Looking for Some Inspiration? Consider These Books or Movies

Here are a few movies and books that will make you realize the human mind and body can persevere through unbelievable pain, achieve extraordinary results, or accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. These are just a few of my favorites. What would you add to this list?

Movies

• Apollo 13 (Amazon) shows the amazing story as three astronauts and NASA’s ground crew face extraordinary odds to safely return to earth after an accident in space.
• Miracle (Netflix) about the 1980 US Men’s Hockey team as they surprise the world with their bid for an Olympic Gold medal.
• Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable (Netflix) follows the life of professional surfer, Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm as a young teenager to a shark attack.
• The Impossible Flight (Netflix) aims to be the first airplane flown 22,000 miles around the globe powered only via solar.
• Kim Swims (Amazon) about ultra-distance swimmer Kim Chambers who swims 26 miles from the shark-infested waters of the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
• Iron Cowboy: The Story of the 50.50.50 (Netflix) is the story of one man’s attempt to complete 50 Ironman races (2.4-mile swim / 112-mile bike / 26.2-mile run) in 50 days in 50 states.
• The Dawn Wall (Netflix) shows how two climbers attempt to scale the impossible 3,000 foot Dawn Wall of Yosemite’s El Capitan.
• Losing Sight of Shore (Netflix) recounts the feats of four women who rowed from San Francisco to Australia.
• Free Solo (Amazon) captures Alex Honnold as he scale’s Yosemite’s El Capitan without a rope.
• Pursuit of Happyness (Netflix) is the rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the streets of San Francisco and then went on to Wall Street.

Books

• Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (Alfred Lansing) The harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole and one of the greatest adventure stories of the modern age.
• Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desparate Early Days that Launched SpaceX (Eric Berger) The story of how SpaceX was formed and the tremendous risks Elon Musk took in the early days.
• Alive (Piers Paul Read) about the Uruguay Ruby Team’s plane crashing in the Andes and their story of survival.
• Deep Down Dark : The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free (Hector Tobar) about 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days and their saga underground.
• One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew us to the Moon (Charles Fishman) is the story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic mission to reach the moon.
• 50/50 (Dean Karnazes) shows what it is like to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days. Also consider reading Karnazes first book, Ultra Marathon Man.
• Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) about the 1996 climbing disaster on Mt. Everest the claimed five lives and left many changed forever.
• Touching the Void (Joe Simpson) is the tale of two mountaineer’s harrowing ordeal in the Peruvian Andes when a horrific accident mid-descent forced one friend to leave another for dead.
• We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance (David Howarth) recounts an amazing story of will and determination as a team of expatriate Norwegian commandos try to escape the Nazis.
• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Laura Hillenbrand) about WWII Air Force Bomber Louis Zamperini’s unforgettable story of perseverance, resilience, and determination to survive.
• Life Lessons from Centre Court at Wimbledon (Brad Pearce) about how to set process and aspirational goals.