Book review: Controversial issues in adventure programming

I remember reading Controversial issues in adventure education: a critical examination (Wurdinger, S. D., & Potter, T. G. (1999) as a student studying an Adventure Education undergraduate degree and thought it was great to have such a text that critiqued and confronted some of the important issues that had arisen since the development of outdoor education in universities. This book is a similar, yet updated text and is intended primarily for students and practitioners of outdoor adventure education and related fields. It is designed to encourage critical debate of 20 current issues of concern in adventure programming by offering a ‘for’ and ‘against’ argument for each issue by over 50 international academics/practitioners from the field. The book is designed to reflect some of the current, enduring underlying assumptions in adventure programming and also contemporary, emerging issues. These include political, environmental, social, cultural, economic and technological changes in both the outdoor ‘industry’ and broader society. However, as I do not have the space to discuss all of the chapters, I will review the general theme of the book whilst concentrating on just two issues that I feel warrant further attention.