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JONATHAN AND ANGELA/GETTY IMAGES (HIPPO)
RISEANDSHINE
Greeting the dawn from the top of Egypt’s Mount Sinai
At 3 a.m., the camel path that winds up Mount Sinai was in total dark-
ness. Seven hundred very steep feet from the top, we dismounted
and stumbled upward, sensing the sheer drop below. At the summit:
bitter cold and a little wooden hut, where we sprawled on benches for
a brief nap. Before long, we were roused by a man in a djellaba, who
beckoned with his lantern to a small plateau facing east. The morning
star rose first, quickly, a pink ball against the black sky. Then came the
sun, which lifted up over the Sinai Peninsula, light and heat flooding
across the mountains toward our plateau. The day did not so much
break, as erupt in front of us.
—ADRIANMOURBY
WORDS FROMTHEWILD
“THESE INDO-
NESIAN VILLAGERS
HAD NEVER SEEN
GIRLS—OR ANYONE,
REALLY—SURFING
BEFORE, SO THEY
ALL CAME OUT
IN THEIR CANOES
ANDWERE TRYING
TO CATCHWAVES
WITH US. ITWAS
SUCH A SPECIAL
THING NOT ONLY
TO HAVE EXPE-
RIENCED, BUT TO
HAVE SHAREDWITH
FRIENDS. ITWAS
LIKE, ‘WHAT? THIS
IS MY LIFE? ARE YOU
KIDDINGME?’”
—
KASSIAMEADOR,
pro longboard surfer
MUD, SWEATANDTEARS:
THEAUTOBIOGRAPHY
//
BEARGRYLLS
Even among themost vaunted seekers of peril, there are
some—like “Man vs. Wild” star Bear Grylls—who are
fascinating simply for their striking lack of interest in insulating
themselves fromharm. This great outdoorsman’s long-
awaited autobiography sheds a bit of light on themania
of the extremophile.
May 1
ATLANTIC FEVER: LINDBERGH, HIS COMPETITORSAND
THE RACE TOCROSSTHEATLANTIC
//
JOE JACKSON
Everyone knows the story of aviator Charles Lindbergh and
his inaugural flight across the Atlantic Ocean, but what most
don’t know is that, after seven years of sitting unclaimed, a
$25,000 prize had inspired Lindbergh and 15 other aviators to
give the task a shot within just five weeks. Six of themdidn’t
come back.
May 8
NOTIME TOLOSE: ALIFE INPURSUITOFDEADLY
VIRUSES
//
PETERPIOT
Microbiologist Peter Piot has lived a lifemore adventure-filled
than an epidemicmovie: He headed into the quarantine zone
in Central Africa soon after the Ebola virus broke out, and
then found himself traveling around the world to debate some
of the first AIDS initiatives with the likes of Fidel Castro and
South African president ThaboMbeki.
May 28
SWELL: AYEAROFWAVES
//
EVANSLATER
ANDPETERTARAS
This book of photographs and related essays put together
by
Surfing
magazine duo Slater and Taras uses as its subject
four giant ocean swells that start fromdifferent corners of
the globe and drive gorgeous, translucent, rideable waves
to the world’s great surf beaches.
May 9
—JACQUELINE DETWILER
SIZEMATTERS
Facing Africa’s deadliest animal
“The most dangerous place in Africa is between a hippopotamus and water,” said
Arno, my safari ranger, but I was too busy taking pictures of said hippos to listen.
The next day, with a herd in the water behindme and the rump of a lone hippo
straight ahead, I suddenly felt those words come back tome. The hippo began to
turn. I looked to Arno; his usual smirk was gone. My knees vibrated against the
petrified horse beneathme, the hippo continuing its slow revolution. Then, miracu-
lously, my horse unfroze. Stealthily it sidestepped, assessing our peril with each
sidle, until the hippo rejoined its herd. I didn’t take a picture.
—SARAH H. TURCOTTE
CLIFF-HANGERS
More of a sofa-surfer? Here are
four newbooks that promise first-class vicarious thrills.