5 comments about Eat, Pray, Love.

1. The movie got so much media attention but it ended up being a flop. I got sucked into the marketing scheme and purchased this book to read while on summer vacation. Overall a good book, but also a forgettable one. I have yet to see the movie, but I will rent it once it's out on DVD.



2. (3.5 stars)I thought this was going to be a book about eating, spirituality and love. As it turns out, it's all of that and also about making mistakes, forgiving yourself and starting over. Gilbert's writing style is open and honest as she shares her journey of finding balance and contentment in her life. She does this through completely immersing herself in three different cultures. Italy is all about the food and the intimacy of sharing meals with friends, not denying yourself simple pleasures and giving yourself permission to do nothing. India is the spiritual part of her journey. Here she conquers the art of meditation and learns the meaning of some inspirational Sanskrit phrases. This part is especially interesting for those who practice yoga or meditation. And then there's my favorite section of the book, Indonesia. Its breathtaking beauty is the perfect backdrop for finding balance and love. Gilbert writes with a delightful mix of humor and wit in a style that is easy to read and flows nicely. However, there are several sections that are slow and slightly tedious, with too much descriptive detail and no movement in plot. In short, anyone struggling with divorce or feeling disconnected to their life will easily relate to and take comfort in reading this book. Travel journal enthusiasts will also find it delightful and a great escape or those on their own spiritual journey.



3. Great - the book is what I thought it would be. Shipping was on time and got here in perfect shape. Thanks - A+



4. I cannot understand why people like this boooooooring book. I painfully made it through Italy and started India...that's when I couldn't take it anymore and felt that stapling my hand to the wall would be far more interesting than continuing with this woman who never stops talking about the damn bathroom floor...save yourself and save your money! I hope I can get a few bucks for it at the used bookstore especially since I only read a portion. Seriously this woman quit her marriage for some reason that she won't share....umm ok isn't that part of what sent her out on this journey that resulted in an overly hyped up, waste of paper, diary of a cry baby? She roamed around Italy eating and talking a bunch of nonsense meanwhile not having to worry about money thanks to her book advance. What idiot publisher did that! I agree with many of the other reviews.....she is a spoiled lame. I will not even bother seeing the movie ugg!



5. I wanted to like this book. Everyone I knew loved it and said I had to read this book. I didn't make it past Italy. I was disappointed that she was paid to take this trip (book advance) and wondered how much of it was manufactured for the book. Also, to me, her tone seemed haughty and self-important.

5 comments about No Way Down: Life and Death on K2.

1. I've read a lot of mountaineering books, primarily about Everest, so I was really interested in learning more about K-2, which (though smaller by just under 800 feet) is a harder mountain to summit. Given the large collection of books that have been written in recent years on mountaineering in the Himalayas, I think Graham Bowley made some writing decisions in reaction to the ouvre rather than for his book.
   
   One of those is that Bowley does not spend much time at all on the basics of the mountain or the sport in general. There are a few very interesting anecdotes about the history of K-2 climbers, but it's a bit rushed. He doesn't spend time really walking the reader through what the climbers were facing in these situations (really giving the reader a solid base), or going through a lot of details about the basics of problems that climbers face in high altitude situations. I think that was a deliberate decision on Bowley's part -- I think that he assumed that anyone reading his book would already have read a number of similar books, and he didn't want to re-cover information. I think his lack of personal mountaineering experience also played a large role in that writing decision. I can see why he chose to avoid spending the time on basics, then, but I just don't really agree with it.
   
   Another thing that bothered me a bit is that Bowley focuses almost exclusively on the events of the summit day and the four or so days following it when people were still in the process of being rescued. It's a complicated subject, with a great deal of conflicting opinions and necessary conjectures (particularly in the cases of small groups or people where there was no survivor left to tell what had happened), but I think he could've better served the subject and the reader by starting at the base of the mountain and following the events that *led to* the summit day. It would've given the reader a better ability to both learn the dangers of the mountain, the types of climbing specific to K-2, and also get a better idea of who these people were and how they were interacting. Without that, he essentially had to introduce each person as they met their moment of peril -- which I felt really robbed both the reader and the people in question.
   
   Beyond these two major concerns I had, I think that this book has a place within its field. But Bowley doesn't reach beyond his primary subject -- the specifics of the disaster and what occurred with those who lived or died. There were so many opportunities to really explore the growing place (and reliance on) technology high up the mountain, and the interaction and problems faced with so many teams. But I think that Bowley allowed his own inexperience with the subject to box him in and stunt his exploration of the larger setting of this incident.
   
   Good books to read to fill in the gaps left by this book would be "Dark Summit" and "K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain."



2. If you liked Into Thin Air, then you will like No Way Down. Same kind of story, but this time on K2. The author does a great job of capturing multiple perspectives on the trip and conveying the drama of several days on the mountain. It is pretty short, and you will not want to put it down until you find out who lives and who dies.



3. I'm a big fan of mountaineering and climbing books and was therefore excited about this new release -given all of the praise. However the book reads a bit flat, choppy, and failed to capture my attention. It's certainly not bad, but all the hype had my expectations elevated.



4. K2 has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the world's most dangerous peaks, but that hasn't stopped significant numbers of climbers from making an attempt at glory and personal accomplishment. Once isolated and difficult to reach, it is now the focus of whole industries and livelihoods, and in some years literally dozens of people show up to try to reach the summit. This is an account of what happened when a random event struck a scrum of climbers in a worst-case scenario of "wrong place, wrong time".
   
   The author has conducted a considerable amount of research and has undertaken personal interviews with many of the principals, and has had to sort through multiple accounts, many flavored by various agendas, biases, and points of view, to try to piece together a coherent narrative. In some cases, he's been reduced to conjecture about certain key events and has striven to put forth the best explanation possible from the available facts and the input of mountaineering experts.
   
   My major complaint is that in at least two cases, he tells us what people were thinking at specific moments, which is a bit of a stretch given that those individuals were amongst the climbers who died in the descent. In his preface and epilogue, he does note that he was told a great deal about the character of various figures, and none of the thoughts he attributes to the deceased are out of the ordinary for anyone under those circumstances, but still this sort of thing sits rather poorly with me.
   
