Bone Games: Extreme Sports, Shamanism, Zen, and the Search for Transcendence

Such a thought-provoking little read.

Gripping stories of mountaineering. A nice escape.

Badly injured, alone and in mortal danger, author Rob Schultheis found himself doing impossible things to save his own life after a near-fatal mountain-climbing accident. "Bone Games" is an account of his intensely personal quest to understand an almost mystical experience and, if possible, to re-capture that extraordinary and elusive "state of grace" through wilderness athletics. Exploring his subject from historical, biochemical, spiritual and various other perspectives, Schultheis produced a truly excellent memoir of journeys through terra incognita.

This book is an old favourite of mine. When I came across it on sale a few years ago in the Daedalus catalogue, I bought a bunch of copies to give to friends, mostly martial arts types. This book is not about martial arts per se, I can't help feeling that what Mr. Schultheis has to say is important to all martial artists and those involved with peak athletic performance. While mainly focused on high-risk sports and survival situations, I think most readers will be fascinated by his obsessive search for the consummate mind-set in which the seemingly impossible is accomplished with ease. Schultheis is a runner and a climber, and when climbing in the Colorado Rockies, he had a bad fall which triggered a kind of peak experience. As he describes it: "Something happened on that descent, something I have tried to figure out ever since, so inexplicable and powerful it was. I found myself very simply doing impossible things: dozens, scores of them, as I climbed down Neva's lethal slopes. Shattered, in shock, I climbed with the impeccable sureness of a snow leopard, a mountain goat." This experience sets the author off on a quest to find the key to this altered state of consciousness. And what a quest it is! He ranges from Shamanism to long-distance running, mountaineering in Nepal, Plains Indian vision quests, and survival at sea. He doesn't specifically deal with martial arts, but the state of consciousness he seeks is known by various terms such as "muga-mushin" and "heijoshin" in the Japanese Martial Arts. More recently Mihaly Cziksentmihaly has researched what he calls the "Flow" state and written extensively on it. While Schultheis doesn ft seem to come to any firm conclusions, it's certainly not through a lack of effort, and it sure is fun being along for the ride.

This book is good for anyone interested in the physiological effects of extremes on the body. What kind of rush we are actually looking for and the desire to control these effects. Interesting book.

Shallow

Starts slow, but overall great.

Don't be deceived by the title. This book leaps beyond mere 'games' and instead zeroes in on a wide spectrum of outdoor adventurers. The author, Rob Schultheis, compares a wide spectrum of athletic psyches to himself, hoping to explain the lure to nature's most extreme challenges. His writing may stray from scientific methods, but his anecdotal and personal style is engaging and often based in Eastern philosophies. Overall, a solid collection of musings in a topic rarely navigated, sprinkled with harrowing accounts of unbelievable triumphs and near-misses.

Bought this for my holiday and loved reading it. If you are into running, extreme sports and just like the notion , then this is a cracking read. The book narrative is told through a series of journals written by the author and then put into a story that meanders through his thoughts and interactions with other people he has met on his journey to discover if he could once again find himself in a zen like state, such as the one he found himself in on a mountainside in winter. A thoroughly enjoyable book

A strange but fascinating book. It doesn't provide many answers to the questions raised by humans' abilities to achieve greatness under stress; but that, I'm sure, is the point.

This is a genuine classic for the runner, hiker , climber or lover of the wild outdoors. In search of sartori, Schultheis takes himself, and us on a physical, mental and spiritual journey.

One of those strange, enchanting books, part biography, part exploration of the extremes of the human body, mind and soul.

A very, very disappointing book. The title was very misleading. I found the text to be a self indulgent review of one man's travels thirty years ago. The cross reference with research was limited, relying on anecdotal references which were out of context at best and totally irrelevant at worst. I really wish I had saved my money!