After reading Into Thin Air I wanted to read more about this tragedy. In one of the few epilogues in that book, Jon mentions Beck's book so I thought that I'd look it up. I got it last week and when I began the book it sucked me in. It was not quite as captivating as Into Thin Air but I think that is because he didn't focus on the tragedy much at all. He skimmed over it and then goes on to tell the readers how he got there (on Everest) and about his life in general. Even without the minute-by-minute detail (he states in the epilogue that he didn't do this because he felt the other books on the subject covered it enough) it is still a fascinating book and what Beck Weathers comes back from is still quite amazing. A definite must-read for the reader whom likes real-life drama.

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Interesting account, told by Beck and his family. I was working at his lab in Dallas, when we received the call that he was dead...followed later by he's alive! I can certainly say, from working around him for 17 years, what a COMPLETE personality change this had on him- what a different person he was after! Inspiring book-

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A very good true story of adventure and survival.

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This was a really great book

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I liked this book, although I wasn't fond of the writing style. Seemed to jump around too much, and I found his wife's input to be annoying (although I completely understood her feelings). I was more interested in the Everest part.

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This author became driven to scale the famed Seven Summits, and his account of each attempt of them is very entertaining--harrowing, humorous, exhilarating. Everest was his last goal, and it was there he nearly didn't survive the perils. The parts of the book that detail his efforts and experiences while on these mountains make for very exciting reading. However, the book took an unexpected turn for me--a detour that I was not expecting and it unfortunately threw off my enthusiasm for a good while.

Suddenly his marriage and family became the focus of the story. Specifically the dark toll his obsession with mountain climbing took on his relationship with his wife and children. Weathers zealously pursued climbing mountains because he learned it held his tendency towards severe depression at bay. The arduous training and weeks and months of being away on climbs lead to him shutting out his wife and two children. They all became participants in the book, each telling their sides of common events. They were sad and angry. He was driven and remote. Sometimes, in fact quite often, I found I just wanted to get back to the action of the mountains, which he told with so much vivid enthusiasm.

Returning from Everest, Weathers had to recover from severe injuries. His life was changed physically, but also emotionally as he finally learned to let his family back in. I found most of this book to be a real page-turner. Even when it was diverted by the family drama, the pages still turned for me because I knew the story would eventually get back to the action on the mountains.

*** 1/2 Three and a half stars

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