   The advance copy did not have any maps, illustrations, or photos, which will hopefully be present in the mainstream release.
   
   Additional points are given to the author for being more or less open about his reservations (bordering on dislike) about some of the major characters involved in this tragedy, and in showing how for the Westerners mountain-climbing was a passion but a luxury, while for most of the Sherpas, guides, and porters it was a badly-needed job.



5. I honestly hate giving any book less than three stars. I know what an undertaking writing a book is, and always want to give an author credit; maybe I was just in the wrong mood or space when I read it.
   
   But I read No Way Down over a few sessions, and each time I came back I almost winced at how much less interesting the book seemed. Three stars indicates "pretty good, worth reading if you love the subject". But NWD is truly one of the most flat and lifeless books I've ever read about mountaineering, and I've read dozens. A climbing catastrophe like this has all the makings of a gripping read, but NWD makes all of the books written about the 1996 Everest disaster seem like pure gold (and Into Thin Air is maybe my third favorite of that bunch). So how did Bowley turn such a crazy mess as the 2008 K2 disaster into this tepid tale?
   
   Well, perhaps it's that we never get what feels like a nuanced portrait of even one of these people. Instead of focusing on one or two climbers and really getting into who they were and how their lives led up to this, the author gives almost everyone equal weight. We are cursorily introduced to well over a dozen different people, each for maybe a page or two, and you can almost see the author transcribing his many interviews, while almost never adding any opinion or insight gathered from having the overview those interviews gave him.
   
   It all feels like a very boring newspaper account, frankly, but Bowley's paper, the New York Times, usually has much finer writing than this. Not once during the whole read did I ever feel like I was getting to know anyone here, unlike ITA or so many other mountain books. All the people just ran together in my mind, and without anyone to really care about it's hard to care in general. Bowley skips so many key details that are standard in most good climbing books, such as equipment decisions, who paid whom and how much and why, what the personal politics of each separate expedition were, etc etc...and there's always plenty of those in big-money expeditions like those on K2 and Everest and the other major Himalayan peaks.
   
   It's clear that Bowley has very little climbing experience himself, as he admits; none of the narrative ever makes me feel like I do when I'm hanging off a mountain, which any good climbing book must to some extent accomplish. Even as a writer, Bowley is to Ed Viesturs and Reinhold Meissner what my forehand is to Federer's. This story needs the authority that a real climber can bring, and perhaps part of its monotony is that the author just doesn't know what it's really like up there.
   
   There's also precious little historical context here that seems to mean anything, though there are brief tales of previous K2 mishaps. But never once did I feel like the author was willing to make any calls of his own. Seemingly afraid of sharing his own thoughts, he instead turns this into a lukewarm semi-tribute to the dead climbers, as if fearful of offending anyone at all. But to write a book like this well one must make certain choices, and those are simply never made here. What results is an ever-growing stream of unmemorable, brief non-studies of so many people that not one really sticks out.
   
   I sensed that Bowley had the most affection for the Irish climber Gerard McDonnell...so why not use him as a key figure, and really dig into his life? Instead he feels like just another of the many 2D characters, when you know that almost all of these people were interesting, crazy, abrasive, joyful types, as so many mountaineers tend to be. But Bowley won't offer an opinion on anyone or anything here, which is what makes ITA and the many other fine mountain books so interesting. It's not just man against nature up there, it's man against man...especially this time out, apparently.
   
   He vaguely mentions that the Koreans were selfish and that the the Dutch leader was a control freak...and then backs off. Why? Those details may offer the key to this mess, but we never get into them enough to ever know.
   
   The many blurbs from other authors on the product page here makes this seem like a thrilling, harrowing account of this tragedy, comparing it to ITA etc. But rarely have I been more anxious to finish a so-called thriller so that I could finally read something else. Bowley's writing style is painfully discursive, impersonal, and just plain unexciting. And to be honest, there are some very basic syntax and stylistic errors that one would never expect from a NY Times writer. Maybe editors really do make all the difference.
   
   If so, I wish there'd been a better one here. But even then, it's hard to imagine sculpting this dull text into anything remotely close to the quality of almost all the books on the Everest disaster. I can only hope that some of the climbers involved in the 2008 K2 mess write their own books, and that they deliver the subjective, visceral jolt that No Way Down does not.

5 comments about Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage.

1. Plan on traveling to Antartica in the future, and even though this was a failed expedition I always wanted to learn more about this. Took this book to read on vacation, and finished it by the 2nd day - couldn't put it down. In my opinion, this has got to be one of the greatest stories of survival and determination in modern history, and the author keeps you hooked the entire way through. Details of emotions and struggle become that much more profound when you realize the extensive research that was done in crafting this book. An amazing tale of the power and determination of the human spirit - we all can learn from Shakleton and his men, and Lansing plays a brilliant role as a medium of delivery.



2. This is a wonderful tale of survival. Shackelton is an inspiring leader and the crew who traveled with him to the ends of the world are equally heroic. I would compare this favorably to The Bounty (also excellent) and other great adventure stories. It's a story of a time when men dared to be great, and is truly inspiring. The photographs taken by the ship's photographer are wonderful visuals to accompany this great story. (photos are a bit harder on Kindle, but still manageable.) Definitely recommend to those who love a good adventure/survival story.



3. This book is one of my top two books I have ever read. It recalls the historic event of survival in Antarctica written in an informative yet captivating way. It also speaks to the power of great leadership. I usually check out books from the library and only buy the book if it is one that I will read over several times. I not only purchased it for me but have given it as gifts to many people. A must read.



4. Absolutely one of the best books I have read. Should be required reading for all High School students.



5. Just got done watching the 3DVD set Shackleton 5 stars. I wondered how the book Endurance could possibly compare with this fantastic DVD set. The book was just as good 5 stars.
   
