1 comments about Norman Clyde: Legendary Mountaineer of California's Sierra Nevada.

1. I finished this book several days ago. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down (so I didn't). This biography is a balanced picture of a man who was an enigma. I really appreciated that Pavlik didn't try to go beyond the available material to create a juicy analysis, even though a psychologist could have a field day analyzing Clyde. Clyde could spend months alone in the mountains, but also spent lots of time climbing with others, seemingly without ever letting down his guard enough to provide a cohesive picture of his personality. Pavlik's biography of this great, multi-faceted mountaineer is highly readable and informative. Pavlik describes Clydes's heroic side (pure love of the mountains), as well as his self-sabotaging side (e.g, getting fired as principal at Bishop H.S., insulting those weaker than he). For mountaineers, Pavlik presents descriptions of specific climbs.

5 comments about Last of the Donkey Pilgrims.

1. This is a fun story of a Yank's trip around Ireland with a donkey cart. His trip fulfills his longing to know the land of his forebears, and he wonderfully captures the language and attitudes of the people just before modernity finally arrived full force. Highly recommended!



2. Kevin's writing draws you into his journey - a remarkable romp around Ireland with a donkey that seems human. I loved it. You could nearly smell the air and see the characters. A magical look at an island that has changed so much in the 25 years since his journey took place. I wanted to be there by his side as he runs into character after character. His book is the next best thing to being there.
   
   I didn't want his journey to end. Alas, time moves on and progress can't be stopped. If only there could be a sequel.
   
   Anyway, it is written in very short, easy to read chapters. Perfect nighttime reading. If you like adventures, humor, self reflection, and interesting characters - read this book. If you have ever been to Ireland and fallen in love with it, this book is a must read. If you live in Ireland now and want a look back at the country as it existed 25 years ago, this book is required reading.



3. I enjoy reading about Ireland, and thought this book would be like Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. The donkey book was much more serious. I liked reading about the different people he encountered, but at times, felt that it was a glossary of names of potential buyers. I did enjoy his time with the travelers. He exemplified the attitudes of the 70's, and I think the book would have been more effective if he had written it 25 years ago. Still, it was a good story.



4. I bought this book on my way out the door on a trip to Ireland, as a friend had recommended it. I read it on the airplane and during quiet moments, and finished it on the way home.
   Not only is this book entertaining and well-written, I was amazed by how much I learned about Irish culture and history as I was reading.
   It is especially recommended to those traveling to Ireland, but has wide appeal for its insight into human nature, and warm humor.



5. ...in preparation for my long overdue personal visit to Ireland a number of books including `Last of the Donkey Pilgrims' by Kevin O'Hara (www.kevin-ohara.com) were purchased online through Amazon.com for shipment to the parched distant locale of Doha...another Qatar `Transient', he being a native of Ireland, last 31 August had kindly written an Itinerary of Travel setting off westward from Dublin to Galway, proposing then a sweep about the coastal extremes of Eire on a circuitous route in return to Dublin a fortnight later...
   
   New Zealand born with Great Grandfather Irish ancestry (Co. Tyrone), some years since I had the privilege of living on a long established property in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, created by it's owner `in the manner of England', and on which co-resided an elderly Donkey of much spirited antic, mannerism and personality - an endearing memory remains of that acquaintance in those bygone days, and influenced the choice that the Donkey odyssey would be my final read...my reward was to discover an absorbing chronicle of Kevin's 1979 1800 mile trek around the peripheral coast of Ireland, walking alongside his donkey Missie `Long-Ears' Mickdermott yoked to her cart, and written in 2004, 25 years after the doing...
   
   ...an inspired achievement to be applauded, and for me a delight to share the journey by way of an intimately personable published recall of such a grand meander through a land and people of a then traditional lifestyle which soon would substantially fade away into history...Ireland 2008 surpassed my any and every expectation - time and change may have advanced apace since the Nation in attaining EU membership emerged from being a `third world' Country, bringing financial advantage in some quarters and also significantly transforming the landscape and makeup of the populace, but the welcome and essence of the Irish people as acutely portrayed by the innumerable encounters and acquaintances along Kevin O'Hara's wandering way, we found to be very much the same...
   
   ...the book and infectious spirit of Missie accompanied us throughout as by car we drove, blessed I must add with only fine weather, our brief excursion along some of the highways and byways that shared partial commonality with the much earlier passage the Donkeyman and his travelling companion together had traipsed many years prior...there were particular moments which brought upon me a quiet smile with vivid memory of what I had read; hearing the call of the Cuckoo at Inishmore and Doolin - boarding the Killimer to Tarbert ferry, then later that same day driving through Abhainn an Ghleanna (running at but a shallow flow) on the road to Slea Head, Missie's obstinant reluctance to go on in chancing upon those two same `obstacles' came to mind...we sought out and had the pleasure of meeting Robert Shannon, mentioned in the book who happily recounted the long ago arrival of Missie in lovely Doolin - affection for Kevin and his roving partner lingers...
   
