The Best Survival Books: 25 True Life Stories

The Best Survival Books: 25 True Life Stories

Our selection of the best survival books range from amazing accounts of endurance to tales of daring escapes and everything in between

Books about survival show what people are capable of when they push themselves to their limits. Whether it's the treacherous slopes of a mountain in hurricane-force winds, drifting in the middle of the ocean, or a hellish trek across the arid desert, the challenges described within illustrate the true strength of the human spirit.

To help you choose your next read, we've rounded up our favorite survival books, filled with real-life stories that will captivate readers for years to come.

1. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyagevon Alfred Lansing Auf dem antarktischen Kontinent gestrandet, kämpfen Shackleton und sein Team in einer der erstaunlichsten Leistungen der Erforschung und des menschlichen Mutes, die je aufgezeichnet wurden, gegen die Elemente.
2. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disastervon Jon KrakauerDie wahre Geschichte einer 24-Stunden-Periode auf dem Everest, die mit einem Sturm begann und mit der höchsten Todesrate in einer Saison in der Geschichte des Gipfels endete.
3. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemptionvon Laura HillenbrandLouis Zamperini war einer von drei Überlebenden eines Flugzeugabsturzes, der 47 Tage lang auf einem Floß trieb, bevor er aus dem Ozean gezogen und in ein japanisches Kriegsgefangenenlager gebracht wurde.

4. Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Seaby Steven CallahanThis story is a firsthand account of the first man in history to survive a month alone at sea, fighting for his life in a rubber dinghy after his sloop capsized just six days away.

5. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer In 1992, Chris McCandless traveled deep into the Alaskan wilderness after shaking off the pressures of modern city life. Four months later, his emaciated body was found.

6. Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival by Joe SimpsonA classic story of mountaineering perseverance and one of the best survival books ever written. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner Simon Yates had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck.

7. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell NASA is sending three astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. But just 55 hours after the flight, disaster struck.

8. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick An epic tale of one of the most infamous maritime disasters of the 19th century and the historical story behind Moby Dick.

9. Between a Rock and a Hard Placeby Aron Ralston After having his arm trapped by a boulder for five days, Aron Ralston finally comes to the agonizing conclusion that his only hope is to amputate his own arm.

10. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read In 1972, a Fairchild plane crashed in the Andes. The survivors were hopelessly lost in one of the most remote places on earth.

11. Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King Twelve American sailors shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1815 survived to be captured, sold into slavery, and subjected to a hellish two-month journey through the bone-dry heart of the Sahara.

12. Papillon by Henri Charrière Convicted of a murder he did not commit, Papillon's escape to freedom remains one of the most incredible feats of human cunning, willpower and perseverance ever undertaken.

13. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedomby Slavomir Rawicz Slavomir Rawicz escaped from a Siberian gulag with six companions, crossed the Trans-Siberian Railway and headed south, reaching Tibet and freedom nine months later.

14. In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton The bestselling account of America's worst maritime disaster and the heroism of the men who survived against all odds.

15. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Seaby Jonathan FranklinThe miraculous account of the man who survived alone and adrift at sea longer than anyone in recorded history, as told to journalist Jonathan Franklin in dozens of exclusive interviews.

16. The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin Northern European immigrants were promised that the prairie offered “land, freedom, and hope.” The catastrophic blizzard of 1888 revealed that their free homeland was not a paradise but a harsh, unforgiving place.

17. Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, a shipwreck there means certain death.

18. Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Homeby Nando Parrado, Vince Rause Thirty years after the crash in the Andes, Nando shares his account of the disaster with remarkable candor and emotion.

19. Four Against the Wilderness by Elmo WortmanThe moving true story of a father and his three teenage children who are shipwrecked on an island in the winter off the coast of Alaska.

20. Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden Acclaimed journalist Blaine Harden tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only known prisoner to successfully escape from a "Total-Control Zone" internment camp in North Korea.

21. Kon-Tikiby Thor HeyerdahlThe adventure of Thor Heyerdahl and his companions on their raft across the Pacific has gone down in legend as a heroic act of endurance and courage. This is that story in Heyerdahl's own words.

22. Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival in the Amazon by Yossi GhinsbergWhat begins as a dream adventure for four backpackers quickly becomes a fight for survival as they disintegrate under the constraints of the jungle.

23. Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War IIby Mitchell ZuckoffThe story of an extraordinary World War II rescue mission in which a plane crash in the South Pacific sends a trio of U.S. military personnel to a land that time has forgotten.

24. Survive the Savage Sea by Dougal Robertson In 1972, the 43-foot schooner Lucette was attacked by killer whales and sank in 60 seconds. In an inflatable dinghy with only a 9-foot fiberglass boat to tow, Dougal Robertson and his family were miles from any shipping lanes.

25. North To The Night: A Spiritual Odyssey In The Arcticby Alvah SimonAlvah Simon and his wife set off on their sailboat to explore the world. Unexpected events would trap Simon alone on his boat, frozen in ice 100 miles from the nearest settlement.

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