   We see Sir Shackleton in 1914 and his 27 men heading for a cross continent trek across Antarctica. Unfortunately the Endurance gets caught in the ice. She is crushed and sinks. Shackleton orders abandon ship and his men are on the ice. Against all odds, low temperature and little food they get on an ice flow and move 3 small boats toward open water. They are starving and must kill and eat their sled dogs as well as seals and penguins. Some of the men are almost killed by 1100pound Leopard seals but the seals are shot and supply the men food and blubber for their cooking pots. They eventually get off the flow and face horrific seas and bad weather and make it to Elephant island. Some are frostbite and the youngest member has to have his toes on one of his feet amputated. Another developed a boil on his back the size of a football.Unbelievable hardships.
   
   Then Shackleton and 5 men must sail almost 800 miles to South Georgia island to get rescue for his men from a Norwegian whaling village.They make the horrendous voyage across the Drake passage that has some of the worst weather on earth. Eventually they arrive on the wrong side of the island and Shackleton and 2 men must trek about 30 miles across part of the island and a glacier before arriving at the village. They are ushered to the Norwegian leader and the 3 stinking, dirty, nasty, badly clothed humans knock on his door. He says "Who the hell are you". Shackleton says my name is Shackleton. The Norwegians knew of Shackleton's expedition as it had stopped at South Georgia before but after over a year they thought them all dead. The Norwegian leader cries for them. Shackleton's 3 men left behind on the other side of the island are rescued. After 3 attempts with different ships the others on Elephant island are rescued.
   
   Its amazing. Shackleton INMO was not a great planner and made serious mistakes but his leadership and survival skills were legendary.He had a huge ego but believed in himself and inspired others to give 110% of themselves in order to survive. The expedition across the Antarctic continent was a failure but Shackleton's indomitable spirit and superb leadership skills helped save every man. No one was lost. All return as heroes. The most incredible story of survival ever told with diaries, logs and pictures( many lost) to prove it. An incredible man and a fantastic story. Endurance 5 star.
   
   PS. For scientific Antarctic matters learned give me the explorer Scott. For speed, planning and efficiency reaching the South Pole, Amundsen. For leadership, survival skills and surviving in the worst conditions give me Shackleton. The 3 great Antarctic explorers of the heroic age of exploration.

5 comments about Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth.

1. I'm a big fan of any sort of non-fiction book about the survival ability of human beings in extreme environments. I've read books about Everest, Antarctica, the Amazon, and Outer Space... and now I will be adding 'inner space' to the list. And it turns out that this story of deep caves and the people who feel the need to explore them is one of the most exciting books that I have ever read! I couldn't stop turning pages, late into the night, until I finished this one.
   
   Blind Descent follows the journey of two high profile 'cavers': Bill Stone of America and Alexander Klimchouk from the Ukraine. We hear about their struggles through deadly cave networks, their drive to push their expeditions deeper through personal risk, scientific research, and almost unimaginable bravery. This book is filled with harsh stories of how dangerous these supercaves can truly be. The almost alien cave world is well described, and I really did feel at times that my dark bedroom illuminated by Kindle light was actually some cavern chamber thousands of feet below the Earth. Thankfully I don't have to worry about navigating a 500 foot cliff or scuba diving my way through a pitch black world of sudden dead-ends and surprise waterfalls. I have nothing but respect for the cavers in this book.
   
   If you're into tales of exploration at all, then I'd highly recommend this book. I don't have many negative comments at all. The only thing I can think of is that there are some photos in the Kindle edition of this book, but the small black and white doesn't really do these supercaves justice - so I went online to check out a bunch of photos. I'd highly recommend doing this if you get into the book.



2. Some men (and a few women) dare to venture into the outer reaches of our universe and return with exciting tales of their voyages. That is true of an explorer whose adventures are recounted in this amply annotated account of exploring Mother Earth. The explorer whetted his appetite by probing some of Austin Texas' caves and became a man possessed with the idea of reaching the earth's deepest possible level. His passion resulted in death-defying blind descents by his teams into cavernous places never before seen by man. This is truly a great vicarious adventure for armchair readers as well as younger folks who dream of "going where no man (or woman) has dared to go before" .... right here on earth!



3. I enjoyed _Blind Descent_. Had James Tabor made some different choices, I might have enjoyed it more. Or, to put the shoe on the other foot, I might have enjoyed it more had I been the kind of reader that Tabor is aiming for.
   
   The book opens with a bang, and it's fast-paced and extremely vivid. Tabor puts a lot of emphasis on the "extreme" nature of supercaving--the cold, the dark, the hardship, the danger, the obsession. At first this is eye-opening. As the book goes on, however, the same points are driven home over and over. I can see how some readers might savor that aspect; for a non-extreme reader like me, though, the repetition eventually builds up. (It makes the whole caving process sound less like an adventure and more like an underground Gulag.) By contrast, you won't find much in here about the beauties of the underground world or the science of caves. That's just not what Tabor is interested in.
   
   A related choice is that the book is unbalanced. There are nominally two principal cavers racing each other: Bill Stone and Alexander Klimchouk. Tabor gives a good, fair, interesting portrait of Klimchouk, but it's clear that his heart is with Stone. Klimchouk doesn't even make an appearance until page 156 (of 250), and even then he has to share the remaining page count with his American counterpart. The reason, I suppose, is that Stone is vastly more colorful, and fits better with Tabor's muscular storyline. (And I give Tabor credit, as well, for a nuanced and objective character portrait of his larger-than life protagonist.)
   
   Even so, I think Tabor would have been better off interleaving the two characters and their stories. For one thing, he often resorts to a well-known writer's device--building tension by ending a chapter at some moment of tension or peril. That suspense-building device, though, really only works well if the writer follows it by cutting away to a different storyline for a while. As it is, all the reader does is turn the page and the tension is immediately dissipated.
   
   Finally, there are moments where Tabor's macho subject matter and vigorous prose style combine to become pretty ... let's say "dramatic". Here's a quote (p. 111) that I think fairly represents those moments:
   
   "By that time, Stone's anger had cooled and his ardor had warmed. Their celebrations included some postprandial activity that guaranteed that even if the cave did not set a record for depth, they'd established one of their own in Camp 6."
   
