Deep Survival - Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, by Laurence Gonzales

This is a very cool book. It has great stories about wilderness survival and fatalities, and uses it to draw lessons about life.

He who is brave in daring will be killed,
He who is brave in not daring will survive.
Tao Te Ching

Nice quote about the fine balance between pessimism and realism:

Good survivors, like good wives, husbands, and CEOs, always consider the bleak side of things, too. They plan for them and have an earnest hope that they will manage. But they do not care overly much that they might not. They accept that to succumb is always a possibility and is ultimately their fate. They know safety is an illusion and being obsessed with safety is a sickness. They have a frank relationship with risk, which is the essence of life. They don't need others to take care of them. They are used to caring for themselves and facing the inherent hazards of life.

Stay within your limits.

The summit is not the only place on the mountain.... It's a matter of looking at yourself and assessing your own abilities and where you are mentally, and then realizing that it's better to turn back and get a chance to do it again than to go for it and not come back at all.