Chicago, 1994, 1st edition. 170 pp. Softcover. Fine.
Everything you've ever wanted to know about climbing frozen waterfalls, river running, paragliding, and other dangerous sports that test one's skill, audacity and major medical coverage. It takes only a couple of pages to realize that this isn't an ordinary outdoor adventure guide. With tongue firmly in cheek, the author discusses 'near-death sports'--rock climbing, surfing, wilderness hiking, paragliding, and all other forms of outdoor activity that are likely to lead either to a hospital bed or a coffin.
The aptly named Mr. Tomb provides glossaries of terms designed to help wary readers talk the talk even if they will never walk the walk. We learn, for example, that dysentery, an occupational hazard for those indulging in various forms of jungle recreation, is a 'Stephen King-type diarrhea featuring blood, mucus, and pus.' For mountaineers, Tomb provides the 10 basic rules to proper expedition behavior: 'Rule 1--Get the hell out of bed.' For wilderness hikers, there is a guide to intimacy in which we are advised that picking ticks off your partner can be a form of foreplay. All in all, this sly, often hilarious skewering of the danger sports and their live-to-die proponents is a comic treasure