   ...having partaken of the ready welcome, spirit, beauty and abundant joys of Ireland, a return is inevitable - likely to be sooner rather than later I would venture...similarly I am driven to pick up and once more read `Last of the Donkey Pilgrims' - my immense pleasure and appreciation of the Tale at first take will assuredly be all the greater at a second reading, enhanced further by familiarity and insight gained from our recent visit...
   
   Lindsay McLean
   Doha, State of Qatar
   16 June, 2008

5 comments about The Other Side of Everest: Climbing the North Face Through the Killer Storm.

1. The other side of Everest is a pretty good book. It's a little bit shaky and confusing in the beginning but it gets better. The book is about this guy, Brian, who wants to climb Mt. Everest. This will be his third attempt to climb Everest, failing to do so in the times before. Brian asks a guy named Matt Dickenson, the writer of the book; to film him climbing. Matt has photographed and made many other movies about wild adventures before, but never something like Everest. He has climbed some other smaller mountains before also. Because he is away so much filming things his wife and him are having some problems. She says that if he goes he would be risking his life, and would be away from his kids and her for a long time. Matt decides that it would be good to be apart from his wife for a while, to let things cool down, so Matt gathers a team and a month or two later, they head off to Everest. During the weeks before he leaves he builds his body and prepares to climb. After arriving at the mountain they start to acclimate. They do that by climbing up to Advance Base camp and back down to Base camp. They do this a couple times then start off for the attempt at the summit. It is soon realized; by some of the experienced climbers on the team, that they are moving too slow and if they keep going at this pace, that they will most likely die. They have to make a choice; either to take a chance and keep going or turn back, with Brian failing once again. During the narrative, there are other little stories about the other teams that are climbing Everest. The author, Matt Dickenson, has a nice flow to his writing; although in some parts it gets kind of confusing. Also there are some black and white pictures that Matt took, which are interesting to look at. Matt uses lots of descriptive words that make great images in my mind. Will Brian and the team keep going? Will they make it to the summit? Read The Other Side of Everest to find out.



2. The south side of Everest gets most of the press, it would seem. Yet it's the north side that pioneers Mallory and Irvine nearly succeeded in scaling, in 1924; and the North Face had its full share of climbers during the now infamous spring 1996 season. Among those climbers was British film director Matt Dickinson.
   
   From the expedition's start, this is a different adventure than the one so famously recounted by Jon Krakauer in Into Thin Air. Dickinson, pursuing an adventure filming project that has his wife delivering him to the airport in tears, takes his readers along through the lengthy trip that brings Western climbers to Base Camp on Everest's Tibet side. For this 30-something father of three young children, who has never before climbed above 20,000 feet, summiting Everest personally seems like a fool's project. He's there to make a film. Not to come down with a life-threatening case of "Summit Fever" - but that happens to him just the same, in the wake of the May 10 blizzard that catches so many expeditions unaware on both sides of the mountain.
   
   What makes this tale different from other author/climbers' accounts of May 1996 on Everest isn't just the fact that it offers a first-hand narrative of what happened before, during and after the storm on the North Face, where lives were also lost. It becomes truly intriguing as Dickinson's expedition, and others on the North Face that spring, pick up the pieces of their storm-savaged tents and equipment after the disaster. As climbers' bodies fail them, when the weather finally allows the expedition to proceed, and one by one they fall back, Dickinson finds himself joining forces with the only other expedition member able to continue.
   
   This is a grittier work in many ways than those written by more seasoned mountaineers, because so much of what those other authors find familiar - and only to be expected - is new to Dickinson. It's therefore a great read for those of us who love climbing books, but wouldn't dream of ascending a snow-clad peak ourselves. The one thing that annoyed me was the editors' insistence on converting metric measurements for American readers, every single time a measurement was mentioned. We Yanks aren't quite that dumb, I think, and it quickly became so irritating that it kept jolting me out of the story. That's my only real criticism of an otherwise first-class book.



3. If you're obsessed with Everest like a lot of us, you must NOT miss this book. I am booked for a 19 day trek through Nepal to Everest Base Camp this October just to see this great mountain in the flesh. It will be a humbling experience to walk where the "star mountaineers" have come to climb and die.
   
   I haven't read it for a few years and it is loaned out now, but when I get it back I'm reading it again.Dickinson is not a professional climber which makes it all the better to read. I believe he had not climbed a mountain higher than nearly sea level since he lives in the UK. I think his level of training to tackle this mountain was jogging or something to that affect.
   
   His narrative of driving through the brown, lifeless Himalaya valleys was riviting ,especially his description of the lone monk walking across this frozen desert clad only in a worn-torn blanket and barefoot. He puts us in the valley literally with word pictures. Also the description of being on a sheer frozen miles-down cliff on the north side of Everest with only a few inches of shelf to put a tent and no sounds of life but the sharp call of a lone raven circling the cliffs. I could just SEE what he was telling us and I could smell and taste the cold.
   
