The accidental adventurer - Ben Fogle

Ben Fogle's life to date has been action-packed to say the least. He has rowed across the Atlantic, walked to the South Pole, run the Sahara and skated across Sweden. He has encountered remote tribespeople in deepest Papua New Guinea, caused a Boeing 747 to dump 100k of fuel before making an emergency landing in Sao Paolo, and been mistaken for Prince William on numerous occasions. He has chased a tarantula round his back garden, survived a flesh-eating tropical disease that required two months of chemotherapy and been bitten by a rabid dog.

So how did a cripplingly shy, geeky, perennially homesick boy end up doing all this? Ben's still not entirely sure himself, but this glorious book tells his story and will undoubtedly strike a chord with anyone who puzzles about their life, and how to live it differently.

This is not just another tale of derring-do for its own sake. Rather it's a book about defying expectations, conquering shyness, battling laziness and, just occasionally, winning.