   If you like those sentences, I'd say you should disregard my reservations and buy _Blind Descent_. If not, you might still like the book if you're interested in the subject matter. I am, and I did (though my favorite caving book is still Roger Brucker and Richard Watson's _The Longest Cave_). But you should be prepared for some melodramatic prose, in a men's-magazine kind of way.



4. I had no idea what cavers actually do, but being a fan of mountain climbing books, I decided to give this a go. I read the descriptions of caving exploits in fascinated horror. The whole endeavor seems to involve facing and reveling in all of the most basic fears--fear of the dark, fear of heights, claustrophobia, and basically fear of death. I can't imagine how anyone could enjoy (if that's even the right word) such feats. If mountain climbing is a little hard to really justify, in terms of human lives lost, extreme caving is almost impossible to grasp.
   
   But I give the book 5 stars. The author made the unimaginable clear and vivid to my mind. He skips rather lightly over the rappelling, which involves sliding down ropes into the pitch dark often through raging waterfalls. But his descriptions of diving actually made me feel the claustrophobia, the terror, the unbelievable danger involved. And what more can you ask of good writing?
   
   And he did as much as anyone could to help me get a feel for the personalities of the men and women who engage in this extreme endeavor.
   
   But if you feel a little choked up or panicky in the lowest level of an underground parking garage, this will probably not be the hobby--or the book--for you!



5. I posted a reply to the 1 Star review, and decided to write my own review and include it here since comments to reviews don't get read much.
   
   I didn't like the author's writing style, if somoene else had written the same story and kept up the tension, it would have been a better read. There is plenty of places for dramatic tension with people dying and barely escaping death, for that. If you want a dry academic text, I have to say the author isn't boring enough.
   
   Anyhow some folks were put off by the author citing the Flat Earth, and that he never went into a cave himself, and the the book written off personal accounts and articles would be full of bias and myth. What follows is my reply to those folks.
   
   If you read the book, I listened to the unabridged audiobook, you would know that Tabor talked a lot about his sources and you would know that some folks in the caving community had no love for Bill Stone. He mentions articles and interviews that were quite unflattering, to Stone.
   
   I think there is a lot of negative press on Stone that was mentioned in passing, as well as some of the positive press, most of that is background to the personal accounts. The people that think Stone was reckless and people died on his watch weren't part of his later expeditions so focussing too much on them wouldn't benefit the story. I believe I got a reasonable account of the 30+ year story, and there were enough expedition journals and computer logs to make the veracity of any of the hard data difficult to fake. So the accounts are good enough for what you're getting here.
   
   What I couldn't stand was Tabor's writing style, that guy never met a cliche he didn't like. So I agree with the 1 Star reviewer's comment that the flourishes of prose bothered the hell out of me.
   
   If you had read the book you would know that this kind of cave diving is hard enough it would have taken the author years of training to not be a liability on any expedition, and since the book covers 30 years in 2 countries, which expeditions would the reviewer have wanted him to go on. Its certainly possible to write a passable book on the subject without having done it all yourself.
   
   In the first chapter the author tried way too hard out to make the case Cave Divers were like Ocean Navigators of Old, Mountain Climbers of Everest, South Pole explorers and Astronauts all rolled into one. There are parallels, and NASA is doing some work with Cave Explorers, but in the intro it's just too forced, but don't let that put you off an otherwise enjoyable book.

5 comments about The Last American Man.

1. I have not read the book yet, but will here in a week or so. Got this for my class. ordered it like 6 pm thursday evening got it 3 pm next day, friday!! even on two day shipping! I LOVE AMAZONN!



2. I know my opinion doesn't jibe with other reviewers, but I thought the book was poorly written. (Yes, I know it was nominated for a book award, but I find that a little worrisome.) Sometimes the author used a very familiar and direct tone with the reader, and sometimes almost academic. The "story" of the hero (in this case, the "anti-hero") jumped around from place to place. Readers would learn about one of Conway's adventures in one chapter, complete with some of the author's editorializing, and then the adventure/event would be repeated again later with the same comments, albeit with more detail. Same with stories of Conway's relationships to his family and his numerous girlfriends. Though one chapter tried to cover a big part of his failed relationships with women, these same women would reappear in different chapters. I was left with a completely nebulous timeline of this guy's adult life. Imho, the author was at her best when she was analyzing (for lack of a better word) Conway's behavior. She would have made a good psychologist.
   My biggest disappointment I think was the title of the book. If Conway is "the last American man," we are all in really big trouble. Perhaps the author's personal relationship with Conway has blinded her to it, but there are LOTS of men (and women) in the U.S. who have the skills that Conway has. Fortunately, many of these talented folks were blessed with much better communication skills. (I don't know the man, but my comment is based entirely on this book.) Surely a more accurate title could have been found.



3. Elizabeth Gilbert's THE LAST AMERICAN MAN pairs actress Patricia Kalember's skills with an engaging true story of one Eustace Conway, who has made his home in the Appalachian Mountains for over thirty years, mastering self-sufficient living. His evolution from an idealistic nature-lover to a seasoned environmentalist makes for a fascinating memoir that comes alive on audio.



4. As usual, I learned a lot reading one of Elizabeth Gilbert's books. It helped me understand men a bit more, taught me more about our country, and took me on many adventures. All lifelong pursuits of mine. I was enthralled from beginning to end, as I was with the two other books I have read by Elizabeth, "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Committed". It allowed me to open my mind and way of thinking about men who have control issues. It just makes sense to me. It is in their DNA. It is what has allowed us to survive this many years as a species. It has been a necessary evil. But....it is time to evolve. And this is where they need professional help, without it, they will never realize peace and happiness, and neither will the women who so want to be a part of their lives. This book enlightened me, allowed me to see men's dilemma from a whole new angle, and I love her for that!



