LAST BREATH Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance

Here's a cheery item. Stark, a writer for OUTSIDE magazine, describes in clinical detail the kind of demise that might await kayakers, skiers, climbers, etc. In each case he invents a situation in which drowning, hypothermia, or high-altitude pulmonary edema could occur, then reports it in a husky, sincere voice. He doesn't need to inject added excitement; these secular parables have plenty. Stark's own escape on Mt. Washington plus middle age and family obligations have been cautionary experiences for him. The introduction mentions one true tale that does not in fact appear in the selections. Among what does is the fact that most crucifixion victims died of hyperthermia (overheating) and that the Humane Society was originally founded in Britain to prevent drownings. Adventurers, armchair or actual, will enjoy--and perhaps be warned by--Stark's words. J.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 02]