On the Edge (Lonely Planet Journeys)

On The Edge speedily whisks you to the heart of the action, beginning with Mark Jenkins hair-raising account of three men in kayaks greeting crocodiles on an African river. "On every journey there is something waiting for you", he writes, "Something specific. When you find it, you will think it just happened to be there, but in fact it was there only for you. It is not a coincidence".

From here on, the white-knuckle moments come thick and fast. Each extract is only a few pages, skipping tedious expedition-planning diatribes for the real excitement: from cyclists in Zambia being mistaken for South African spies to encounters with gorillas, bears, death and storms at sea. The Texan editor Cecil Kunne is a real adrenaline junkie, one of the world's kayaking/rafting experts (when not being a lawyer). Having written nine books on the subject, he inevitably chooses many canoeing capers.

Most extracts come from the highly traditional intrepid explorer genre, dating back to Victorian grand "expeditions". The question is, does it take you to the frontier of human existence; or just the "edge" of the white man's world? Buzz Aldrin's account of his first steps on the moon (and the miniature Presbyterian communion he held before he took them) definitely does. However the "edge" in many of the stories is simply daily life for the "natives", from Aborigines to Zairian gorilla rangers. This aside, On The Edge is an excellent sampler, providing easily digestible chapters. Ideal for reading between tube stops as well as on epic treks. --Sarah Champion