   The fact that he made the summit when the "experts" could not or got killed is amazing. I don't remember many pictures in this book if any, but it's a book that must be put in your Everest collection.



4. I enjoyed this book as much as "Into Thin Air". It was interesting to hear how the author, a fit, experienced trekking guide, learnt how to climb on this expedition. His descriptions of the expedition politics of the several groups there at the same time was nonjudgemental, and provided real insight to the difficult decisions that were made.



5. One of hundreds who gathered at the foot of Everest during the ill-fated climbing season of spring 1996 which claimed the lives of 12 (eight during the famous storm described by Jon Krakauer in "Into Thin Air"), British adventure filmmaker Matt Dickinson had no intention of summitting. He had never been higher than 20,000 feet and had summitted only twice - a Himalayan trekking peak and an Ecuadorian volcano.
   
   "To serious Himalayan mountaineers these were mere nodules, amusing warm-up molehills to be conquered before breakfast.
   Climbing them had been extremely difficult."
   
   He was there to document British actor Brian Blessed's third attempt at Everest. Now almost 60 and overweight, Blessed intended to follow the route up the North Face that his hero George Leigh Mallory and partner Andrew Irvine had disappeared from in 1924.
   
   But neophyte Dickinson did summit. He and mountaineer Alan Hinkes, who had been hired to do the summit filming, were the only members of their expedition to do so and Dickinson's book, "The Other Side Of Everest" describes events on the North Face during that fateful season.
   
   The book is a page-turner but it's hard to imagine a book about Everest that wouldn't be. Drawn by a challenge incomprehensible to most of us, all climbers risk death from cold, high winds, altitude sickness, dehydration, and sudden weather changes to say nothing of the forbidding terrain and chronic illnesses brought on by the inhospitable climate.
   
   "The air is dry, adding to the draining effects of altitude. Throats become sore. Lips become cracked. Fingers split and get infected. Minds start to wander, thinking of home - thinking of anything but the terrifying mountain that sits above the valley.
   I was excited to be at Everest Base Camp, but I can't say I liked it."
   
   And this is only the beginning. Dickinson's persistent nausea, throbbing headaches and throat infections (during the 1924 expedition a climber nearly choked on the lining of his own larynx) only grow worse as they climb. Falling rocks, sinkholes and avalanches add themselves to the lengthening list of dangers, headed, as always, by altitude and dehydration which not only sap strength but cloud judgment.
   
   Moving approximately one kilometer an hour, the team reaches an intermediate camp and chips ice for water. "I managed to get my gloves wet in the process of collecting the water and by the time I got back to the tent, the fabric had frozen as hard as iron. I had to prise my fingers apart with my other hand to remove them from the saucepan handle."
   
   The water must then be boiled lengthily. Here, on Everest, water sources are badly polluted. Each new camp presents itself littered with food packets, discarded equipment, toilet paper and human waste. Years of it.
   
   None of this sounds like any fun, to say the least. But though Dickinson doesn't say when it happens, probably doesn't know, his desire to summit takes hold. His team of five, including Blessed and Hinckes, reaches Advance Base Camp for their summit push May 9, the night before the killer storm.
   
   Although the day dawns clear, the team leader nixes a summit try, citing unstable weather, much to Dickinson's frustration. This is not the last time he questions the judgment of those more experienced. But Dickinson honestly, disarmingly, describes his own obnoxious rashness - fuming as the day proceeds bright and sunny and the nearby Indian expedition's lead climbers head for the summit.
   
   By 4 p.m. the weather had deteriorated. "Now I was extremely grateful that we were still at Camp Three." Three of the Indians returned, while three went on. And then the storm struck. Dickinson's description is full of drama and confusion - worry over the Indians, sporadic, fragmented radio reports and in the morning the astounding news from the South Face that 10 climbers were missing, including top guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer.
   
   As others have, Dickinson mulls over the motivations and actions of those who were on the mountain - the Japanese team that passed the dying Indians without helping, Hall breaking his own rules to help a client summit, Boukreev's descent from the summit. His conclusions, formed after his own summitting experience, are sympathetic and well reasoned.
   
   But the crux of this book is Dickinson's obsession to summit despite the storm and after his team leader has aborted Blessed's attempt. The description of this nightmarish climb by a man who clearly had no real idea what he was getting into - yet would not stop - is mind boggling.
   
   His summit drive begins with the death of an experienced climber in a tent beside him, crosses over the bodies of those who died years - and days - before, continues in the dark in winds strong enough to pluck a man off the sheer cliff edge, persists after the discovery of frozen water supplies signals inevitable dehydration and triumphs despite high altitude sickness.
   
   It's riveting and completely alien. Dickinson's excitement is palpable. Every minute of this trip grows more gruelingly unpleasant and terrifying than the moment before. It's hard to imagine how anyone would not seize the chance to abort, given so many reasonable opportunities to do so.
   
