Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking his leg. In the hours that followed, darkness fell and a blizzard raged as Yates tried to lower his friend to safety. Finally, Yates was forced to cut the rope, moments before he would have been pulled to his own death.
The next three days were an impossibly grueling ordeal for both men. Yates, certain that Simpson was dead, returned to base camp consumed with grief and guilt over abandoning ...
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Description: Fair. Purchasing this item supports Pierce County libraries. Thriftbooks and PCL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. 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. 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: Very Good. 0060730552 Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Date Published: 2004-01
ISBN-13:9780060730550ISBN:0060730552
Description: Good. Ex-Library, usual library stamps/stickers inside and outside, tanned pages, no spine or page creases, no writing on text pages, shelf-wear including cover creases, edge-wear. read more
Description: Good. 0060730552 Book could have a shelf wear, or a bump, or sunfade to edges. These are new unread books from the publisher with one of these conditions. See are feedback as customers are satisfied in how we grade our books. Has remainder mark. Fast shipping and customer service is our number 1 priority! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: It Books
Date Published: 1/1/2004
ISBN-13:9780060730550ISBN:0060730552
Description: Fine. 0060730552 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Description: Very good. By Joe Simpson; ISBN: 0060730552; Pub. : Harper Paperbacks; Pub. Date: 2004-01; Media: Paperback; Weight: 5.6 oz.; This book has been gently read, if at all. Very slight wear on cover, all else is like-new. by Joe Simpson; ISBN: 0060730552; Pub. : Harper Paperbacks; Pub. Date: 2004-01; Media: Paperback; Weight: 5.6 oz.; This book has been gently read, if at all. Very slight wear on cover, all else is like-new. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 224 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. 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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