The Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine

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Summary: Did Mallory and Irvine stand on the summit of Everest?
Review: Peter Firstbrook, the author of this book thinks that it's possible. Ironically however, if they did make it, it might have helped cause their deaths. By the time they would have got there it would have been early evening at the earliest. Then tiredness, exhaustion, dehydration combined might have caused Mallory's fall to his death. The irony being that they were at that point quite close, less than 200 ft, from Camp VI, from where they set off that morning. This book is divided into two parts. Part one is a biography of George Mallory, and a brief history of Himalayan mountanerring expeditions up till the 1920s, the second is an account of the expedition that found Mallory's body earlier this year. Worth reading, if only to look at the possible scenearios and evidence

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Summary: Lost on Everest by P L Firstbrook
Review: This book gives an excellent history of Everest, from it's discovery and early mapping, right through the first expeditions to climb it. I bought it because I had followed the 1999 Expedition on the web, and wanted to learn more about the search and discovery of Mallory. I kept waiting for the author to describe the expedition, but it didn't come until the very end. While I may not have gotten as much detail on the modern expedition as I wanted, I wasn't disappointed by the wealth of history and information. Now I can read one of the other accounts that concentrates more on the search than the history.

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Summary: Excellent history of Everest
Review: This book gives an excellent history of Everest, from it's discovery and early mapping, right through the first expeditions to climb it. I bought it because I had followed the 1999 Expedition on the web, and wanted to learn more about the search and discovery of Mallory. I kept waiting for the author to describe the expedition, but it didn't come until the very end. While I may not have gotten as much detail on the modern expedition as I wanted, I wasn't disappointed by the wealth of history and information. Now I can read one of the other accounts that concentrates more on the search than the history.

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Summary: A Partially Successful Expedition
Review: This book was a disappointment. I have read several great adventure books, both about Everest and other explorations, but I didn't know much about Mallory and thought this book would be exciting and informative. It was certainly good for biographical details and a history of Everest exploration, but the was a striing lack of energy and drama, which made the book seem like a text book for Everest buffs rather then an adventure story for the general public. The other major flaw with the book was its awkward transition from Mallory's history to the 1999 expedition to find his body. It was unexpected and poorly done, it would have been much better to incorporate the details of the expedition throughout the book. The writing in the book wasn't particularly strong and there were several spelling errors that were distracting, so it wasn't a book I would recommend for casual readers. It was, however, well researched, so for people very interested in Everest it is an excellent selection.

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Summary: A gripping story
Review: This is a brilliant account of the history of attempts on Everest and the mystery of Mallory both as a mountaineer and as a man. Firstbrook writes in a clear no nonsense style that had me gripped from beginning to end. This is the only account where I felt that I was able to gain some understanding of the psychological motivation behind this great British mountaineer. Firstbrook is a story teller - and what a story! This is the book to read if you are interested in Mallory the man as well as Everest.

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Summary: Fascinating story, readable book
Review: This was a thoroughly enjoyable book about something that I was unfamiliar with. I actually bought it for my husband, but since I read everything in sight anyway, I picked this up and couldn't put it down again. The history of Everest and the original attempts to conquer it are very well depicted and very well researched...which I as a science educator particularly enjoyed. The book was excellent until the second to the last chapter where as other readers have noted, in their rush to publish, someone did an extremely poor job of proofreading. This reflects upon the publishing company and not on the author. However, as a neuroscientist and an educator, the mistake made about referring to mitochondria as part of the blood and capillary system, is inexcusable. The author may not have been familiar with the anatomy of the human body, but someone should have caught this mistake. In basic biology classes you learn mitochondria are the energy making parts of each individual cell. I am still trying to figure out what exactly the author was referring to, but I immediately went home and got out my Webster's Medical Dictionary from med school and checked to make sure this wasn't a mistake of an extra meaning. I am of the opinion that if Mr. Firstbrook uses English as a second language, he can be excused for making a mistake with medical terminology...but the publisher should have seen this and fixed it, especially when it was supported by the BBC. Otherwise, the book and the pictures were magnificent and I would have given it a five star rating. Maybe with the next printing they can correct their mistakes? Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh, [e-mail]