   Dickinson does not involve himself in the argument about neophytes on Everest (for obvious reasons) and he does not even have much to say about the piles of litter that so clearly disgust him. He concentrates on the challenge of Everest and the pull that makes some people risk their lives and health to climb it. While most of us will never quite comprehend their desire, the vicarious fascination of the climb is reward enough.

2 comments about Snake Hunting on the Devil's Highway.

1. After reading this book you will never again have to simply shrug and stare off into space when queried about your phobia around heading out into the remote desert in the small hours after midnight, the less moonlight the better, to hunt for potentially lethal rattlesnakes or other exotic specimens such as a large toad that urinates profusely upon being picked up by an eager collector. Trust me, your fears will now stand upon a firm foundation.
   
   On the other hand, my bet is you'll also develop a deeper appreciation for some of the more reclusive of God's creatures. While there are a few times you might get mad at certain characters who, in their stupid cruelty, haven't even evolved near as far as their reptilian victims, for the most part this book is good for much merriment. My favorite among the string of tales and anecdotes involves snake-killer Ranger Rick who gets his payback in way that makes you wish you'd been there. He's not permanently damaged by the experience but he sure learns to have a little respect for wild things.
   
   I was very much reminded of Edward Abbey's story-telling style when reading "Snake Hunting." Even though they are easy-going, sitting around the campfire stories, there's an exciting undercurrent due to the potential for disaster at the turn of page. These tales are very human, filled with foibles, phobias and a wee bit of what's termed "foul language." Parental discretion advised? Well, only if you keep your kids in a closet where they never hear the radio, watch TV or connect with the internet. It's pretty tame by modern standards. And, after all, it's about two wild and crazy guys out hunting deadly snakes in the freaking desert in the middle of the night ... I mean, don't judge it by tea party standards.
   
   While this isn't an academic book, Richard Lapidus reveals himself as a brave and serious naturalist in the course of this humorous series of stories. The patient reader will be surprised and rewarded by the information absorbed over the course of reading it. And I wouldn't be surprised if over the course of vicariously trucking along on these adventures and misadventures, you come to feel like you've found a friend. A quirky friend all right, but aren't they the best kind?



2. Snake Hunting on the Devil's Highway is a hysterical and fun collection of stories that revolve around two guys who travel to Arizona in search of exotic reptiles and amphibians and find trouble, fun and craziness along the way. I'm sure the book will make a great movie too. Action, adventure and humor are a constant theme in the book. I really enjoyed how the author broke each adventure into its own chapter, which made the book more like a collection of really funny short stories but ended up being very much related. Intelligence comes from the least likely places at times, and the animals described in nice detail are utterly amazing, which makes you feel a little bit more comfortable about snakes, lizards and frogs after reading this book. But its the crazy situations that's so peculiar and incredible in the book that made it extra enjoyable for me. Fascinating how these two guys are experts in something most people would run away from (SNAKES), and these guys run straight for it! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to laugh, and enjoy themselves for an easy and enjoyable read!

5 comments about Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America.

1. Felipe has done an excellent job of writing a concise and beautifully articulate account on Amerigo, the man who gave his name to America. However, I think the subtitle should perhaps be- The man who finagled getting his name stamped upon America.
   
   This biography offers a wealth of information about Renaissance Florence, Seville and the famous characters of history that many know; yet, few seldom realize how much they overlapped each other. Due to a limited amount of factual documentation on Amerigo, Felipe needed to fill a book with additional facts, yet it was not done to simply fill out a volume, but rather to fill out the times, the mindset, and the world of Amerigo and his famous contemporaries. This includes Columbus, the Medici family, Toscanelli, Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as important men like Gianotto Berardi, the banker who along invested his life and financial resources for Columbus, but met financial disaster instead.
   
   Amerigo happened to work for Berardi, and after this financial debacle, he was forced to make an occupational shift in direction. That journey took him westward, in the footsteps of Columbus and eventually led to worldwide fame, as his name supplanted the New World's rightful hero to indelibly mark two huge continents.
   
   We as Americans shall always ponder our nation blaringly sounding the name of the Italian adventurer Amerigo Vespucci, while lamenting that it should have been Columbus or Columbia or something similar. More astounding still is how Ferdinand and other monarchs were incapable of silencing Amerigo, or any other claimant from attaining such a colossal honor. The chain-reaction of publishers jumping on the profitable bandwagon all contributed to the most colossal domino effect in mapmaking history, one so strong that even kings could not prevent. The name America would prevail for eternity.
   
