Summer reading, summer not.

I just finished 4 books that need to be ranked in the "page-turner/can't put down" category.
I have realized that I don't have time for much fluff and my reading preferences have now fine-tuned themselves to include very little fiction. So if you want to learn about 4 compelling, true stories, I highly recommend these books (not listed in any particular preferential order).

1. Stones into Schools - the sequel to Three Cups of Tea that I mentioned in a previous post.
The continuing story told by Greg Mortensen of his and his non-profit organization's (the Central Asia Institute) efforts to build schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

2. Blind Descent - the story of the "race" to find and document the deepest cave on Earth - the last known terrestrial discovery. Wow! The rigors of deep caving are described as something like rappelling down El Capitan, in the pitch dark, with a waterfall pounding on your head and then climbing back up - over and over again for weeks at a time, but don't forget to include the digging in tight spaces for hours at a time and diving into "sumps" of unknown lengths and depths.

3. Born to Run - by Christopher McDougall. "A hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen".
OK, I seriously laughed out loud while reading this book, all the way through to the point where tears streamed down my face as I choked back sobs at the end! I've never been a "runner". The last time I remember feeling any joy at all while running was clear back in my childhood. But ...this week, I felt it, out on the trail of the Ben Lomond bench all by my little lonesome self as the sun was setting. And you know what the best part was? I was grinning ear to ear at the END of the trail... because it felt so good to remember!

4. Deadliest Sea - by Kalee Thompson. The Untold Story of the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History. Don't like cold water? This is the story of a fishing trawler that sank in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska in March 2008 and the ultimate rescue of 42 of the people on board. The story itself needed to be told, but author Kalee Thompson was dead-on in her story-telling and fact-based time line accuracy and research. Kudos!