Outside Books - Böcker

Do beavers ever get squashed by the trees they're gnawing down? Why are there so many worms writhing on the sidewalk after a storm? What good are goosebumps? Why do llamas spit? What is the oldest living creature on earth? Focusing on natural history and outdoor lore, this collection ranges from the gothic to the comic to the cosmic. It includes the sorts of questions that most of us stopped asking (at least out loud) when we were eight years old. Outside magazine's "The Wild File" is what question-and-answer columns should be but seldom are: an often surprising, sometimes zany, always insightful and informative back-and-forth between a devoted readership and its publication. The result is an enchanting and enriching collection of answers that open windows to more questions.

Short of near disaster or the sublime, what are our most memorable outdoor moments made of? The totally surprising, sometimes bizarre oddball moments that catch our psyches off guard and strike our funny bones to the core. Call it the wild side factor. The editors of Outside proudly present outstanding images gleaned from 300 issues of their back-page "Parting Shots" photo feature. It's their way of celebrating the pratfalls and singular coincidences of an outdoor life—the comic circumstances of relatively tame mammals (us) spending more and more time closer and closer to large, wild animals. These images are a rare chance to look into the wide world outside and laugh at both ourselves and that infinitely wondrous, entertaining three-ring circus we call the universe.

Sebastian Junger goes whaling; Jon Krakauer solves the fatal mystery of a lost hiker; David Quammen tracks big, bad wolves in Romania; Ian Frazier profiles the world's wiliest mushroom hunter; Susan Orlean goes native with Maui's surfer girls; Bill McKibben crosses the disappearing finish line; Peter Maass endures free-fire zones in Sudan and Somalia; Mark Jenkins explores the soul of mountaineering; Hampton Sides runs wild with skiing's fastest man; Bill Vaughn skates home backwards; Hodding Carter Jr. adopts a wild manatee; David Rakoff survives survival school; and more.The editors of Outside bring together 36 stories that comprise some of the finest nonfiction gathered anywhere, works that take us to remote corners of the world and into distant realms of the imagination. By turns comical and sobering, whimsical and nerve-racking, the stories in this collection embody Outside's ability to hone the cutting edge, publishing the innovative, exhilarating, zany, wise voices of sport, travel, and adventure.