Don Sheldon has been called 'Alaska's bush pilot among bush pilots', but he was also just one man in a fragile airplane who, in the end, was solely responsible for each mission he flew, be it a high-risk landing to the rescue of others from certain death in the mountains of Alaska or the routine delivery of supplies to a lonely homesteader. Read James Greiner's Wager with the Wind to learn how a hero was born, and also how he made his courageous journey to the unknown skies of dealing with cancer.

This is photojournalist Galen Rowell's acclaimed portrait of the mountain lands of China and Tibet -- a realm the Chinese call the "middle kingdom" between earth and sky, higher and more remote than anywhere else on earth. Rowell's text sets his own adventures in this exotic region against a rich historical and cultural background, recreating the exploits of and describing the dramatic changes that recent years have wrought on Chinese life and society. From the palaces of Lhasa to the pristine strongholds of the snow leopard, the 85 splendid color photographs and compelling narrative map a geography that stretches the bounds of imagination. "From the Trade Paperback edition.