Conquistadors of the Useless by Lionel Terray

Lionel Terray was a legendary mountain climber (and a key member of the Annapurna expedition instrumental in getting people high on the mountain down alive). CONQUISTADORS OF THE USELESS (the best title of any adventuring memoir, ever) recounts his many, many, many astonishing climbs. The pictures included make it plain just how much the text accounts, detailed as they are, fail to capture the actual peril of these feats. (As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about words, I find it grimly satisfying to encounter the limit of what words can do.)