits with his equally danger-prone father and brothers. This collection is a little thin but it's quite an enjoyable look into the heart of adventure and why people do it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subtle and surprising!, December 30, 2002

By 

R. Morrell "a gamer in NC" (Lewisville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure (Hardcover)

If you are expecting a rip roaring adventure tale when you pick up this book, perhaps something like Capstick's "Death in the Long Grass", you are in for a gentle surpise. This not the thrill-a-paragraph replete with death, near death and glory. Rather Jenkins seems to explore the parts of the adventure that the adventure seeker loves. Not the adreniline, but the friends, the travel, the beauty, the joy of the outdoors. By the second half of the book, you get to the adventure and daring, but even then with a lightness of touch that made me relish it even more. As a former skydiver who lost his younger brother to the sport,I almost stopped reading the book on the chapter where he and his brothers go jumping together as a lark, but in the end it was done so deftly that I had to smile. Writing that can overcome that kind of obstacle is rare and to be treasured.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and inspiring adventure-laden book to read, April 3, 2003

By 

Retesh D. Shah "retesh_shah" (Fremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure (Hardcover)

This was a very cool and exciting book to read. I have never read any of Jenkins's columns but I was intrigued by the premise of the book when listening to him on a radio interview. Jenkins sounds like the guy I want to be, but without the guts. He attacks life....he attacks nature, but he's turned his sojourns all over the world into a sort of an art form.

The book is a collection of adventures and I like the fact that he threw in other different stories in there including an encounter with a thief and parallel storytelling over a number of years.

I realized that it wasn't actually the adventures I enjoyed, but rather the memories and experiences he had while undertaking these adventures. Just like the cliche: "It's not about the destination, but about the journey."

The pace of the book is good and it does not get repetitive so please check this one out.