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 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
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New Condition. Hardcover.
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| Customer Reviews:
 High Crimes February 24, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I had the pleasure of hearing Michael Kodas when he talked to a large group of people in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. His talk was excellent and he showed many pictures that he took during his climbs. He is an excellent photographer as well as author. I found that the book read like a novel and couldn't put it down. I felt the writing was excellent and had no problem following the two parallel stories. I am an armchair climber and have always been fascinated by Everest, having been introduced to it throgh Jon Krakauer's book, "Into Thin Air" and "Climb". I was horrified when I read what is going on and hope this book will help do something to clean up the crimes on Everest and other high peak mountains.
Interesting, but not straightforward February 21, 2008
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have been interested in the phenomenon of persons obsessed to the verge of death with climbing Mount Everest since I first read Jon Krakauer's excellent "Into Thin Air" about the disastrous 1996 climbing season. Michael Kodas's "High Crimes" is a look at the dishonesty and outright criminal behavior infesting Everest-climbing in more recent times. The book's chronology, focusing on 2004 and 2006, is more than a little confusing, and I could wish that the author had taken a more straightforward (chronologically speaking) approach. Nevertheless, the book offers an enthralling, if somewhat disheartening, look at the seamy side of scaling the world's tallest mountain.
 Badly written, badly organized, and not credible February 17, 2008
8 out of 21 found this review helpful
I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to expectations.
The writing is very disorganized and jumps around from place to place and year to year for no apparent reason. Essentially, the lesson seems to be that there are some unpleasant people who climb Everest, and some of them may not be completely honest. People die, mostly because they make the mistake of trusting in guides who are not the best. (I would think the principle of caveat emptor applies here. The buyer should carefully check the credentials of people into whose hands he/she is placing their safety).
The book touches on (but does not go into depth about) some troubling moral issues. What responsibility does one have to a fellow climber? Should a climber put his/her own life in jeopardy in an attempt to save the life of another?
If you want to spend a few hours in the company of some very disagreeable people, then read this book.
Eye-opener February 16, 2008
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
Having been fascinated with Everest, and having read other books on the subject, I found this book intriguing. The details in the descriptions on the procedures leading up to, then getting to and climbing the mountain had me glued. I was drawn into the dramas of the interweaving stories and did not find the book fragmented, as one reviewer said. There seemed to be a lot of corroborating evidence for the author's interpretation and I also didn't think the perspective to be sour grapes, as another reviewer suggested. Further, I found the details, such as the descriptions of counterfeit oxygen equipment, informative. The book possibly could have been streamlined a bit, as there were a couple of repetative sections. However, in all, I was glued, read it straight through in a couple of days, and was sorry when it ended! Due to all the difficulties encountered, I was cured of any longing to go to Everest, but loved reading about it!
Some serious problems with this book February 15, 2008
20 out of 31 found this review helpful
The beginning of this book was very interesting but as I went on I found
some serious problems with it.
One - the guy actually wanted to get to the top and did not succeed, the book took the flavor of "sour grapes" quite early.
Two - the author was a part of the conflict with his guide (this George D. guy) and so the author explained his side of the story. So, it was not an objective journalist reporting a conflict between a client and a guide and trying to understand the bigger picture, but a disgruntled client who uses the fact that he is a journalist in his favor to discredit his guide.
Towards the middle of the book the author becomes quite paranoic which became quite annoying to me actually. Towards the end of the book
there weren't too many likeable characters left in the story.
I am an amateur climber who climbs only in his local mountains (California). In the past 15 years I have seen a lot of funky business -
guides, clients, independents and what not. The topics of commercialization of the mountains and ethics in the mountains are very important for anybody who loves them but this book did not do them
justice.
The one question - at which point can you desert another man on the mountain to save your own life is so, so complicated...
Anyways, two books on similar topics that actually show the two different
sides of the story are the Krakauer book about 1996 and the book by one
of the guides in the same expedition V. Bukreev "The Climb"
Much, much better books even if (exactly because) they show two opposing points of view.
Anyways, it was worth reading probably but not worth buying - should
have gotten it from the library.
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