Inspirational reading

[NemosKnickers]

I'm currently enjoying Alexander Hemingsley's book, Leap In which is about her personal journey from being a normal holiday swimmer to an awesome, hard as nails open water swimmer. So impressive to me and i enjoy her writing style.

Can anyone recommend anything else with a similar vibe? Not necessarily sporting, but any interesting story of an extraordinary person?

[NemosKnickers]

Ugh, I just googled 'inspirational books' and it throws up a load of self-help books: Think and Grow Rich! The Power of Now! the Greatest Salesman in the World!

eeeeeew boak

That's not what I had in mind at all. I'm looking more for an interesting yet relatable story I think.

[SplitInfinitive]

You might like The Outrun by Amy Liptrot, about her recovery from alcohol and drug abuse through watching and writing about nature. I thought it inspirational.

[NemosKnickers]

that sounds perfect, thank you

[SplitInfinitive]

And interestingly, Amy Liptrot is a fan of wild swimming. I follow her on Twitter and she often mentions it on there :)

Katherine Norbury's book, The Fish Ladder is also a good read. She searches for the sources of rivers whilst recovering first from a miscarriage and then from cancer, and includes a search for her birth mother. It was quite an emotional journey.

[Sadik]

I found <a class="break-all" href="//www.amazon.co.uk/Let-Go-Entrepreneur-Turned-Philanthropist/dp/178234831X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495292735&sr=8-1&keywords=Let%20IT%20go%20shirley&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">Let IT go by Stephanie Shirley incredibly inspiring. It was recommended to me on here, I'd never heard of her but she came to Britain on the Kindertransport, started a very successful IT company in the 1960s despite the problems of being a woman in a very male dominated field, brought up her autistic son and then started a charitable foundation to support those with autism.

[timeforabrewnow]

Mind over Matter by Ranulph Fiennes

High Adventure - Sir Edmund Hillary

[NemosKnickers]

Wow, The Fish Ladder sounds perfect too! Geography and feelings, some of my favourite things right there

And Let IT Go is available for £2.16 - it would be rude not to!

[allegretto]

If you liked Leap In you might like this www.google.it/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/01/hidden-nature-by-alys-fowler-review

[NemosKnickers]

Fiennes and Hillary, both excellent suggestions, thank you. I see Fiennes has done a biography of Captain Scott too.

Alegretto, that looks good. It seems there is a whole genre about life changing experiences with water that I'd never heard of before!

[stilllovingmysleep]

NemosKnickers I just saw this thread now so I hope it's not too late, but I imagine others may come across this thread in the future too...

I enjoyed Leap in too and generally I have a passion for swimming memoirs! (and for swimming itself for that matter)
I would warmly recommend the classic in the genre, Waterlog by Roger Deakin.
Also I'm currently reading Turning A Swimming Memoir by Jessica Lee which documents her year of swimming in lakes around Berlin to battle depression.
Finally, I would recommend Hidden Nature by Alys Fowler which I just finished. She writes about her year of paddling / kanoeing in Birmingham's urban canals for a year, and the traumatic (and renewing) life transition she went through during that time.

[Tarahumara]

I found Wild by Cheryl Strayed inspirational - the film is good too.

Also An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield.

[lucydogz]

Florence Nightingale by Cecil Woodham Smith. I picked this up in a charity shop for a pound, and with no particular expectations, but found it fascinating. What an amazing woman.

[phoolani]

I second Wild. I really thought I'd be bored by it, but it was great.

[Deathraystare]

found Wild by Cheryl Strayed inspirational - the film is good too.


I was gonna rec that too but you beat me to it plus I couldn't remember the title thought it was something or other by Cheryl Wild!