It convinced me to never try mountain climbing, but I can't remember any details.
t /failing to be helpful
You know, with the exception of one deadly and unpredictable midget, this girl is the smallest cargo I've ever had to transport. Yet by far the most troublesome. Does that seem right to you?
Early ,'Objects In Space'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
-t - Sep 28, 2007 7:08:03 am PDT #4057 of 28222
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Ginger - Sep 28, 2007 7:09:03 am PDT #4058 of 28222
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
There's also a remarkable rescue of someone given up for dead. Lots of adventure. Lots of altitude sickness. Lots of "the people who do this are completely psycho." It certainly has discussion material. What would you go through to achieve a goal? What goal would you give up to save someone else's life? Is being able to talk to your wife on a satellite phone when both she and you know you are doomed a good thing?
sumi - Sep 28, 2007 7:10:43 am PDT #4059 of 28222
Art Crawl!!!
Also - discussion of how Everest has been environmentally compromised by all the trips up there now. How the popularity of climbing Everest has added to the danger because the window of opportunity is so small.
Glamcookie - Sep 28, 2007 7:12:07 am PDT #4060 of 28222
I know my own heart and understand my fellow man. But I am made unlike anyone I have ever met. I dare to say I am like no one in the whole world. - Anne Lister
Great details, guys! Thanks so much!
Kate P. - Sep 28, 2007 7:15:47 am PDT #4061 of 28222
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
It's also really gripping and a pretty quick read, if that helps!
Ginger - Sep 28, 2007 7:21:27 am PDT #4062 of 28222
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
There's also some discussion of how the sherpas get to the top all the time but never get credit and how guiding idiot climbers has become their main source of income.
megan walker - Sep 28, 2007 7:25:04 am PDT #4063 of 28222
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
It's also really gripping and a pretty quick read, if that helps!
This. I loved it.
It convinced me to never try mountain climbing
And definitely this.
Also, it has a "rich bitch" character that you could be catty about.
Consuela - Sep 28, 2007 8:39:38 am PDT #4064 of 28222
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
There's also the question of whether Krakauer's own presence on the team actually contributed to the fiasco: knowing Outside Magazine was covering the expedition may have led to some faulty decision-making. Because they would get great marketing press out of it! Also, the question of whether the commercialization of mountaineering is a good thing, and the use of all this high-tech equipment. Do we want just any Joe off the street to be able to summit the world's highest mountains? What's that say about exploration, if anyone can do it? Does it negate earlier expeditions without that kind of support?
Also? Nature always wins.
It'd be a great paired reading with Joe Simpson's Touching the Void, which is just as harrowing, and yet in which nobody dies (unbelievable as that is).
I don't like the cold much, and I don't have any interest in summiting any 8,000-meter peaks, but some day I wouldn't mind climbing Mount Whitney, or Mount Shasta...
Glamcookie - Sep 28, 2007 9:50:13 am PDT #4065 of 28222
I know my own heart and understand my fellow man. But I am made unlike anyone I have ever met. I dare to say I am like no one in the whole world. - Anne Lister
I did the book talk and several boys wanted the book. Yay and thanks for your help! I gots to read that one, too. It sounds fascinating and scary.
Sparky1 - Sep 29, 2007 10:26:36 am PDT #4066 of 28222
Librarian Warlord
It's Banned Books Week, so get out there and celebrate your freedom to read!