5. Well, I seem to have trouble finishing this book. While it is somewhat interesting, it is very redundant of a man who cannot function in modern society. Who would ride a horse across the country just to see how fast it could be done without smelling the beautiful roses along the way? Is this man boring, or what? True, he is a mountain man, but where is his soul? Where is the warmth of the character.
   
   The Eat, Pray Love story by Elizabeth was wonderful, even Commitment was at least the final act of this story, but it too morphed into endless research stuff that I found boring.

5 comments about North by Northwestern: A Seafaring Family on Deadly Alaskan Waters.

1. This is a quick read especially because I jumped over the sections of norweign/viking history. The historical parts were tedious for me. I did enjoy the fishing stories and learning more about their family dynamics. Also, the information about crab fishing and how the fishing vessel functions was very interesting. I didn't particularly like the style of writing. I prefer more straightforward story telling and less jumping back and forth with storylines. Overall, I would recommend this for fans of the Northwestern but don't expect an adventure novel read.



2. Good book with lots of information about the family. All Northwestern fans will enjoy it.



3. The book is a fine way to learn more about the Hansen brothers, their families, and the Northwestern. If you're as engaged by the Deadliest Catch series as I am, you'll appreciate the in-depth look this book provides.



4. North By Northwestern: A Seafaring Family on Deadly Alaskan Waters reveals a family business that challenges safety and health. It tells the multi-generational story of the Hansen family: fishermen who have spent their lives on the open seas crabbing in Alaska, and it provides nautical adventures and insights into seamanship as a whole. Highly recommended!



5. An excellent read, whether you or a fan of the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch", or just love true adventure this is a book worth reading.

5 comments about One Mountain Thousand Summits: The Untold Story Tragedy and True Heroism on K2.

1. This book is well researched and well written. Beautifully edited. I never thought a route descripition would be as exciting as this one was. Any rock climber would be as fascinated as I was. I read it cover to cover on a ten and a half hour drive from Reno to San Diego and back (no I wasn't driving) and it kept my attention rivited the entire way.



2. Finally, a mountain climbing adventure book willing to take a close and unflinching look at the racial dynamics and cultural mishaps of guided and professional climbing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book -- even when it made me feel uncomfortable. There is less raw angst here than in "Into Thin Air." Wilkinson's role is clear as a knowledgeable researcher and writer. He isn't confused about his own role, and yet he doesn't pretend he's not part of this community as well. It's a skillful navigation. Excellent read -- will be thinking about this book for a long time.



3. Freddie Wilkinson should be highly commended for writing a book about a mountaineering tragedy from the climbing Sherpa's point of view. There are other books on the market which deal with the K2 tragedy, but this is the only one which focusses on the locals involved. In fact, in nearly a hundred years of Himalayan climbing, it is only one of three books to look at that enterprise from the Sherpa point of view.
   
   As others have mentioned, it is also well written, insightful, ironic, and done from the perspective of someone who climbs and knows the right questions to ask. We can only hope that this book will start a new trend in mountaineering literature and that the indigenous people who do most of the work and account for the ultimate success of nearly every expedition, will finally begin to receive the credit they deserve. Fortunately, Wilkinson has set a high standard in this regard.
   
   My only quibble is that a number of the sources, including my own on the Sherpas of Rolwaling, could have been better documented. If a person's research is worth mentioning, then so is the correct reference.
   
   Meanwhile, congratulations to Freddie Wilkinson from whom we hope to see more good books in the future.
   
   Jan Sacherer



4. I will be entirely honest, I picked up this book with a hint of skepticism in my brow. I love the mountains but I have never loved climbing literature. This book not only tells the compelling story of the 2008 tragedy on K2 but it boldly explores the multidimensional worlds of climbing, international relations and the media. Wilkinson does a magnificent job of gracefully transitioning between thoughtful explanations of elaborate climbing scenarios and carefully detailing the relationships, infrastructure and social constructs that have grown from the pursuit of big mountain climbing. If you lust after high altitude adventure...If you are curious about the economic impact of tourism in third world nations...If you have ever found yourself in a unique leadership position this book will resonate with you.
   
   Lastly, I encourage you to read slowly and look for the flashes of "pure Freddie" scattered throughout the book. Mr. Wilkinson's humor and zest for life are presence in terrific one liners throughout the novel.
   
   BUY THIS BOOK!



5. This book kept me up for five nights in a row. It explores perspectives that are seldom discussed in the 8,000 meter peak climbing world -- those of the porters and Sherpas -- but it does it honestly, not through rose colored glasses. It makes clear the ridiculousness of the atmosphere surrounding high altitude mountaineering, extreme peak bagging and the media that follow it. And it is written from a climber's perspective, and Wilkinson asks questions only a climber would ask, but he breaks things down so any armchair mountaineer can understand the nuances. If you like adventure buy this book; you won't be disappointed.

5 comments about The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance.

1. I've tried to submit reviews twice before for this book, but Amazon's system has messed up, so this is the last time:
   This is about America's greatest long distance cyclist of the 19th century. This covers the beginnings of Frank Lenz' racing career, riding "pennyfarthings" on the the unpaved roads of Ohio & Pennsylvania, to his attempt to ride solo around the world, on which ride Lenz eventually vanished. When nothing was heard from Lenz, another long distance "wheelman", who had recently nearly ridden around the world, was dispatched to try to find Lenz. The riding conditions were horrible, as horrible as some of the occupants of the lands they rode through. This was well-written, well-researched, and though I'm not the constant cyclist I once was, I found it very interesting.



2. I was interested of this story of a round-the-world bicycle trip from 120 years ago that ended in the disappearance of the cyclist. But I found the book way too detailed and long. I think I might have enjoyed a long magazine article more than the 300 pages of this book. I did not need to know every stop along the way of the trip. I did enjoy learning about the history of cycling, both from the equipment side and the cultural side. So if you are interested in the history of cycling this book might be worth it for you.



3. History is rife with fascinating but forgotten cases of lost explorers and unsolved murders. David Herlihy's 'The Lost Cyclist' includes both. It also spotlights the bicycle craze of the 1890s and the Gilded Age passion for conquering unknown territory.
   
