We love to read adventure stories and regal ourselves in the exploits of people like Jason Bourne and Indiana Jones, but none of these people are real. Let face it, Indiana Jones wouldn't last 10 seconds in the real world.

I don't care how good you are with a whip, you're not going to out maneuver a whole squadron of Nazis. Jason Bourne can kick some serious tail, but trying to outwit the federal government in the United States is a lost cause. I don't care how good you are at martial arts.

The fact remains that there are people out there that live a real life of adventure and survived long enough to write a book about it. It may not be as exciting as the stuff Hollywood dreams up, but you can imagine what it must be like to survive a kidnapping attempt or be an agent for the KGB. I once had the pleasure of speaking with someone who wrote a book about his adventurous life.

He worked for the Russians at the height of the cold war. Every day he helped trade secrets and recruit people from inside the United States. While he never killed anyone, so he said, there were many people killed that he knew. The way he put it was no one makes a mistake when working for the Russians.

There are many books about modern day people that have survived great adventures and came back unscathed...at least physically. Don't discount them as great adventure books because you find them in the nonfiction section.