   The only disappointment was the very last pages where the author expressed some personal opinions about Western Civilization. He criticizes the Mediterranean Europeans as being lazy dregs that inherited almost everything from Asian influence, including the desire to explore. This is very shortsighted, for it negates the thousands of brilliant men that shaped our advanced civilization, which no Asian entity has ever matched. Meanwhile, the desire of Europeans to explore was limited due to the immense variety of peoples within the Mediterranean sphere. The Mediterranean coastal nations were a mixture of various Caucasians, from Portugal to Germany to Norway to Italy, along with a variety of North Africans, Arabs and Asians. This volatile area boomed in advances thus negating the need to go anywhere else. However, once the Muslims sacked Constantinople the need to trade with Asia prompted the desire to find another route, hence the age of exploration.
   
   That aside, overall, "Amerigo" is a very worthy read.



2. After reading this thoroughly researched and highly academic work on the naming of the America's, it is a wonder that in 1507 a few geographers were duped into fixing Amerigo Vespucci's identify to this hemisphere. One panel member in particular later regretted the designation after the specifics came in about Vespucci as the discoverer of the "New World".
   Amerigo was a con-artist, plagiarist and fabricator of events. Many of his writings were structured after and emulated Columbus, Ptolemy and others. Also, one must ask themselves how many voyages did he actually partake in. Was it two or three? Or was it four? Vespucci failed in a number of life's endeavors, except that of selling himself. This he was good at.
   Without a doubt the advanced vocabulary may hinder some readers.



3. A very difficult to read history of a Tuscan who left little and often questionable records. A mishmash of tidbits to fill in for the lack of documentation. Aside of the arbitrary adoption of his name to decribe a new continent there is little to be said of this imposter.



4. Vespucci will never be as well-known as Columbus, but Fernandez-Arnesto's portrait gives a face to the man who gave his name to America.
   
   This slim biography of Amerigo Vespucci makes the most of a maddeningly slim body of primary materials. The author relies on contextual criticism and cultural and family resources to flesh out the story of a minor merchant of Florence who ends up in Seville in the service of the Spanish throne, much like his countryman Columbus.
   
   But unlike Columbus, Vespucci wasn't a navigator. He was basically a supplier of navigators, until he found himself on two (or three, or four; the sources conflict here) cross-Atlantic trips to the Novus Mundi which he reported to his adopted country in a slim volume of the same name attributed correctly--the author concludes--to Vespucci.
   
   The assignment of the feminine Latin version of his name (following the model of Africa, Asia, and Europa) to the coast of the eastward-jutting edge of the future Brazil was made by cartologist Waldseemuller on his famous map of 1507, based on the reading of Vespucci's reports and the incorrect conclusion that Vespucci preceded Columbus on the new continent. The usage spread, so that by the time Waldseemuller discovered his mistake and reverted to the term "Terra Incognita" in 1513, it was too late to change the name that had spread from a corner of the southern continent to encompass the full continent both North and South.
   
   As Fernandez-Arnesto argues, the naming may be for the best, given the negative historical freight associated with Columbus (evangelism, imperialism, colonization, massacre) and the relative obscurity of Vespucci which has enabled his name to be associated with the values of democracy, liberty, and opportunity associated with the United States of America that dominates the northern continent.
   
   Fernandez-Arnesto concludes with an interesting question and the brief beginnings of an answer worthy of its own book-length study: why was it that Atlantic exploration was driven by citizens of the land-locked Mediterranean (Columbus and Vespucci the best-known representatives) in the service of the Atlantic-facing nations?



5. It has been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Christopher Columbus (aka, Cristobal Colom) was indeed a venetian... of converso-jewish-catalan extraction. Neither he nor his heirs seemed to mind Vespucci's "usurpation" which, by the way, has also been proved to be a fabrication. See excerpt below.
   