   In the spring of 1892 Frank Lenz, a modestly famous competitive cyclist from Pittsburgh, announced that he was undertaking a trans-continental bicycle trip that would encompass over twenty thousand miles and take him through some of the world's most dangerous, uncivilized regions. As he rode across the American heartland, through the Orient, and into the Middle Eastern desert, Lenz took scores of photos and sent regular dispatches to 'Outing' magazine, each one brimming with descriptions of exotic locales, grinding hardships, and near-death experiences.
   
   Two years into his spectacular journey, Lenz disappeared in eastern Turkey, a country shaken by Kurd-Armenian warfare. Rumor swiftly arose that he had been murdered. While Americans demanded a resolution, 'Outing' magazine sent famous `globe girdler' William Sachtleben to the war-torn country to investigate Lenz's alleged murder and bring the perpetrators to justice.
   
   'The Lost Cyclist' has a broader appeal than most books: mystery fans, history buffs, cycling enthusiasts, and true crime aficionados will all find something to appreciate.



4. Brief summary, and review.
   
   Frank Lenz was a quiet young man in his mid-twenties and working as a bookkeeper when the original high-wheel bicycle was invented. He took to it immediately and began racing during his time off. But he shortly realized that long-distance traveling with the new "safety bicycle" (the forerunner of the modern road bike) was preferable. He convinced Outing magazine to fund his dream--taking a solo journey around the world--in exchange for articles about his adventures. In the spring of 1892, he took off, pedaling more than 20,000 miles across the United States and through Hawaii to Japan, China, India, Burma, and into Persia and Turkey.
   
   Lenz was not the first to attempt this journey on a bicycle, but he was the first to do it by himself. He suffered a number of near disasters among his memorable adventures before arriving, two years later, in Turkey as he headed into the final leg of his trip. He never came out. He had been advised to avoid it due to the political upheaval and excessive violence. He refused. And soon thereafter disappeared.
   
   When a hue and cry was raised, Outing commissioned one of the two earlier around-the-world cyclists who were also well-known names, William Sachtleben, to undertake a search for him. But the ten-month delay from the disappearance to the beginning of the search and the fact that the country in which the search was being conducted was wild and treacherous, meant a frustrating investigation. He had no hopes of finding Lenz alive, but did he did hope to recover his body and find the murderers. Sachtleben encounters interminable impediments, international political machinations, and diplomatic obstructions as well.
   
   No one had told this story since it had happened so here it was--the perfect adventurous tale. But I often found myself distanced from the story, and it took me a while to finish this book.
   
   The Lost Cyclist is a good story for those readers who want to know about Mr. Lenz (who is little known these days), and read about the passion that would drive him to undertake a dangerous solo journey. It's also interesting to learn about the impact that a single man's adventure would have upon the American public and government. But overall, even though I thought the book had good parts, there were boring parts as well. When I was engrossed in the good parts it was enough to push me over the lumps and bumps into the next good one. And now that I think about it, that's probably a lot like what Frank Lenz experienced on his around-the-world bicycle journey.



5. In the interval of time between when everyone used horses for transportation and when everyone used automobiles, there was a time when bicycles were the rage. The bike boom came from a number of technological innovations in design and materials, and people were fascinated by the first cyclists who rode them. David Herlihy has written a history of the bicycle, and now has written about a fascinating part of the bicycle's initial history and the popular enthusiasm for the wheelmen. _The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance_ (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) tells the story of Frank Lenz, who indeed became lost on a trip around the world, and though his story was a sensation at the time, he has become lost to history as well. It is also the story of another globe-girdling bicyclist, William Sachtleben, who was engaged to try to find out what had happened to Lenz. Lenz's fate was a famous mystery in its time, and it is only fair to say that neither Sachtleben nor Herlihy has solved the mystery. It is a good story, however, because of the amusing and exciting episodes in the travels of the cyclists, and because it brings back a time when a fellow on a bicycle could be a world-renowned hero just by setting out to see the globe on two wheels.
   
   Frank Lenz was a German-American from Pittsburgh, born in 1867. In his twenties, he became a high-wheel racer, but he took up the safety bicycle for his world tour. There was danger, and Herlihy quotes from Lenz's stories sent back to _Outing_ as he bicycled (or often had to carry his 57 pound bicycle on foot) through Japan, China, Burma, India, Persia, and into Turkey. Everywhere he went, people were amazed at his two-wheeled contraption, and shahs and princes wanted him to demonstrate for them. He could do stunts on it. And then after he crossed into Turkey, two years after his tour started, his letters stopped coming. The young man had simply disappeared. All around the world people were distressed over his disappearance, and curious about what had happened; his mother was devastated, and all responded sympathetically to her loss. His editor picked William Sachtleben, another bicycle enthusiast, to do the investigation; Herlihy, in fact, tells almost as much about Sachtleben's circuit around the world as Lenz's. The courageous Sachtleben still had a sense of adventure in him after his travels, adventure that a quest for finding Lenz could have satisfied. It would have been capital, he thought, if he could have a Stanley-finds-Livingston moment, and as the possibility of that faded, he might have earned laurels if he had found Lenz's body and brought to justice any miscreants in the case.
   
   Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that Sachtleben considered his own mission "partially successful." He was up against an inscrutable Turkish government which was troubled by tribal warfare and a general civil war, with the Kurds committing a first Armenian genocide. The US representatives in Turkey were little help, as they were trying to curry favor with Turkey and any emphasis on Lenz's fate could only make their work harder. Sachtleben's primary witnesses were Armenians who might have justly testified against Kurds or Turks, but who risked death in doing so. In all the confusion, Sachtleben stumbled across the site of a massacre of Armenians, and was able to photograph the mass burial. He took up the cause of informing his countrymen about the massacre, but the ambiguous results of his main mission colored his ability to make a go of the lecture circuit or to have a career as a journalist or adventurer. He considered at the end of his investigation, "This trip has added about ten years to my age. When I left New York I felt young. Now I feel like an old man; all my boyishness is gone." He and Lenz slipped more into obscurity as the bicycle fad faded away and people took up motoring; Herlihy even mentions the novelty of a bicycle that had a gasoline-powered engine and was called the "motor cycle." Herlihy has done a great deal of research into the rides of these two men, and into Lenz's fate as far as it could be known, and he obviously has much sympathetic affection for them, as well as for a time when bicyclists were public heroes. It was the window when bicycles were the great new transportation, and it is a shame the window didn't last longer. The first automobile transit of the US was in 1903, and automobile pioneers never had the élan that their bicycle counterparts did. _The Lost Cyclist_ documents a simpler time, but it also reminds us that the American government was trying to throw its weight around in the areas around the Middle East over a hundred years ago, and finding it a confusing and troubling task.

