A fresh and original piece of travel writing, Last Breath, explores what happens to our bodies and minds in the perilous last moments of life when an extreme adventure goes wrong. With more and more people setting out to climb nearly unclimbable mountains, swim unfathomable seas, and cut through unimaginable jungles, extreme deaths and near-death experiences are filling the news. Peter Stark's fascinating book is a synthesis of adventure and science, anecdote and history, confronting, among other hideous conditions, malaria, dehydration, scurvy, heat stroke and falling from a very great height. Shiver with the man lost in New England's snowy woods, suffering from hypothermia. Hallucinate with the young woman who succumbs to altitude sickness on Annapurna. Gasp for a last breath with the foolish deep-sea diver descending too far with too little oxygen. 'Fans of the detailed psychological description of drowning in The Perfect Storm will be in for a feast here. I'll have that one.

' Time Out.