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An adventure is an activity that comprises (perceived) risky, dangerous or uncertain experiences. The term is often used in reference to physical activities that have some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, and extreme sports. However, the term also broadly refers to any enterprise that is potentially fraught with physical or psychological risk, such as a business venture, a love affair, or other major life undertakings.

Adventurous experiences create psychological and physiological arousal,^[1] which can be interpreted as negative (e.g. fear) or positive (e.g. flow), and which can become a detriment as per the Yerkes-Dodson law. For some people, adventure becomes a major pursuit in and of itself. According to adventurer André Malraux, in his La Condition Humaine (1933), "If a man is not ready to risk his life, where is his dignity?". Similarly, Helen Keller famously stated that “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

Paragliding is increasingly popular for being adventurous.^[2] A view of paragliders in Fethiye, Turkey

[edit] About

Activities such as hiking, and exploring can be seen as adventurous.

Outdoor adventurous activities are typically undertaken for the purposes of recreation or excitement, such as multi-sport adventure racing or a traveler's adventure tourism. However, an adventurous activity can lead to gains in knowledge, such as in the case of the numerous pioneers who have explored and charted the Earth and, in recent times, traveled into space and to the Moon. As a more modern example, adventure education makes use of challenging experiences for learning.

However, adventure is also used more broadly to describe unusual experiences or participation in exciting undertakings. An adventurous endeavour is simply one which involves risk (or at least the perception of risk), which can be understood as there being an uncertain outcome.

[edit] Adventure in mythology

This section requires expansion.

Young Adventurers not in search of wealth, but in search of adventure itself.

Joseph Campbell discussed his notion of the monomyth in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell proposed that the heroic mythological stories from culture to culture comprised of a similar underlying pattern, starting with the "call to adventure", followed by a hazardous journey and eventual triumph.

[edit] Adventurer

An adventurer is a person who bases their lifestyle or their fortunes on adventurous acts. An adventurer or adventuress is a term that usually takes one of three meanings:

• One whose travels are unusual and often exotic, though not so unique as to qualify as exploration.
• One who lives by their wits.
• One who takes part in a risky or speculative course of action for profit or position.

In fiction, the adventurer figure or Picaro may be regarded as a descendant of the knight-errant of Medieval romance. Like the knight, the adventurer roams through episodic encounters, usually involving wealth, romance, or fighting. Unlike the knight, the adventurer was a realistic figure, often lower class or otherwise impoverished, who is forced to make his way to fortune, often by deceit. Also, an adventurer is a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. The picaresque novel originated in Spain in the middle of the fifteenth century. Novels such as Lazarillo de Tormes were influential across Europe. Throughout the eighteenth century, a great number of novels featured bold, amoral, adventuring protagonists, who made their way into wealth and happiness, sometimes with and sometimes without the moral conversion that generally accompanies the Spanish model.

Under Victorian morality the term, used without qualifiers, came to imply a person of low moral character, often someone trying to marry for money.

In comic book handbooks such as Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, the term "adventurer" is used as a synonym for "super-hero" when listing a character's occupation.

In role-playing games, the player characters are often professional adventurers, who earn wealth and fame by adventure, such as undertaking hazardous missions, exploring ruins, and slaying monsters. This stereotype is strong enough that the adventurers can often be used as a synonym for the player characters. However non-player character groups of adventurers can also exist, and can be an interesting encounter for the players.

[edit] List of adventurers

[edit] Historical adventurers

T.E. Lawrence, also known as the adventurer Lawrence of Arabia

[edit] Modern adventurers

[edit] Fictional adventurers

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiversity has learning materials about Adventure

• What is adventure? (wilderdom.com)