4 comments about Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper.

1. I bought this book used, but when I received it, it was in perfect condition. My child needed it for a class that she was joining mid-semester. The book is no longer being printed. However, while other students were still waiting on the arrival of their books ordered from another bookstore, she was in class with her copy in a little over a week with standard shipping.



2. This is a biography of Sam Patch, the famous jumper from high places into swirling chasms. Yet it's more than a biography; it's also a social history of the times (1820s) and the places where Sam made his daring leaps (Paterson, NJ, Niagara Falls, and Rochester, NY). Sam's early life was spent working in the cotton mills of first, Pawtucket, RI, and then Paterson, NJ. He learned the "art" (Sam's word, and an important one in defining how Patch saw himself) of jumping while a boy performing daredevil stunts in the Blackstone River of Pawtucket. Later, in Paterson, he leaped into the Passaic Falls more as a "rebel-victim" - Timothy Crane had erected a bridge across the falls, which was considered a social good; but when he bought land adjacent to the falls that was popular as a recreational retreat for the working people of Paterson and turned it into a private park for the wealthy, Crane became a villain to the many factory workers of Paterson. Sam timed a number of his jumps there to coincide with events designed to honor Crane, to humiliate him or at least take away some of his thunder. In these instances, Sam Patch was a jumper for Democracy.
   
   After Paterson, Sam leaped off the mast of a sloop anchored off Hoboken, NJ into the Hudson River, which was reported widely in the press, and Sam became a celebrity. Now his leaps would be for fame and fortune. He jumped twice at Niagara Falls to great success, and then went to Rochester to leap the Genesee Falls. His leap was successful, but a second jump on a cold November day proved to be his undoing; his body wasn't found until the following spring.
   
   Then of course, Sam Patch the legend took off. The real Sam Patch was a drunkard and millworker, raised in poverty, who discovered he had a talent for surviving high leaps into dangerous waters, and decided that exploiting this talent brought a big improvement to his otherwise futile existence. (It's the classic American story: think of all the ballplayers, actors, singers, etc. who saw even the worst of times in their chosen endeavors as better than "going back" to the mines, or the mills, or the empty windswept towns on the bleak prairie.) But for the decade or two after his death Sam was transformed into a gentleman's son who overcame timidity and learned to face danger and be "a man." Then, of course, even this made-up image of Sam disappeared from the scene - until 1945 when folklorist Richard Dorson rediscovered him and grouped him with such legendary characters as Davy Crocket and Mike Fink.
   
   Johnson does a superb job in rescuing Patch from the annals of folklore and presenting him as a real historical figure. This is not an easy task since very little in the historical record is known about Sam, and much of that is contradictory. He devotes much space to what life in the cotton mills was like, how Niagara Falls was perceived in the American imagination at the time, and what the young and bustling cities of Paterson and Rochester were going through when Sam visited them. Johnson is an interesting writer - detailed and learned, but not dry and scholarly. It's a fascinating book. Highly recommended.



3. Sam Patch was an American original who escaped my attention for forty-eight years. Professor Johnson's study of this mostly forgotten, irreverant showman has piqued this reader's thirst for more of the bold, eccentric and sometimes ambivalent personalities that have shaped this nation in often subtle ways.
   Not long after completing the author's chronology of the Patch family's slide from the respectability of the rural New England landholder and the influence of Calvinism, it becomes apparent
   that a documented record of just what manner of man Sam Patch really was is not to be had. From the standpoint of social status, Patch was a non-entity, a skilled textile laborer his sole identifying trait; that is, until he made public his hobby.
   Just what spurred Patch to leap the Passaic Falls at Paterson,NJ on July 4, 1828, effectively upstarting the elaborate holiday ceremonies planned by one of the city's wealthy and genteel manufacturing elite is uncertain. One effect of the feat was the galvanizing of the local labor force into an awareness of their potential to force reform in mill working conditions. No sooner had Patch had dried himself off when a consortium of mill owners issued an edict altering the daily work schedules of its employees, needlessly disrupting the domestic routines of thousands. Patch then betrays a political motive in answer to management with an encore jump during work hours just one week after the new schedule had taken effect. Patch's exploit was followed by a strike, arbitration and comprimise. The Paterson jumps gave birth to Patch's intriguing motto "Some things can be done as well as others."
   The cynical critic questions the depth and genuineness of Patch's social altruism based upon his lack of education, predilection to alcohol, and the complete absence of any concern, stated or implied, other than self-promotion during the remainder of his career. In fact, Patch, at the age of twenty-seven, having worked in the mills for twenty years, resigned his vocation permanently upon departing Paterson shortly after the second jump. After a brief exploit from atop a ship's mast in Hoboken,NJ, Patch emigrated to Niagara Falls for bigger game.
   Now an avowed professional jumper, backed by resort developers and sporting gentlemen, Patch thrilled crowds of commoners and elicited enmity from the Whig sophisticates and press. After a few successful performances, the venue shifted to Rochester,NY and Genesee Falls where class distinctions and responses to such behavior were at a premium. After an initial jump, a plan was hatched to erect a platform some forty feet above the millrace which paralleled the falls, raising his leap to an uprecedented one hundred-thirty feet. Unfortunately for our hero, he met his ultimate fate that day in 1829 when, unable to contain his passion for the bottle, he endeavored to jump while in a well-lubricated state, lost his form early in the air, hit the water on his side, and disappeared for four months before his body was hauled from under the ice of the Genesee River some seven miles downstream.
   On reconsideration, it is perhaps the case that Patch had an angle along reformist lines. Though unsophisticated in its method, the very inanity of Patch's nonconformist act served as a slap in the face to the righteous, overbred conceit of the upper classes and their proclivity for circumscribing the limits of self-determination for those less fortunate. In appropriating a mere mill-boy's pastime Patch defied the ruling gentry and diletantes of morality to prevent his freedom of expression. Although his jumps lacked the ingenuity, utility or permanence of the engineering marvels which buoyed the emerging industrial revolution, they gave notice that democracy entitles a man to make his mark after his own fashion and, notwithstanding limited means, proof that "Some things can be done as well as others."
   Despite the absence of source material Professor Johnson has done a comendable job of resurrecting Patch's story from the confines of legend. Johnson's tedious labor is evidenced by his notes--drawn almost entirely from periodical literature.
   While it is not possible to forge an intimate acquaintance with Sam Patch, Johnson has provided the detailed social, political and religious mileau needed to understand his role in history.
   Johnson is also to be credited for the modesty of his prose, which makes this book smooth and entertaining.



