Book Review: Out There: The Wildest Stories from Outside Magazine

I’ve never been a reader of Outside Magazine. I’ve read some of their pieces when someone shared them. And I knew it’s where authors like Jon Krakauer got their start. But when I see the magazine on the shelf it seems so focused on gear, which isn’t really an interest of mine. When I saw Out There: The Wildest Stories from Outside Magazine available for review on Net Galley I expected it’d be a way for me to get the stories, without all the other stuff.

What I didn’t expect, was the breadth of stories that would be covered. I figured it’d be all sportsy and outdoorsy stories. And while that certainly is there, it’s also full of more offbeat topics. There’s a story about nuclear bomb testing at Bikini Atoll, and the effects of that testing on the native people forced to leave. There are stories on the way climate change is affecting our natural, and manmade, world. There’s a story about a woman who rescues dogs and has a BERNESE MOUNTAIN CORGI. I had to find a picture of a Bernese Mountain Corgi. When I was searching for a picture, I found the original Outside article. And realized how much I was missing out by not having the accompanying pictures.

Out There is a great collection of stories, but the stories are not complete without the images that go along with them. Even just putting the pictures in the middle, with references to flip back to them would be acceptable. All the stories contained in the book are available online, and online they’re enhanced with the accompanying images.

The content contained within the pages of Out There is great, and it’s totally worth the read. It’s hard for me to recommend the book though, when you get more complete content for free.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of Out There for review. Amazon links are affiliate links.