   AMERIGO VESPUCCI BY FREDERICK A. OBER
   The name America thus got placed upon several maps as an equivalent for what we call Brazil, and sometimes came to stand alone for what we call South America, but still signified only a part of the dry land beyond the Atlantic to which Columbus had led the way."
   That there was no evil intention on Vespucci's part is amply proved by the fact that, while he himself lived four years after the Introductio was published, a certain contemporary of his, one Ferdinand Columbus, who was most acutely interested in seeing justice done the name and deeds of his father, survived Vespucci twenty-seven years. He not only saw this book, but owned a copy, which, according to an autograph note on the flyleaf, he had bought in Venice in July, 1521, "for five sueldos." This book is still contained in the library he founded at Seville, and as it was copiously annotated by him, it must have been carefully read; yet,
   [Pg 249]
   though he has the credit of having written a life of his father, Christopher Columbus, he makes no mention whatever of the "usurpation" by Vespucci.
   Ferdinand Columbus knew the Florentine, and was an intimate friend of his nephew, Juan Vespucci; yet the question seems never to have arisen between them as to the great discoverers' respective shares of glory. The explanation lies in this fact: that Vespucci's name had been bestowed upon a region far remote from that explored by his father, who had never sailed south of the equator. Notwithstanding the good feeling that prevailed between them, however, long after Ferdinand's death, when the name America had become of almost universal application, the veteran Las Casas, in writing his great history, marvels that the son of the old Admiral could overlook the "theft and usurpation" of Vespucci. The old man's indignation was great, for he was a stanch friend of Columbus, and revered his memory. He made out a very strong case against Vespucci--being in ignorance of the manner in which his name came to be given to the lands discovered by Columbus--and when, in 1601, the historian
   [Pg 250]
   Herrera, who made use of the Las Casas manuscripts, repeated his statements as those of a contemporary, all the world gave him credence.
   Vespucci's name rested under suspicion during more than three centuries, and was not even partially cleared until 1837, when Alexander von Humboldt undertook the gigantic task of vindication. It was not so much to vindicate Vespucci, however, as to ascertain the truth, that Humboldt made the critical and exhaustive examination which appeared in his Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Géographie de Nouveau Continent.
   Even Humboldt, however, did not secure all the evidence available, but by the discovery of valuable documents the missing links in the chain were supplied: by Varnhagen, Vespucci's ardent eulogist, by Harrisse, and finally by Fiske. The last-named truthfully says: "No competent scholar anywhere will now be found to dissent from the emphatic statement of M. Harrisse--'After a diligent study of all the original documents, we feel constrained to say that there is not a particle of evidence, direct or indirect, implicating Amerigo Vespucci
   [Pg 251]
   in an attempt to foist his name on this continent.'" And moreover, "no shade of doubt is left upon the integrity of Vespucci. So truth is strong, and prevails at last."
   This is the conclusion arrived at by the impartial historian, who, without disparaging the deeds of Columbus, without detracting in any manner from his great discoveries, has restored Amerigo Vespucci to the niche in which he was placed by the German geographers four hundred years ago, and from which he was torn by injudicious iconoclasts, fearful for the fame of Spain's great Admiral.
   It is enough for Columbus to have discovered America; it was far more than Amerigo Vespucci deserved to have this discovery given his name, by which it will be known forever; but this honor, though unmerited, was at the same time unsought.

5 comments about The Mountains of My Life (Modern Library Exploration).

1. Bonatti is one of the boldest and leading figures in mountaineering of the 20th century; he is also one of the most creative of his peers in communicating his feelings on the subject. This book is interesting in the context of the author's youth in post war Europe and the effects this had on his life. Unfortunately, the author was subject to a smear campaign regarding his contributions to the first ascent of K2 for reasons outside of his control and this book reveals the injustice and presents a convincing case as to how the whole episode originated. So, part mystery story, part eloquent ode to mountains and climbing. It's a winner on both fronts and Bonnatti emerges as a champion not only of technical mastery of climbing, but mountaineering ethics and of mans relationship to the outdoors. I rate this as a must read.



2. The Mountains Of My Life is such a dense and intense work that even the experienced alpine climber is likely to slip into a stupor while reading of Walter Bonatti's incredible climbs. The only solution is to plan on reading it twice. Otherwise, you can expect to miss some of the subtlety in Walter's economical writing style. I can now claim to have followed my own advice.

   One can read here many details of the big climbs Bonatti did in the Alps and only get a hint of the level of suffering, fear and intensity of the experience, even though the text focuses much on just those aspects. Only by going out onto the big alpine walls and experiencing those emotions yourself can you expect to have even the slightest clue as to just how understated The Mountains Of My Life really is. But that's still only an approximation unless you climbed routes such as these back in the day, using the primitive gear that Walter and his partners had - and then only if your ethical stance was as strict as theirs. These dudes had mondo cajones, to say the least.

   But you don't need to trust me - I've never climbed anything of significance. But would you dare not trust the opinions of Reinhold Messner and Doug Scott? Go read what they have to say about Walter's climbs. Then sit back and imagine what it was like to solo big routes back then. I've done just enough soloing to understand just how much more of a mental game it is.

   I can't forget to mention how important Robert Marshall's role was in this book. Not only did he translate, but he played a key detective role in the K2 controversy. Once one has fully digested what transpired on the hill, then after, then one can begin to better understand just how driven Bonatti was, and why. This is an incredible story, but it is also incredibly sad to think how horribly one person can treat another. Even pursuits such as climbing are victim to those that are dishonest and apparently without a conscious. Clearly, evil men are capable of much greater evil when acting to conspire. I for one was happy to see all of the details of K2 be brought to the forefront, to have the liars exposed and for the truth to finally have its day.

   The next to last chapter is the true gem of this book. Years after retiring from extreme mountaineering, Walter climbed a route on Mt. Blanc solo. The description of the landscape, the place and the space in this chapter are truly incredible. The reader is transported, smelling the air, sensing the dangers and feeling the coarse granite on the palm. This chapter is a true high point inmountaineering literature. I wonder if this writing was only possible after the wounds of the K2 debacle had adequate time to heal?




3. Along with Ricardo Cassin, Bonatti is perhaps the most outstanding Italian climber of all time! How ironic that he should become embroiled in one of the longest lasting (almost 50 years) controversies in mountaineering history, and how gratifying that he finally is clearly vindicated in this fascinating book.

