Book Review

F**k correct movement.

Maybe it gets down to priorities. I'm turned off by those that masturbate their ego in public. Apparently, self promotion is something you're capable of digesting in large doses but it's nauseating to me even in the smallest of doses.

Mad 'how do I clean the puke of the pages of my book?' Dog

Understood, but it gets a bit silly after the tenth time she says it.

Annnndddd...that is exactly the point Mad dog was trying to convey about the entire book....way to much in the self promotion and ego dept....

Richie Bitchie the Rockrat...( Not real high on my read again list...)

Agreed, it's not great literature. Beyond the Limits is better if you're looking for something about a woman on Everest. I have to confess though that I've never read a really, really good mountaineering book by a female author. But I've never read Clouds from Both Sides or Hard Day's Summer.

Clouds is certainly worth the time. I would not rank it among the best but it's honest and conveys Julie's feelings well. It has its moments.

Lena did the 'Everest lecture circuit' last year when the English translation of her book came out. She is a very intense, attractive lady. She was a strong defender of Boukreev during the Q&A badgering. I recall she said she was retired from high altitude climbing, was running a human-potential consulting business, and thinking about raising a family.

I thought Clouds was a wonderful book. The descriptions of teaching disadvantaged and handicapped children to climb was worth the price of admission. Also, you can read Diemburger's accounts of their joint adventures, I love getting two different versions of the same events.

-steven-

Thanks for the review Adrian. I'll make sure I avoid the book now. I might be a gender traitor, but I get awfully damn sick of the 'I was the first woman who...' and 'I did it despite the fact that I'm a woman.' In this day and age, why should that matter for most things?

C. 'The first woman who, um... was born to my parents.'

That's an interesting tidbit...all these years and I never knew you were her...not him. See what you've started, Avajane!!!

The Rockrat...(constantly baffled 'and' bewildered...)

: own invention but a translation of the native name for the mountain. :

actualy, Chomolungma doesn't mean 'Mother Goddess of the World'. It means 'the third godness' or some such. this is because when seen from where the locals permanently lived, which was many tens of miles away from Everest, Everset blends with other smaller peak. It is at the center of a five-peak group. hence the 'third'. If I remember it right, 'chomo' means godess and 'lungma' means the third. This name has been documented for at least a couple of hundred years. e.g. it was on the Tibet maps made by some French missionaries before the 19th century.

if that is not a strong enough blow to the romanic notion of Everst's local names, I read from somewhere that the Nepalese name for Everest, 'Sagarmantha' (sp?), wasn't known before the 1950s. It was actually made up by the Nepal government for the benefit of the tourism industry. Does any one know about this for sure?