An autobiography of iconic entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson that features his take on his business ventures, personal achievements and intrepid adventures. It presents insights into this very public figure's personal life as well as his business successes and the lessons he's learned along the way.

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, is an account of the ascent of the 21,000ft Siula Grande peak in the Peruvian Andes. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had achieved the summit before the first disaster struck. What happened and how they dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted is the subject of this book.

Gypsy Boy is the first commercial memoir written by someone on the inside of the notoriously secretive culture of the Romany Gypsies.

Primo Levi's classic memoir of The Camps.

This true story about the love between a spiritual mentor and his pupil has soared to the bestseller list for many reasons. For starters, it reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past. It also plays out a fantasy many of us have entertained: what would it be like to look those people up again, tell them how much they meant to us, maybe even resume the mentorship? And we meet Morrie Schwartz--a one of a kind professor, whom the author describes as looking like a cross between a biblical prophet and Christmas elf. Finally, we are privy to intimate moments of Morrie's final days as he lies dying from a terminal illness. Even on his deathbed, this twinkling-eyed mensch manages to teach us all about living robustly and fully. Kudos to author and acclaimed sports columnist Mitch Albom for telling this universally touching story with such grace and humility. -- Gail Hudson

One December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort. His name was Eddie Chapman, but he would shortly become MI5's Agent Zigzag. Dashing and louche, courageous and unpredictable, the traitor was a patriot inside, and the villain a hero.

A day-by-day account of Aron Ralston's unforgettable survival story - his terrible accident, self-amputation, rescue and recovery.

Written by a mountaineer who in 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, drifted cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. It tells how moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. It tells the story of that promise and its outcome.

A memoir that covers Murakami's four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and settings ranging from Tokyo's Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him.

Presents an account of an expedition gone disastrously wrong. This book details scientific discovery and anecdotes of human resilience in a harsh environment, supported by diary excerpts and accounts from explorers.

A gripping, sometimes surreal account of surviving one of the world's craziest and most dangerous prisons.