Customer Rating:  
Summary: Mixed feelings about this one
Comment: I'm an avid reader and find especially interesting the personal accounts of extreme survival situations. I am in awe of strength of the human spirit and the will to survive. Lincoln Hall's ordeal is no exception. I do however take exception to how poorly this book is written. Now I know not all and actually most people that do have these experiences aren't authors and so some forgiveness is required. But this guy....hmmmm he professes to be a writer! Whoa, I struggled with much of the book, because it was/is so poorly written. He rambles and there are paragraphs of boring minutia, that not only don't reveal any insight into who he is, nothing of any real interest regarding the "story" is added. Yes he survived an event that most people would not have and thus obviously has a story to tell, but his editor should have reined him in and kept his rambling under control. I say don't waste your money and check it out from a library rather than buy it. Buy... Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, instead.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An inspirational read
Comment: Lincoln Hall's climb on Everest was supposed to be in support of a young Australian's attempt to be the youngest ever climber to reach the summit. When he was forced back, Hall took the opportunity for one last go at reaching the summit himself.
In a year where a dozen climbers died on the mountain, Lincoln Hall was also left for dead just below the peak of Everest as night fell. And he had thought scaling Everest was going to be the real challenge!
In this account, Hall speaks in real terms of his battle with his mind and body to get through the night on Everest- something that no-one else had done. A revealing tale of the human body's ability to overcome adversity and to come back from the warm comforting reach of death, the strength of a family's love and the connection with the natural world. This book is truly an inspiration read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: disappointed in the lack of humanity
Comment: Being a connoisseur of human folly, I'm a fascinated spectator of high altitude mountaineering stories.
And on a mountain that, by it's very nature, seems to attract an inordinate proportion of sociopaths & narcissists, I'm not really surprised when I realize some mountaineer I'm reading about is self-centered, emotionally immature, and/or lacking the normal social connections & human motivations most of us have.
And I'm afraid this guy is among them.
One review I read said, "Mr. Hall seemed almost detached from the story he was penning", and I sensed that from the get-go, and couldn't even force myself halfway through the book.
That reviewer also said, more or less, that she was disappointed that he failed to describe his fellow climbers in any way that would give you a sense of who they were & what it was like to be on a team with them.
And then, what's the point?
It's very disappointing, because by his interviews, and the fact that Andrew Brash calls him "friend", I'd assumed he had some measure of humility & gratitude about the importance of other people to him.
But I guess not. It's like he fails to really see & connect to other people completely.
The humanity you find in the books by Krakauer & Kodas seem to be completely missing in this book.
And as for the author's professed religion... Sadly, I've noticed that many western Buddhists I've come across seem to miss the forest for the trees. They're all hung up on the trappings of rituals and a facade, that they seem oblivious to their attachment to the most ridiculous desires that even most non-Buddhist materialistic people don't attach themselves to... And some actually seem to use their religion to justify what appears to be the exact opposite of right action.
And it's very ironic really - because it seems to me that the aspiration & commitment to climbing Mount Everest is by its very nature, the ultimate of what Buddhism teaches to stop... being attached to a highly impractical diversion, claiming to oneself that it will bring some kind of fulfillment of happiness, when in reality it seems to be the epitome of needless suffering.
But using religion to one's own purposes & for appearances, or being a religious hypocrite, is not something self-proclaimed Buddhists have a monopoly on, of course. Seems that every religion has its share.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great read
Comment: This is an excellent book- very well written and hard to put down. I have read many books on climbing and Everest, and this is one of, if not the best. His survival is incredible, and it's nice to read how histhoughts and love of his family kept him going (and played into whether he would attempt the climb at all) at a time when so many people only think of themselves. I highly recommend this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great story of human spirit
Comment: This is much more than just a story of a climb to Mt. Everest (which is a inspiring story on it's own!). This is a story about the strength of the human spirit. There is no scientific explanation for his survival. It is obvious the strength of his mind/spirit is what brought him down from that mountain. The story was written well and enjoyable to read. Although I enjoy the outdoors, I am not a mountain climber, and I found this book so inspiring!
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