Rating: 
Summary: Did I read the same book?
Review: A fantastic read. Lynn Hill is my new hero.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is astounding...
Review: A fantastic read. Lynn Hill is my new hero.
Rating:
Summary: A Must read for climbing Enthusiasts
Review: As a novice climber and avid reader I try to read most climbing novels. This book will definitely please climbers as it covers this climbing legend's life from how she got into climbing, to her experiences growing up as a climber in Yosemite, to her triumphs in competitive climbing.But it also covers much more like the problems a female must conquer in the male climbing world. Some of my favorite parts were the stories in Yosemite and the many other great climbers she climbed with and the bond they shared. As with every climbing book, if enough climbers are introduced, you will encounter the climbers that are not living when the book is written due to accidents. This book also delves deeply into who Lynn Hill is. Mainly concerning her relationships, both climbing and romantic, many of which have tragic endings. The book starts by describing her worst fall and clearly demonstrates how lucky she was to survive. But to me the most introspective part of the book is her feelings of high altitude mountaineering. This was not her speciality and the book deals with why she stayed out of this arena and how uncomfortable she was in what high altitude climbing she did. A true climber's book. I recommend this book if you enjoy rock climbing.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing, at best
Review: As a woman and a rock climber, I looked forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, it is so poorly written, much is left to be desired. The majority of the book skims over events that deserved more attention (i.e. Hill's involvement in European climbing competition) while using her love life as filler. I still respect Hill greatly and was awed by the color photos of her climbing, but a good editor and more introspective on Hill the climber and not Hill the dating machine would have done this book wonders.
Rating: 
Summary: poorly written
Review: As we travel through life the people we meet and the experiences we share are every bit as important as the mountains we climb. Lynn Hill has expressed this philosophy quite well in Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World. Lynn's story is a life adventure, not just a dangling from rocks, but an embrace of people and places, a reflection of her experiences, the rock wall challenges she has met and over come as well as the romances which have blessed and graced her life along the way. I did not read Climbing Free to learn how to climb, to seek advice on free style climbing or even to learn about some of the best, most exotic places to climb. Nor did I read Climbing Free to glimpse what it is like to hang from a towering granite pillar, a crack and a cranny, a slip and a slide away from death. I read Climbing Free simply for the enjoyment of sharing another person's life adventure. I think if Climbing Free is read in this light it is a joyous experience, one which will add to the reader's own life, for after all, we are the summation of all our experiences, those we have in the real world as well as those we relish from the books we read or movies we watch. Climbing Free is just that, a climbing free experience for the reader. But to enjoy it fully you have to enter without preconception or expectation, and just delight in sharing Lynn Hill's tale. Of course in writing this review and giving Lynn Hill's book a five star rating I must admit I'm a bit prejudice. Although I haven't ever met Lynn, she just had a child, Owen Merced Lynch, fathered by Bradley Wayne Lynch, my dear nephew and a pretty good rock climber himself. I'm sure if Lynn writes a sequel to Climbing Free its adventures will include Bran and Owen. For you see, Climbing Free just isn't about dangling from rocks. It's about life and the people we meet along the way through life. It isn't perfect. It isn't without mistakes or wrong turns. It is a mix of exhilaration and tragedy, of wonder and the finding of one's self through the journeys Lynn has taken with her freinds upon granite walls and spires around the globe. It's about finding your way and moving on until low and behold you find yourself by the Merced River at the foot of Half Dome conceiving a child! The problem, I think, with some people who have read and reviewed Climbing Free is that they were looking themselves for love and didn't find it, thus reflecting the bitterness in their own failures. Or they suffered a few falls themselves with sharp knocks to the skull; or maybe damaged their brains smoking this or that peculiar mix of substances while in an oxygen starved environment at over 14,000 feet high! In fact, I suspect this to be true as I've sat among climbers and listened to their lore. Much of it is petered out muse not worth the lead fillings in an old nag's teeth. In contrast Climbing Free is a masterpiece in the making, the start of a canvas, the first few brush strokes of a woman's adventure through life. Quite frankly I can't wait to see what will follow, especially when Lynn and Brad get little Owen to Yosemite!
Rating:
Summary: It isn't just about dangling from rocks!
