Top ten stories of survival and bravery

Bear Grylls is the host of the summer 2013 NBC reality series Get Out Alive. Previously he starred for seven seasons in the adventure series Man vs. Wild. Educated at Eton, Grylls served in the elite UK Special Forces unit 21 SAS and was made an honorary lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy. He climbed Mt. Everest in 1998 at the age of twenty-three—just eighteen months after breaking his back in a parachuting accident in Africa. His latest book, Strike of the Shark, is the sixth in his Mission Survival series.

He named his top ten adventure stories for the Guardian, including:

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)

The original survival hero! After being shipwrecked on an island, Crusoe shows real grit as he works out how to build a shelter, hunt for food and even grow crops and raise goats. He manages to live for many years on the island and, most importantly, he never gives up hope. Most of the books on this list owe a debt to this thrilling tale.

Read about another entry on the list.

Robinson Crusoe is one of ten great books about hurricanes.

The Page 99 Test: Robinson Crusoe.

--Marshal Zeringue