   The book is an autobiographical account of Bonatti's major climbs, including several sections on the much-discussed 1954 Italian expedition on K2. Bonatti clearly comes across as a committed climber, seeking purity and excitement in his climbs, who is often at a loss when faced with public criticism (on several accounts described in the book). As is often the case in the lives of people with outstanding talent, Bonati's life is beset by other people's envy and underhanded tactics, most frequently by his own compatriots. Yet, the book succeeds in demonstrating Bonatti's passion, drive and determination, while retaining the purity of mind and spirit that the mountains bestow on all!

   Aside from being a highly personal account by one of the greatest mountaineers of all time, three things make this book outstanding:

   (1) The beautiful translation by Robert Marshall (an Australian, who learned Italian for the sole purpose of reading mountaineering accounts!), who introduces each chapter with a short summary of the significance of the peak or route undertaken. Marshall also plays a key role of an "investigator" pointing out several pictures, which show that Compagnioni's and Desio's accounts of the K2 expedition are clearly false and manipulative;

   (2) The book finally sets the record straight about the 1954 K2 expedition -- the fact that Lacedeli and Compaginoni used oxygen all the way to the top; the fact that they recklessly (if not intentionally) abandoned Bonatti in the bivouac, just feet from their warm tent above 8,000 meters; the fact that they manipulated accounts of the expedition to go as far as claiming that Bonatti wanted to charge ahead to the top on his own, endangering others. Two pictures, ironically published by Desio in an article immediately following the expedition clearly show Lacedeli and Compagnioni wearing oxygen masks at the top -- pictures, which are subsequently removed from Desio's book; and are only by accident discovered and brought forward by Rpbert Marshall only almost 50 years later! What a horrible thought that such an incredible climber, only in his 20s, could have been lost high up on K2, and we would have never come to know Bonatti as one of the all time greats! What a great feeling it is to know that truth sooner or later triumphs!

   (3) the book is a true mountaineering story; it shows the aspirations, achievements and excitement of climbing in the immediate post- WW II era in Europe and Italy -- a period full of what is best about mountain climbing -- hope, innocence and passion!

   This is a highly recommended book for everyone! My compliments to John Krakauer for including this wonderful book in the new Exploration series!




4. English is not my first language, yet, the quality of the translation is evident. Walter speaks himself and reading the book I felt he looked at my eyes and told me the very essence of his life like an intimate friend.
   I am not surprised that such an extraordinary climber Bonatti proved to be a moral and sensitive man. It could not be different !
   Bravo to all who have contributed to this book, especially the translator who investigated ingeniously the affair.
   As a human, a mountaineer and a reader I storngly recommend this book.
   I would appreciated a few more photographs in the book but for its price it is still a bargain.
   Only one question remains unanswered in my mind: Why Walter does not comment on the Camp9 spot ? Was it due to the darkness he could not reach it ? I guess there were no steps left from the other two that explains why he followed a different path.
   
   With my full respect to the man
   P.a.



5. I ordered this in August. Here it is September 28th and I haven't received it and you are asking if I like it?!

3 comments about Tales Behind the Tombstones: The Deaths and Burials of the Old West's Most Nefarious Outlaws, Notorious Women, and Celebrated Lawmen.

1. I just recieved this book as a gift, and once I started reading it I just could not put it down. The book is full of facinating stories that while factual are still entertaining. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in The Old West. PS this would make a great "bathroom book" as each chapter is a seperate story, if you can stop after just one!



2. Basically, this book was predictable and lacked any depth. While the range of names is broad, the details are pretty well known about each person. One bit of new information for each would have made this book worth the printing costs.



3. This book has some unique details I've never heard before. Did you know that the undertaker had to build a cage around Calamity Jane to keep people from taking bits of her hair as souvenirs? If you didn't then this book is definitely worth the read! I recommend checking out other book by Chris Enss. Her books are always wonderful easy to read stories for anyone who loves history.

1 comments about What Men Call Treasure: The Search for Gold at Victorio Peak.

1. What Men Call Treasure: The Search for Gold at Victorio Peak is the in-depth true story of one family's legendary brush with riches. In 1937, con man and chiropodist Doc Noss ventured inside a New Mexico mountain named after the Apache chief Victorio. He discovered a cavern of incredible riches - statues of saints, swords, a crown, a chest of jewelry, twenty-seven skeletons, and roughly 16,000 gold bars of varying types. When the Doc and his wife tried to gain better access to the cavern, one of their dynamite blasts destroyed the narrow passage, and the U.S. government claimed the land for missile testing shortly after. A saga of discovery, lost treasure, and phenomenally questionable acts of the U.S. Government, What Men Call Treasure is a fascinating true story of lost mysteries, doubly remarkable in today's modern era when most corners of the earth have been thoroughly explored.

