The author, a freelance journalist, describes his experiences as a reporter and participant in the Raid Gauloises, an annual eight- to twelve-day race designed to test the limits of human endurance.

This extreme sports saga, part Plimptonesque narrative, part spiritual journey, explores the limits of personal endurance as a determined journalist takes on the 135 mile Death Valley marathon.

In this title, readers learn how to survive in the desert through the real-life experiences of those who survived. In addition to how to stay warm, find food and water, avoid the sun, make a shelter, and signal for help, this title examines the climate, plants and animals, and dangers of the desert. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. A&D Xtreme is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

James Cook never laid eyes on the sea until he was in his teens. He then began an extraordinary rise from farmboy outsider to the hallowed rank of captain of the Royal Navy, leading three historic journeys that would forever link his name with fearless exploration (and inspire pop-culture heroes like Captain Hook and Captain James T. Kirk). In Farther Than Any Man, noted modern-day adventurer Martin Dugard strips away the myth of Cook and instead portrays a complex, conflicted man of tremendous ambition (at times to a fault), intellect (though Cook was routinely underestimated) and sheer hardheadedness. When Great Britain announced a major circumnavigation in 1768 -- a mission cloaked in science, but aimed at the pursuit of world power -- it came as a political surprise that James Cook was given command. Cook's surveying skills had contributed to the British victory over France in the Seven Years' War in 1763, but no commoner had ever commanded a Royal Navy vessel. Endeavor's stunning three-year journey changed the face of modern exploration, charting the vast Pacific waters, the eastern coasts of New Zealand and Australia, and making landfall in Tahiti, Tierra del Fuego, and Rio de Janeiro. After returning home a hero, Cook yearned to get back to sea. He soon took control of the Resolution and returned to his beloved Pacific, in search of the elusive Southern Continent. It was on this trip that Cook's taste for power became an obsession, and his legendary kindness to island natives became an expectation of worship -- traits that would lead him first to greatness, then to catastrophe. Full of action, lush description, and fascinating historical characters like King George III and Master William Bligh, Dugard's gripping account of the life and gruesome demise of Capt. James Cook is a thrilling story of a discoverer hell-bent on traveling farther than any man.

"In The Explorers, New York Times bestselling author Martin Dugard shares the rich saga of the Burton and Speke expedition. To better understand their motivations and ultimate success, Dugard guides readers through the seven vital traits that Burton and Speke, as well as many of history's legendary explorers, called upon to see their impossible journeys through to the end: curiosity, hope, passion, courage, independence, self-discipline, and perseverance."--www.Amazon.com.

Explores the do's and don't's of this high-powered and high-risk series of events that take place often in exotic locales.

The Eco-Challenge is an expedition with a stopwatch. The event that is a mix of an Indiana Jones adventure, a Lewis and Clark expedition and a modern day competition, goes to Fiji Islands. An average guy, Bill Fletcher sets out with his three teammates to explore and race through 500 kilometers of Fiji's most impressive and untouched terrain by bushwhacking through dense jungles, mountain biking on rugged trails, paddling down jungle rivers, trekking on ancient pig hunting trails to remote villages, and climbing fixed ropes up raging waterfalls. Finishing the Eco-Challenge takes more than physical endurance. If a team loses a member due to illness, fatigue, injury, or disagreement, they are disqualified. Fletcher finds the most difficult task is keeping his team together as they experience all these ailments in their quest to find the finish line. If that wasn't tough enough, the team is haunted by spirits from Fiji's cannibalistic past.