Do you fancy abseiling into an erupting volcano? Living off two sea slugs and a crab for a week? How about being locked in a bunker for ten days without so much as a sliver of daylight?
Me neither.
These impossibly testing environments may seem fit for Tom Cruise’s next Hollywood blockbuster, but in reality they are just a handful of the ordeals that real-life action hero and former Royal Marines sniper Aldo Kane has endured.
The Ayrshire adventurer’s storied life came to the fore when he pushed off from mainland Europe in a coastal rowing boat, attempting to complete the gruelling Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge with fellow Royal Marine and Special Forces Operator Jason Fox (now known for his role as one of the directing staff on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins) and three other British adrenaline junkies.
Not only did they finish the 3,677 nautical miles in 50 days despite capsizing three times, they also became the fastest crew to complete the longest route across the Atlantic.
This experience, and the resulting lessons Kane learned about the power of endurance, forms just one of the book’s fifteen chapters detailing the gargantuan – and frequently death-defying – expeditions he has accomplished.
Kane’s writing is brutally transparent as he details the atrocities of being up close and personal with Mexico’s drug cartels, telling of ‘the worst sightseeing tour [he’s] ever been on’ in Acapulco’s morgue, and being held at gunpoint by ‘narcos’.
But this goes beyond an inspiring read. At the close of each chapter Kane highlights a lesson that we can apply to our own lives – with sharp decision-making and sheer grit, courage can be found in the face of failure, comfort zones can be erased, and self-imposed limits can become a thing of the past.
Lessons From the Edge is a book we should all have within arms’ reach for those days we need to regain a sense of perspective.
A 249-pager that reminds us the impossible can indeed be made possible.
Lessons From The Edge, by Aldo Kane, published by Yellow Kite, £20.
[review rating=”5″ align = “left”]
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