No comments about Race to the Polar Sea: The Heroic Adventures of Elisha Kent Kane.

5 comments about Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic.

1. I loved this book. It joins a spate of other books constructed in much the same way. It is reminiscent of James Michner'ss books, with the construction of personal stories amid the history. The research she did was wonderful. It is interesting how one event can ripple out and connect with and touch so many other lives. This was not even what would be termed a particularly charged event (such as one that would garner world news coverage), yet led to connections everywhere. It is fascinating and she has done a wonderful job with it. I was fascinated with the historical beginnings of Chautauqua. In the present gas crunch it seems like they might be looking at bringing back the concept. What a delightful thought - to have all of that wonderful esoteric knowledge traveling all over the country.
   
   The character of Ada was fascinating. A young Native American who, to hear the boys tell it, wanted nothing more that a white man. After escaping a marriage to an abusive previous husband she is looking for more stability in her life and dealing with a serious case of northern SAD. To make things worse she has not been raised as totally `native' as they thought she had. The general perceptions that regular society in general had for this woman were heartbreaking and incorrect. A sexuality that in an educated Caucasian society is viewed as normal becomes promiscuous in the Native American. Verbalization is different. The totemic thought form is different. I felt that the way the author dealt with these issues was wonderful. Rather than infuse the book with a condescending attitude she simply stated what had happened.
   
   Ada was a strong woman but it seems that some of the troubles and betrayals she went through took a toll on her heart and health. I wonder if we as a society will ever figure out a way to `develop character' without beating people senseless. There was one line that was particularly moving.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone. It was wonderful and a great way to learn history. After reading this I'll have to read her first book.



2. I have become a junkie for true hardship books, and the arctic exploration books are my first love- they are what took me down this road.
   Jennifer Niven does a fine job of fleshing out and making real each person, each family, each government that was involved in these missions into the mostly unknown and proven deadly arctic areas of the world. She lets us know what makes people tick, influences like nationality, religion, sex, race, class- each person comes with their background and reasons for their actions and beliefs explained as fully as possible.
   
   These people are made real and human, so you get their shortcomings and faults, not just a politically correct whitewashing that fits in to our modern world view. The ways of the world were different then, Ada was (mis-)treated the way a female eskimo rated within that world.
   
   It is all a sad story, really. Ada often was her own worst enemy. Those poor boys were so full of faith in their leader, who deserved none of it. If I go on I will end up giving too much story away. Good book- get hooked and read more arctic exploration books!
   
   And always remember to QUESTION AUTHORITY!



3. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Ada. It is well-written and hard to put down. Not your typical dry biography. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in northern exploration and native people. I can't even imagine myself in Ada's position. Even though she wouldn't admit it, it took lots of courage.



4. I picked up this book knowing nothing about the artic expedition to Wrangel Island. I found the story initially quite fascinating but that the book really bogged down when the author insisted on including the contents of every letter that the survivors families wrote over the next ten years. I feel that the book could have been much shorter and still powerfully portrayed the struggles of Ada and her companions to survive Wrangel Island.



5. This is a very interesting true story, of four young men lured to their deaths in the polar regions by V. Steffanson's tales of the "Friendly Arctic" where survival was easy. With minimal arctic experience, the four undertake an expedition to "claim" Wrangel Island for Canada (even though Canada did not want it and the island was known by all to belong to Russia.) Poorly planned, poorly equipped, and poorly executed, the fumbling expedition establishes a camp on Wrangel Island, raises the Canadian and British flags, and hunkers down to a slow demise of abandonment by V. Steffanson.
   
   Ada Blackjack, a young Eskimo woman hired by the four to serve as seamstress, is recruited from Nome Alaska. Though descended from Eskimo people, she knows more of the "white men's" culture than her own, being able to read and write, etc. At first reluctant to undertake her responsibilities, as the privations of the expedition set in she becomes a stalwart support to the others, cooking, making arctic clothing from skins, etc. After three of the men sled off across the frozen sea on a hopeless gambit to get to Siberia for help, never to be seen again, Ada is left alone with the remaining member of the expedition, who is dying of scurvy. Left to her own resources, Ada teaches herself to hunt, trap, shoot, and build boats, recalling techniques and skills observed during childhood from observing her forebears. Ada faces her greatest fear, the dread "Nanook" (polar bears) that roam the island. Fighting starvation, hopelessness, and sickness, Ada valiantly strives to keep the remaining expedition member alive, only to see him slowly waste away from his sickness and die. Ada sojourns another two months before a rescue ship finally arrives, finding her to be the sole survivor of the expedition after over two years.
   
   Returning to civilization, Ada is exploited by her rescuer and by V. Steffanson, who also exploit the memories, diaries, and belongings of the doomed expedition members. The book recounts Ada's subsequent life, trying to raise her sons and make a living in a world no less harsh and unforgiving than the one she had known in the arctic.
   
   This book was a fascinating, well-written read and I intend to read the author's other book.