Review: As we travel through life the people we meet and the experiences we share are every bit as important as the mountains we climb. Lynn Hill has expressed this philosophy quite well in Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World. Lynn's story is a life adventure, not just a dangling from rocks, but an embrace of people and places, a reflection of her experiences, the rock wall challenges she has met and over come as well as the romances which have blessed and graced her life along the way. I did not read Climbing Free to learn how to climb, to seek advice on free style climbing or even to learn about some of the best, most exotic places to climb. Nor did I read Climbing Free to glimpse what it is like to hang from a towering granite pillar, a crack and a cranny, a slip and a slide away from death. I read Climbing Free simply for the enjoyment of sharing another person's life adventure. I think if Climbing Free is read in this light it is a joyous experience, one which will add to the reader's own life, for after all, we are the summation of all our experiences, those we have in the real world as well as those we relish from the books we read or movies we watch. Climbing Free is just that, a climbing free experience for the reader. But to enjoy it fully you have to enter without preconception or expectation, and just delight in sharing Lynn Hill's tale. Of course in writing this review and giving Lynn Hill's book a five star rating I must admit I'm a bit prejudice. Although I haven't ever met Lynn, she just had a child, Owen Merced Lynch, fathered by Bradley Wayne Lynch, my dear nephew and a pretty good rock climber himself. I'm sure if Lynn writes a sequel to Climbing Free its adventures will include Bran and Owen. For you see, Climbing Free just isn't about dangling from rocks. It's about life and the people we meet along the way through life. It isn't perfect. It isn't without mistakes or wrong turns. It is a mix of exhilaration and tragedy, of wonder and the finding of one's self through the journeys Lynn has taken with her freinds upon granite walls and spires around the globe. It's about finding your way and moving on until low and behold you find yourself by the Merced River at the foot of Half Dome conceiving a child! The problem, I think, with some people who have read and reviewed Climbing Free is that they were looking themselves for love and didn't find it, thus reflecting the bitterness in their own failures. Or they suffered a few falls themselves with sharp knocks to the skull; or maybe damaged their brains smoking this or that peculiar mix of substances while in an oxygen starved environment at over 14,000 feet high! In fact, I suspect this to be true as I've sat among climbers and listened to their lore. Much of it is petered out muse not worth the lead fillings in an old nag's teeth. In contrast Climbing Free is a masterpiece in the making, the start of a canvas, the first few brush strokes of a woman's adventure through life. Quite frankly I can't wait to see what will follow, especially when Lynn and Brad get little Owen to Yosemite!
Rating:
Summary: Great book.........couldn't put it down
Review: First of all, I am not a reader, but I couldn't put this book down, and, sorry to say, I had never heard of Lynn Hill until I was introduced to indoor climbing afew weeks ago. This book really grabs you and I was sad to see it end, I wanted more and more. This lady is amazing, her friends, her life. She really shows that anything is possible.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing, at best
Review: I just finished reading the book early this morning. I picked it up because I used to do very mild climbing (5.7 range). I'm sure I don't even SEE the holds Lynn works with. In brief, she seems to do the best of climbs in the best of style. In the book, she makes her climbing preferences known without trying to define "the way, the truth and the light" for all climbers. I think the same held true for her descriptions of people with whom she had climbed. What I most appreciated was her love for climbing without any need for being "extreme." No death wish, no search for a new adrenaline rush. Lynn seems to seek challenge but not danger per se. The non-climbing public seems to think that all climbers enjoy flirting with death. Lynn is not naive about the potential of danger; in fact, her words show a great understanding. Again, she just wants to climb the hard routes because they are hard. The danger is simply an issue to be dealt with, not an end in itself. I was just a touch dissatisfied at the end. The final pages seemed to end rather abruptly. However, given that this book is not a work of fiction, but rather a description of a developing life, maybe that's as it should be. Lynn is still climbing, still changing. There are more chapters to be written.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: I just finished reading the book early this morning. I picked it up because I used to do very mild climbing (5.7 range). I'm sure I don't even SEE the holds Lynn works with. In brief, she seems to do the best of climbs in the best of style. In the book, she makes her climbing preferences known without trying to define "the way, the truth and the light" for all climbers. I think the same held true for her descriptions of people with whom she had climbed. What I most appreciated was her love for climbing without any need for being "extreme." No death wish, no search for a new adrenaline rush. Lynn seems to seek challenge but not danger per se. The non-climbing public seems to think that all climbers enjoy flirting with death. Lynn is not naive about the potential of danger; in fact, her words show a great understanding. Again, she just wants to climb the hard routes because they are hard. The danger is simply an issue to be dealt with, not an end in itself. I was just a touch dissatisfied at the end. The final pages seemed to end rather abruptly. However, given that this book is not a work of fiction, but rather a description of a developing life, maybe that's as it should be. Lynn is still climbing, still changing. There are more chapters to be written.
Rating:
Summary: Did I read the same book?
Review: I'm a little baffled by the previous reviews because I don't see how this book rates 5 stars. As a climber, I think Lynn Hill is a role model to look up to but as a reader, I could barely get through the pages. Also, this may seem like nit-picking but for the record, dinosaurs were never caught in the La Brea tar pits since the fossils recovered here are only roughly 30,000 years old.
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