A fascinating insight into a life of adventure
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I usually read at light speed, but this book was so enjoyable I slowed right down and savoured it bit by bit for two weeks. It was like having Fiennes himself there in the room telling the story of his life. There is not much by way of self psycho-analysis but that's fine. We are allowed to draw our own conclusions. Instead events are described in excellent detail allowing the reader to accompany Fiennes on his adventures and share in his triumphs and tragedies.
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outside of the bible
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Outside of the Bible, this is prob the best book that I've read,(and I've read a few). A few months ago me and my son went into a charity shop, I saw a book by RF (Mind Over Matter),and, for whatever reason (as I basically knew next to nothing about him), I bought and read it (in snatches), then in Dec (07)we went into a shop where RF had done a book signing (for 'mad, bad and dangerous to know') in the days prior. My son said would you like this for xmas? I said (cos it was signed,)'yes'. NOW the review, it is 'intoxicating, thrilling and well written', you can feel the cold as he walks off into the distance. A 60 yr old coming to within such a very short distance of Everest summit,yet shortly after climbs the Eiger, and the commentary is so good that you are on the rock slab with him. The 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days, (inspiring). As per cromwell, it is open, (ie warts and all). A man who did not as such 'lose' parts of his fingers, but rather decided to take things into his own hands (no pun intended). In re: the book itself, the photo pages (in my edition, at least) soon started to tear, in fact one page is completely torn out. but the text more than makes up for that (esp since mine is signed). Highly recommended.
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Mad Bad and the eye catching title
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Ranolph Fiennes' achievements as a traveller cannot be disputed. However, there is little examination of motives and psychology behind them in the book, which is what I like to see in an autobiography and this is ultimately disappointing. So, he's a man of action and I am impressed by his achievements and he writes quite well. But I felt that everything was written from a very conservative viewpoint( summed up in Appendix 1 of the book ) with little of the insight that you can find in a biography like Andy Cave's great " Learning To Breathe" or Stephen Venables' "Higher Than the Eagle Soars". In the end I thought "Mad , Bad..." was just a bit superficial. Good eye-catching title though.
Great traveller. Average book.
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Blown Away
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What an inspirational read. This man is a legend. Ex SAS he treks across both poles, removes the ends of his own frostbitten fingers in his garden shed, has a heart attack and within 16 weeks runs 7 marathons in seven days on seven continents. Then he gets to within 300 meters of the summit of Everest, considers this a failure and so learns to climb and tackles one of the most dangerous peaks in the world; the North Face of the Eiger; passing the corpses of several legendary but dead climbers on the way, declaring at the end of the climb that his attention to climbing rather than running has resulted in a loss of fitness!!!! so he goes about running 2.5 hours a day to "get fit" whilst being a mid sixties post heart attack sufferer.
Five stars from me.
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Readable and inspiring
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Sir Ranulph's achievements speak for themselves but there can be occasions when the single-mindedness and grit to succeeed in these often brutal ventures don't translate into readable expedition books and autobiographies. I thought one of the qualities that shined through in this book was a much greater warmth and humanity than some of his previous books. I don't know if that is because Sir Ranulph has mellowed with the years but I found this to be an enormously compelling read. The brief tours through his previous experiences and challenges are concise and yet colourful. Some of the best writing in this book is when he manages to express his great love for his wife, Ginny, and the tragedy of her loss without any mawkish sentimentality.
One gripe I would have is that the final chapters in the book read as though they were written in a hurry and didn't have the polished feel of the rest of the book. For example, one quote is repeated twice within a matter of a few pages.
This is a small grumble in an otherwise impressive book. Recommended for armchair explorers and weekend warriors.
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