4. If you have never heard of Sam Patch, it is because you are not living in the nineteenth century. Sam Patch was America's first celebrity daredevil, someone who made his fortune and his fame by spectacularly endangering his life, jumping from waterfalls. Paul E. Johnson, in _Sam Patch, The Famous Jumper (Hill and Wang), has not exactly brought Patch back to life. As Johnson explains, people like Patch did not have linear careers that lent their lives to being told as stories; they had episodes, not biographies. Patch only lived thirty years, and jumped professionally only for the last two of those, but he did have a wonderful career, and even some meaning within American history and sociology. Johnson has, though Patch's story, examined some details of Jacksonian America, industrialization, philosophies of art, and aspects of fame from self-endangerment and self-promotion rather than self-improvement and civic involvement. Patch was, after all, a lout and a drunkard, but it must mean something that he achieved such a level of fame that his feats could be cited by Melville, Hawthorne and Poe. Even Andrew Jackson's favorite steed was named Sam Patch.

   Sam was around seven years old when he took up work in a mill; families in the early eighteenth century were being drawn to mill towns since mothers and children could easily get work. He was good at the work, and fiercely independent in the craft of "mule spinner". The independence manifested itself in his jumping as well. He learned the craft of jumping as other boys did, but when he moved to another mill town, his jumping acquired a social and political aspect that endeared him to the populace. He jumped to spite a rising industrialist in Paterson, New Jersey, and then in support of his own class when there was a dispute over how the town should celebrate the Fourth of July, and jumped again during the first labor walkout. People loved the jumps, and newspapers reported them. Patch became a working-class hero. He went on to jump into Niagara Falls twice, and finally in Rochester. On 13 November 1829, he took a plunge into the Genesee Falls, into which he had jumped successfully a week before. He was drunk, and hit the water out of control. It was months before the body was found, but respectable Americans had found a new cause to rail against; one preacher spoke of the "strange and savage curiosity" of the crowds who came to see the jumps, and another told his Sunday school class "... that any of them who had witnessed Patch's last leap would be judged guilty of murder by God."

   Sam Patch could have been an emblem against the masses, but it did not work out that way. He became the subject of poetry, comic stories, and stage plays. "What the Sam Patch!" became a common way of swearing. There was a Sam Patch cigar. He has even recently been the subject of a novel. Rochester has welcomed his memory as if it were that of a favorite son, and you can buy souvenirs at Sam's Gift Patch. There are those who insist that any American Dream must be built on hard work, domestic harmony, and sobriety. Johnson's able and well-researched portrait, with its many digressions into aspects of our fledgling democracy, shows a different sort of dream and a new sort of celebrity. Americans, bless their hearts, had from the beginning a delight in one who tweaked the nose of his betters and got fame for lots of wrong reasons.

5 comments about The Travels of Marco Polo.

1. This book is not good on the Kindle. First it took about 10 minutes of hitting Next Page in order to get through all the introductions. Second this edition has 2 pages of footnotes for every page of the actual book. The text and notes are the same font so it is hard to distinguish between them. Maybe it is of interest to an academic but to a casual reader it is a bit annoying. It was only 99 cents so I guess it is worth the inconvenience.



2. The Travels of Marco Polo was an extremely educational novel. I chose to read this book because my AP World History class was to read a book and then write a review over it, and I needed all the help in reviewing the course as I could get before the AP exam. Reading this book helped to teach me how life along the silk road was by connecting with because I could relate to the actual feelings of the author. This book was written by Marco Polo himself, which allowed him to contribute the real thoughts of the traveler, instead of having a hitory book format where the content in emotionless and simply rambles details. With text books, the information goes in one ear and right out the other for me, however by reading this book I was actually able to comprehend the information provided.
   The Travels of Marco Polo contained bits of info on things such as Africa and India and their culture, China in all its wealth, along with the Mongol empire. When reading this book, you may want to watch exactly what you believe because although it may be true, there are many facts Polo provides that may very well be untrue. This book is great for reading if you want to learn a lot without the dullness of text book like writing, however I don't think it's very good for a pleasure read unless you're really into history.



3. This is perhaps the worst edition of any book that I have ever encountered. It is a scan of an older edition, but the mis-scanned bits have not been touched up or corrected in any way. The headers and notes are indecipherable from the body of the text, there are incomplete sentences, and at one point the text bleeds off the page. The one benefit of this text is that it allows students to see what a truly bad edition looks like, making them realize, in real time, the importance of using a good edition of something.
   
   I was hoping to get an inexpensive version of Polo's Travels for my great books class, and ended up with the Modern Library Classics version.
   
   Negative five stars!



4. The book arrived in good condition and in time to give on Christmas. The recipiant was very happy to receive it.



5. I was very pleased with my purchase. It arrived on time and in the overall condition as described.