|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Kodas
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $10.36
You Save: $14.59 (58%)
New (39) Used (18) Collectible (2) from $4.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 22390
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 1401302734
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.522
EAN: 9781401302733
ASIN: 1401302734
Publication Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book. Same day superfast shipping. Excellent customer support.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Krakauer is still the zenith. April 1, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
While an intersting read, to compare High Crimes to Into Thin Air is like comparing Hemingway to Tom Clancy for adventure books. If you are an avid Everest reader this is a good insightful look at how the mountain has really become much worse for climbers since the disatorous 1996 season. 1996 was all about the weather causing havoc, High Crimes is about human greed and arrogance causing havoc.
Fascinating March 30, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Fascinating addition to Everest Literature.
Strengths:
Kodas is a skilled story teller. He writes very well. Kodas does an excellent job critiquing Gustavo "The Scroundel" Lisi. Kodas interviewed Lisi in person, in which the snake tries to wiggle his way out of his web of lies. Kodas also offers an insider's account of the his organizer, George "The Mad Romanian" D, as well as the seedy aspects of Everest the industy. The "Mad Romanian" has a wife, a Sherparette, who is illeterate. The Mad Romanian, according to Kodas, abuses his wife, both physically and emotionally. Scary stuff indeed.
One moral of the stoy is, you are better off paying $40,000+ for top flight guide service like Russell Brice's Himex, instead of going the cheap route (1/5 or 1/6 of $40,000) and ending up dying.
The hardcover uses excellent and very readable font, and has nice sets of photos. The first set is in color, the second is in black and white.
Weakness:
The organization of the book (telling of Dr. N./the Scroundel, Kodas/the Mad Romanian) alternates somewhat suddenly. Nevertheless, the story remains utterly fascinating.
Very informative and thought provoking March 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Thought-provoking, interesting, amazing. I never could have guessed how cut throat the world of climbing had become. Makes me want to dig deeper into this subject. Quick read.
First 2/3s excellent, lost interest last 1/3. March 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just finished this book (yes, I used the library). The first 2/3s of the book are excellent with a fascinating story, but the last 1/3 reads like it got slapped together in order to meet a deadline or something. I would recommend it based on the first 2/3s alone, but the last portion was somewhat disappointing in that it seemed like a "rap sheet" of crimes was tacked on at the end without any relation to the two main stories of the author and "Nils".
Who would have thought... March 27, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
...that the internet world would help create a satellite show of the once nearly inaccesable Himalayas? And add to the competition, greed and selfishness, if not downright criminal acts, described in this book?
I remember reading about Hillary's climb. Where does the adventurous soul go now to have that pure an experience?
This book reads quite differently, and I'm glad I read it, and I suppose I should be glad to be awakened to how my thoughts of mountain climbing have been fantasies for some years. Instead I read about modern-day climbing through the eyes of a journalist. The story is compelling and shocking, an interweave of experiences of people who want, for their various reasons, to conquer Mt. Everest. It is a little difficult to follow all the characters and themes, but then, the author is describing real events, not making up a story. You can't help but go along for the adventure.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
