Left to live!!
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This epic starts out as a tale of tragic loss and human suffering but it develops into so much more.Beck Weathers drags the reader kicking and screaming up and down some of the highest peaks in the world.For what purpose? Maybe to escape the depths of depression he tries to conquer the euphoric heights of achievment and continually pushes his bodies limits.Its no surprise then when it all ends in tragedy but even severe frostbite resulting in amputation cannot quell this remarkable mans indomitable spirit.
This is a moving account of one mans attempt to conquer the highest mountain and also the deepest darkest recesses of his own mind.
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Not what I was expecting
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I picked this up in the mountaineering section expecting some good tales from the 1996 expedition. Although well written, after the first couple of chapters the book goes into the rather uninteresting tale of a pretty boring ordinary life. I have sympathy for Dr Weathers unfortunate circumstance but I think that there was a milking of the story for this book. Not much climbing, no adventure and if you fancy a more interesting read then look elsewhere.
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LEFT FOR DEAD...LUCKY TO BE ALIVE...LUCKY TO BE READ...
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This book has a great title, as it sums up Beck Weathers' Mt. Everest experience.Unfortunately, this is the only great thing about this book. It is, at best, a mildly interesting book. The only truly interesting part is his recollection of the Everest trip and its immediate aftermath. His survival, which is truly amazing, is almost glossed over and turned into a sad soap opera about a marriage gone stale with time.
It does seem that Beck's patient wife, Peach, had been ill treated in the sense that he would go off to do some amateur mountain climbing (with the emphasis on amateur), leaving her with the kids for weeks at a time and remaining incommunicado. Since her voice is interspersed throughout this book, you can see why he might want to get away. A more insipid voice, I can't imagine. She is what is bad about this book. Yet, at the same time it was her efforts, along with those of her friends, which were the catalyst for the herculean helicopter rescue by Colonel Madan K.C. who brought Beck down from the mountain. Still, she is an utter bore.
What is good about the book is Beck's sense of humor and his indomitable spirit, which is undoubtedly what kept him alive in unbelievably harsh conditions on Everest. Though it is those like him who, financially able to go on these expeditions but lacking the technical skill to effectively navigate the harsh terrain, put themselves and others at risk. While it is clear that he was delighted to be rubbing shoulders with the mountaineering elite on Everest, it did not seem to dawn on him that he was just another foolhardy dilettante who, though having had some climbing experience, simply did not belong on Everest. It is this hubris which brought him to this pass. Quite frankly, given his description of his mountaineering efforts on some of the world's other tall peaks, it is a miracle he was not left for dead long before Everest.
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LEFT FOR DEAD...LUCKY TO BE ALIVE...LUCKY TO BE READ...
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This book has a great title, as it sums up Beck Weathers' Mt. Everest experience.Unfortunately, this is the only great thing about this book. It is, at best, a mildly interesting book. The only truly interesting part is his recollection of the Everest trip and its immediate aftermath. His survival, which is truly amazing, is almost glossed over and turned into a sad soap opera about a marriage gone stale with time.
It does seem that Beck's patient wife, Peach, had been ill treated in the sense that he would go off to do some amateur mountain climbing (with the emphasis on amateur), leaving her with the kids for weeks at a time and remaining incommunicado. Since her voice is interspersed throughout this book, you can see why he might want to get away. A more insipid voice, I can't imagine. She is what is bad about this book. Yet, at the same time it was her efforts, along with those of her friends, which were the catalyst for the herculean helicopter rescue by Colonel Madan K.C. who brought Beck down from the mountain. Still, she is an utter bore. What is good about the book is Beck's sense of humor and his indomitable spirit, which is undoubtedly what kept him alive in unbelievably harsh conditions on Everest. Though it is those like him who, financially able to go on these expeditions but lacking the technical skill to effectively navigate the harsh terrain, put themselves and others at risk. While it is clear that he was delighted to be rubbing shoulders with the mountaineering elite on Everest, it did not seem to dawn on him that he was just another foolhardy dilettante who, though having had some climbing experience, simply did not belong on Everest. It is this hubris which brought him to this pass. Quite frankly, given his description of his mountaineering efforts on some of the world's other tall peaks, it is a miracle he was not left for dead long before Everest.
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Not what I expected
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The big problem with this book is its been billed as a book on mountaineering and often placed in the adventure sections. Its not a book on mountaineering. Its more of an apology to his long suffering wife and family for being a self obsessed climber. Unless I was studying pyschology I won't bother. I read it, the hubby got bored when he realised the mountain story was only two chapters. It is well written and it is a good book but its not a mountaineering or travel or adventure book.
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