One day a few years ago, Michael Bane put down his remote control and picked up a whole new way of living that involved dying almost every day. He entered the world of extreme sports -- kayaking off waterfalls, diving in underwater caves, marathoning in Death Valley -- and has never looked back. Over the Edge is the gripping tale of his adventures tackling 13 risky sports, detailing the physical and mental preparation, the participation in these punishing yet exhilarating endeavors, and the arrival at the realization that this climb, flight, or dive might be his last. But he's survived so far to tell his tale and it's an engrossing read. It's not a guide book, a sourcebook, or a how-to. It's an everyman's journey to the edge and back.

Amazon.com Review
Everyone makes lists, but the baker's dozen of personal challenges that Michael Bane came up with to test the breaking points of body and soul are literally breathtaking. The adventures he exuberantly narrates are the extreme of the extreme, like swimming from Alcatraz Island, running through Death Valley, bicycling the Rocky Mountains, and climbing Mt. Denali. Along the route of his audacious odyssey, he meets his share of fascinating fellow extremists, one of whom describes the author as a kind of "George Plimpton from Hell," an apt depiction, to be sure, of man intent on journeying to a daringly engaging version of hell and back.