What are you reading?

[youngk2844]

Into the Silence, The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis.
This book covers a lot of ground beyond Mallory's time on Everest. It's a cool look at the end of the Golden Age of Exploration.

[DaveLanders]

I recently finished "After the Wind" by Lou Kasischke. It was published not too long ago, although it is a book about
the 1996 Everest disaster by one of the survivors. My initial reaction when I saw it was that I didn't need to read another
book about this (I've read almost all of the other books by the people who were actually there), but Kasischke has some
very interesting insights into some of the decisions that were made, and his story about how he mustered up the sense
to turn around without summitting is incredible.

[BagginPeaks]

A Sand County Almanac - Aldo Leopold. Starting working as a Wilderness Ranger with the Forest Service this summer and was told I NEED to read this book if I am to be a wilderness manager. Aldo is the man!

[Rollie Free]

Someone mentioned 'Finding Everett Ruess'.
Read it a few months ago. I found it in the dollar store, they had quite a few copies. Interesting subject matter but like a vast majority of books it is too long and drags out terribly. Every book strives to be 200 pages. Most should never be.

[12ersRule]

"Emerald Mile" by Kevin Fedarko, a story about 3 river guides who in the summer of 1983, attempt to complete the fastest trip through the Grand Canyon as the Glen Canyon Dam was in full spillway release mode. I am about half way through, it is very good and getting much better (half the book is back story about the taming of the Colorado River, John Wesley Powell, the key characters, etc...). This is one of those books where I was hooked on the first page.

+100 That book is amazing!

I pored over this whole thread recently looking for book suggestions. This one was worth that effort and then some.

[Point North]

Colorado 14er Disasters: Victims of the Game, by Mark Nash. Very well reasoned, critical look at 14er accidents and the factors that caused them, and ways they may have been avoided.

Everyone should read this book or one like it, especially novices like myself, before proceeding further down The List.

[Traveler]

Really liked parts of the White Spider, Touching the Void, Into Thin Air, Anatoli's rebuttal (can't think of title), eiger dreams - the devils thumb story, Ed Visteurs' book. I love Krakauer's writing, but I think he really screwed Anatoli over. Anatoli was a hero in my humble opinion.

You are thinking of The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev. I agree, it was very good to get his perspective after Krakauer.

[Sean Nunn]

Colorado 14er Disasters: Victims of the Game, by Mark Nash. Very well reasoned, critical look at 14er accidents and the factors that caused them, and ways they may have been avoided.

Everyone should read this book or one like it, especially novices like myself, before proceeding further down The List.

Just bought this book on Amazon. I am anxious for it to arrive.

Sean Nunn
Raytown MO

[alpinenut]

Did anyone mention Greg Child. Re-reading Mixed Emotions right now. Just read his Thin Air again too. Great account of his attempt on Broad Peak and summit of G IV.

[Hungry Jack]

"Thinking, fast and slow" by Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize in Economics

How the dual systems of your brain impact your logic and your perception of reality, fascinating....

Great read. You might also like Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise.

[Point North]

Halfway to Heaven by Mark Obmascik - written by a middle aged guy who decides to climb all the 14ers and write a book about his experience...great stories as well as a lot of history about many of the mountains which was really interesting.

I just read this. While it was good, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was an A Walk in the Woods wannabe, Rockies style. Although it wasn't as bad as Bill Bryson's popcorn book, it seemed to be written and designed to sell at airports. Especially the jacket cover and subtitle.

[derekesq]

This months national geographic has a good article on the effort to climb Burma's (Myanmar) tallest peak - Hkakabo Razi. Well worth reading.

Also, not a mountain book, but Into the Kingdom of Ice about the 1879 attempt to reach the north pole is excellent. Similar story to the famous Shackleton expedition in the antarctic.