Epic: Stories of Survival From The World's Highest Peaks (The Adrenaline Series) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Jon Krakauer, Greg Child, Stephan Venables, Art Davidson, David Roberts, Alfred Lansing
Creators: Eric Conger, Rick Adamson, Graeme Malcolm, Clint Willis, Alan Sklar
Publisher: Adrenaline Audiobooks
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $3.75
You Save: $21.20 (85%)
New (11) Used (3) from $3.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 1308406
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 4
Pages: 6
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 1885408331
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.522
EAN: 9781885408334
ASIN: 1885408331
Publication Date: September 15, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: still sealed in plastic-i ship daily
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Some of the most exciting and harrowing mountaineering events ever chronicled are collected in Epic. From Jon Krakauer's solo ascent of Devil's Thumb in Alaska to John Climaco's account of being threatened by a homicidal Pakistani army officer in the Himalayas, these are stories of survival in nature's most inhospitable places.
Book Description
Epic - a mountaineering term that evokes a sense of treacherous disaster. The climb that went wrong: fighting blinding snowstorms and horrific avalanches; days spent tentbound running low on food, water and oxygen; surviving broken bones and shattered spirits. With writing from Jon Krakauer, Greg Child, David Roberts, Alfred Lansing and others, Epic is a collection of the most memorable accounts of legend-making expeditions to the world's most famous peaks, often in the worst possible conditions. Epic is an adventure audiobook at its most compelling.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 A sampler box of mountain climbing stories February 22, 2008
This book is like a sampler box of climbing stories. It's not a bad collection, but in the end it's a rather unsatisfying meal.
The problem is that most of the stories are excerpts from books, making it hard for readers to fully understand the context of the events they're reading about. It's as if you're suddenly thrown into a dramatic scene on the edge of a mountain without knowing who your climbing partners are or how you got there. Also, several of the stories leave the reader hanging at the end.
The best story of them all was John Climaco's "Dangerous Liaisons," a tale of his exasperating battle with the arrogant Pakistani liason officer who ruined his expedition. (Ironically, it is only tangentially about climbing.)
I also liked Art Davidson's tale of being pinned down in a storm on Mt. McKinley, one of those stories where you can practically feel the chill wind down your back and the frostbite in your toes. Still, it is one of the excerpts that leaves the reader wondering what happens next.
In all, readers interested in mountain climbing stories will be better served by seeking out the original books from which these stories are taken.
 Epic, delivers the goods April 24, 2002
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is essentially a compilation of short stories from books written by world class mountaineers. Anyone who is well read in this genre will immediately recognize these short stories from the books they were taken. The stories are exceptionally well written and edited. Some are epic survival tales and others document the never ending string of tragedies that befall many mountaineering expeditions. The format works well even though the stories are in no particular time sequence. I highly recommend this book, and many of the other books from which the stories have been excerpted. Pick some of your favorite short stories from this book and follow up with the complete tomes. You will not be disappointed.
 Good Collection - Worth Reading September 17, 2001
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book is a collection of short stories about some very very very dificult climbings in the most dangerous places(mountains) under the most terrible conditions.
Among the stories are some classics like: The West Ridge-Everest(1.st ascent - Hornbein & Unsoeld); Annapurna(1.st ascent - Herzog version); k2 The Savage Mountain(The Schoening belay - by Bates and Houston); McKinley winter's ascent(by Art Davidson).
The book provides a good taste of the dificulties a climber must surpass in order to succed(survive), the only downpoint is that some stories just missed a more tradicional ending, basicaly because in the end you don't know what happened to the climbers, you can only assume they survive.
Good for the armchair adventurer September 13, 2000
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Willis' compilations include well-chosen "high points" from selected mountaineering books. Serious climbing-book readers will already have most of the books, but those who just want to get to the solo bivouac scene in which our hero freezes all his toes after losing his partners to an avalanche will find Epic a good buy.
HIGH TENSION September 8, 2000
This audio book took me six hours down the road to Mobile without pain. It was so riveting that time disappeared. These are stories of men's struggles to climb the highest mountains in the world, complicated by sheer ice, blinding storms, lack of oxygen, and extreme cold. These authors are the actual climbers so that we are able to understand them as their emotions rollercoaster from elation at the start to deepest despair as they contemplate not only not being able to summit but their very possible end on the mountain. For those who can live vicariously it is the limit.
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