‘This is a wonderful compilation of extraordinary adventures completed by men and women who have been successful, often against all the odds […] this will certainly inspire and engage readers.’ - The School Librarian
SHORT-LISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD CHILDREN’S TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024.
Sometimes adventure, like life, doesn’t work out as you want it to. Even determined explorers make mistakes. Some things go wrong through no fault of your own. Many of the greatest adventurers of all time failed along the way. Others had to overcome hardships to pursue lives of adventure.
Hand-picked by adventurer Alastair Humphreys, this compilation retells the extraordinary journeys undertaken by adventurers who have tried, failed and succeeded against the odds.
It features expeditions that went desperately wrong and turned into struggles for survival that teach us about friendship, kindness and hope. Other adventurers had to fight for their right to succeed in the face of discrimination or setbacks that threatened to squash their dreams. They teach us about courage, determination and positivity in overcoming prejudice.
Featuring adventurers modern and ancient, from Zheng He to Joe Simpson, Jeanne Baret to Matthew Henson, these men and women ventured into space, oceans, deserts and jungles, and may inspire you to do the same.
Against the Odds is a book full of hope and the power of self-belief and resilience.
We like our young people to read stories of Adventure because they’re full of resilience and perseverance. But the reality of life is quite different to the usual Adventure books filled with incredible feats being done by incredible people.
In real life, things are a bit messier, particularly in the minds of young people. They often worry about failing, about not knowing what direction they’re going, or if things may be turn out not quite as expected.
So I have put together a new book to hopefully encourage more of a growth mindset in young people. Because adventures, like real life, are rarely smooth, simple and predictable. This a book full of people overcoming the odds to do really fantastic crazy adventures, but going about it in a roundabout sort of way.
“We often hold a very narrow ideas of what ‘success’ means. We think that if we don’t reach a certain outcome, then we’ve failed and wasted our time. But in these chapters, you are going to read of changed plans leading to greater happiness, of personal disaster opening the door to wonderful experiences, of lessons learned from compromising, and even occasions when mere survival is triumph enough.” – Alastair Humphreys
96 pages.
Hardback.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.