Everest: Summit of Achievement
Simon and Schuster, May, 2003.
Hardcover, 252 pages.
ISBN: 0743243862
Mount Everest has captured the imagination of the West;
so many have tried and failed to climb to the summit.
Now Stephen Venables has, with the help of
the National Geographic Association, attempted to
put the subject of Mount Everest into some perspective
for the 21st century. He succeeds admirably. The book
traces the history of man's attempt to climb the mountain,
with essays by mountain climber Stephen Venables,
journalist and mountain climber Ed Douglas,
Judy and Tashi Tenzing, grandson
of Norgay Tenzing and historian John Keay. The essays
discuss everything from the difficulty
of even measuring the height of the mountain, the reaction
of the local peoples to the invasion of Westerners wanting
to climb the mountain, and details of the hardships, failures
and victories of the various expedition. More than 400 photographs
from the archives of National Geographic are displayed --
most of which have never been seen before -- and they are
absolutely stunning. The introductions by Sir Edmund Hillary
and His Holiness the Dalai Lama are a real pleasure to read.
Sir Hillary, who ascended to the summit Mount Everest in 1953 with
Tibetan guide Tenzing Norgay, remembers his historic
journey with "no thought of the impact this
ascent might have on the world in general, or indeed of the changes
it might produce in my own life. We had succeeded where so many
other great climbers had failed -- that was enough in itself."
Everest: Summit of Achievement is available for purchase on Amazon.com
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This review was published in the September-October, 2003 of The Internet Writing Journal.
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