Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest

Rating:
Summary: Weathers' book is one of the best
Review: There are lots of people who will not like this book. They will want "Into Thin Air"mark II. This story is remarkable in that there is more description of the motivation for Beck being where he was. As a climber who was nearly killed himself I can appreciate a lot of what Weathers has to tell us regarding his own life that led him into the mountains. I used to say that every man needs, like Christ, his 40 days in the desert. So much has been written aobut the 96 Everest tradgedy that to simply recount the event from Becks perspective would have been dull. To make the event the beginning was a wise decision. I would recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about tackling big mountians. There is very little jargon and detail. for that read Greg Child, John Krakauer, etc. As J. Krackauer said in his book "it is an intrinsically irrational act" to wish to climb such peaks. It take an amazing series of internal and external forces, all acting at the right moment, to send a man or woman into the Himalaya. Some say it is a rich man's folly. Well I would disagree. Most rich men wouldn't be caught dead in the Khumbu. Beck is not a great man, none of them were up there. What is supremely edifying is to know that they are not superhuman, they are, as you and I are, human beings frail and small yet cabable of feats of nobility and self sacrfice. And best of all Beck shows us that, no matter what, we all can change for the better.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: This could have been the greatest story of willpower and physical determination, yet Beck Weathers is so full of himself, does not put any responsibility on his own actions and he wants to belong to the selective group of the best mountaineers on the planet so badly, sorry Beck after reading your book you are not. He is condescending of the villages, cultures and people in the climbing regions and his jokes are misplaced. He is looking for excuses for his own mistakes. If the book was meant to describe an emotionally disturbed person with low self esteem trying to be somebody, it would have been a great success, yet everything points to the fact that Beck wants to be liked and appreciated for what he has done in the mountains and the person he has become. He survived an amazing thing, nobody has ever stood up from the death and could talk about it, why not write about that experience? The family story? Sorry no interest and bad book filling. The power of books in this genre is often the understatement and the matter of fact story telling, like: `Endurance, Shackelton's incredible voyage', or `In the land of White Death', or `the Climb'. Do yourself a favour do not waste your time, energy and money on this book, and remember Beck Weathers for the extraordinary accomplishment of determination by walking of Mount Everest alive, against all odds.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely horrible
Review: This book should have been fantastic. Beck Weathers went through hell on the side of the mountain and could tell one of the greatest adventure stories ever. Unfortunately what the book contains is a lot of self congratulating about past accomplishments, needless anecdotes,and most irritatingly, a lengthy argument between him and his wife about who is the worse spouse.
If you want to read about the Everest disaster go out and get Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb or Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Both of these books focus on the event itself, not boring filler.

Rating:
Summary: Spirit, Courage, Survival and Unbelievable Strength
Review: I am very fond of the Mt. Everest climbing books. They show so much bravery, courage, determination and spirit. Beck Weathers journey to and then home from Mt. Everest did not let me down.

He was on the mountain on May 10, 1996 along with nine other climbers who perished in a blizzard high on the mountain. On the following day Beck Weathers, who had been left for dead, was given a second chance at life. The true story is thrilling and inspirational.

Rating:
Summary: Audio version: YUK!
Review: I'm laughing from reading the other reviews....this book was definitely a bait and switch but I still mostly liked it even though Mt. Everest figured only as a backdrop. It was more like reading someone's personal journal and I did find it interesting. Actually, I listened to the unabridged tapes. I am sorry to say this but the reader was horrible and grated terribly on my nerves... almost to the point of not finishing. My biggest complaint was the reader's rendition of a woman's southern accent. Maybe the real Peach really sounds like that but I live in the south and the accent sounded totally fake to me....the way a non southerner would imagine it. Also, I'm nit-picking but there were several mispronounciations: the worst for me as a nurse was calling an AMBU bag an "AMU" bag. I guess Beck didn't listen to the tape???? Also....hello, Beck? One doesn't walk into a hospital for a summer job and work as a "Scrub NURSE". Last time I checked we still had to go to nursing school and take state boards before practicing as an RN. I'm splitting hairs...I guess he was referring to a scrub STUDENT? nurse/tech position but as a doc he should have known better. Like Peach said, he was NOT aware of how other people reacted to him....still isn't, I guess.As one other reader mentioned, my favorite part was about their cats. That was pretty creative and made me laugh. I did like what Beck says at the end about his spiritual side being a "work in progress." but I didn't get the feeling he'd really made ammends with his family.