Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance
Medical case studies can be fascinating to read, full of drama, heroism,  and sometimes tragedy. Most doctors' tales take place in clinics or  hospitals, but those pedestrian settings are not for Kenneth Kamler, who  practices medicine outside, patching people up with surprising success  under harrowing conditions.Surviving the Extremesstarts with  open-air surgery in the steamy jungles of the Amazon River, moves to  disturbingly detailed descriptions of the many ways humans can die at  sea, and from there takes white-knuckled readers through the rest of  Earth's extreme environments. Krakauer fans will gasp at the book's best  chapter, covering the high-altitude medical feats Kamler has performed  on Mt. Everest and other peaks. "No course in medical school taught me  the proper mixture of oxygen, IV fluids, and Tibetan chants to treat a  subdural hematoma in below-zero temperatures on a 3-mile-high glacier,"  Kamler writes. Instead, he has learned the fine art of adventure  doctoring by doing it, and in the process, he's won fans among the  world's most prominent risk-takers. Through it all, Kamler remains  fascinated by the human body's ability to heal under horrifically  dangerous conditions. His medical adventures are inspiring and  thrilling, as well as occasionally bloody and disgusting. In short,  perfect stories of human survival.--Therese Littleton