About this title: This is the true story of friends Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, two experienced mountain climbers who met tragedy and triumph in the Andes. At the 21,000-foot peak of the mountain, Joe Simpson slipped and fell off an ice ledge, breaking his leg in the process. Although Simon Yates struggled to save Simpson, a harsh blizzard, and the fact that his ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780060916541ISBN:0060916540
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. P.O. last name printed in Sharpie along top edge of text. Text, itself is unaffected. MInimal edge wear. One, very small, crease at bottom corner of front cover. Text is clean and bright. Binding is tight. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 192 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 174 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. softcover, very light edge wear to covers, text in very good cond, clean and unmarked, no spine crease. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780060916541ISBN:0060916540
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 192 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Perennial
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780060916541ISBN:0060916540
Description: Good. 253-U Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fine. Almost in new condition. Book shows only very slight signs of use. Cover and binding are undamaged and pages show minimal use. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very Good. 0060916540 Great 1989 book with no marking to textblock, page ends or inside cover. However, page edges are quite tanned and cover has gentle surface/edge/corner scuffing and tiny bumps to 2 corners. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
By Heather,
Bitola, Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of
"Despite never having seen the IFC film that came out a few years ago, I was vaguely aware of this amazing true story of climbing partners faced with a serious accident befalling one of the men high in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Reading Joe Simpson's firsthand account, my first reaction was, wow, this guy can climb AND write! His narrative is well-paced and gripping. I am still amazed at the clarity with which he is able to recall what must have been an excruciatingly painful injury. Having severely broken a bone myself before, I can honestly say that it is so painful you're lucky to even piece a sentence together, let alone drag yourself miles across desolate, empty snowfields and down rocky cliffs while not being able to even splint your own broken leg and kneecap. Just reiterating it makes me shiver.
That said, the only thing that made this book slightly inaccessible was the climbing lingo. Though Simpson provides a glossary of terms used in the back of the book, there was such a dizzying amount of jargon present that I had to figure out a lot of what was happening through context alone. It doesn't minimize the story at the heart of the matter; rather just causes a little befuddlement here and there.
One other fascinating aspect of this story is the way it becomes something of a study in human psychology - not just in sheer survival (Joe's ability to literally drag himself off the mountain while severely injured), but in the delicate relationships that develop between people who endeavor to take on a dangerous pursuit together, and how quickly that delicacy can be unbalanced when the un-wanted (but really not unexpected) happens."
"This book was just the right length. It covered the subject and was okay with being less than 200 pages. I appreciate when an author doesn't stretch a book to be longer than necessary. The part I liked most was the author's narrative about the dynamics between him and his climbing partner when things got hard. He actually shared the thoughts that passed through his mind. I liked this window into the mind of someone doing something I don't ever plan to do. I also found his survival technique to be very useful for me. Define small doable tasks (very Franklin Covey)."
"Compelling, a lot of suspense, well written and very hard not to read on one day. However, I could not decide about my own emotions: Respect and admiration for the climbers' determination and discipline or plain pity for their childish and selfish behaviour putting themselves (and others) in danger pointlessly). Qui perit morit.
But this is not the whole of the story. Do you think Simon was right to cut the rope. Disuss."
"This is the second time I have read Joe Simpson's Touching the Void. In younger years, when I had more energy and less sense, I probably would have rated it four stars instead of three. Not now.
As to adventure, it pumps adrenalin through readers' veins as fast as the government these days pumps money through the failing finincial institutions, especially after a major catastrophe and the so-called ethical dilemma toward the middle of the book.
What becomes very obvious very soon is how young, immature, and foolish these two fellows--Joe and Simon--were. My second reading through was almost painful on top of the regular painfulness because of it. Of course, high adventurers like them wouldn't normally reclimb the same mountain and probably would advise against rereading Joe's narrative again. Onward and upward seemed to be their mantra--and almost their sole mantra. Climb every mountain.
Joe didn't seem grounded in society, in life, or in religion. He wasn't, it seemed, even grounded in the pursuit. Upon summiting, he took some photos, ate some chocolate, but felt the "usual anticlimax. What now? It was a vicious circle."
My feeling exactly.
While Joe cried in frustration, he rarely if ever cried about the loss of a parent, a companion, a child. When I think of tears, I think of deep emotions from the heart. When he cried, it seemed his came from somewhere else on the surface and not in the center. "Each thouoght of death, of mine or his, came quite unemotionally--matter-of-fact. I was too tired to care."
Me too.
It was all pride: "They'd never know we did it."
This self-centeredness I think is characterized in the narrative style, which was mostly descriptive and not emotive. I like a little more paint on the canvass, more nuance in the story-telling. If you are so much a risk taker on a mountain, I expect more risks, more inventiveness on the page. But there you go. I don't think the two climbers displayed much inventiveness in there endeavor. I think the book carried on with that theme."
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