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Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I bought this book with some high hopes. I have read Messners mountaineering books and enjoyed them. Too bad this wasn't as well written. He spends a lot of time contradicting himself and trying to convince the reader that evidence that obviously does not conform to bear sightings, does in fact, prove that the Yeti is some form of rarely sighted bear. In addition he drops in many smug and to my mind, conceited asides on the inadequacies of every investigator before his exalted self. The photos of tracks he includes ARE obviously bear tracks - so the conclusion I would draw is that he saw a bear and not a Yeti, and probably should have written a book about being scared of a Tibetan bear. He seems utterly convinced though, all evidence to the contrary, that he has solved the mystery. So, it is a quick read, not particularly well written and more concerned with bragging about his adventures sneaking around in Chinese controlled areas illegally than it is a serious book about solving the Yeti enigma.
Rating: 
Summary: graet book
Review: i would recommend this. i have becom avid snowshoeer in result of it. I thank you for your time, harold inspiration for
http://meph.eu.org/
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: It's worth picking up in a library, but I was disappointed after paying the hardcover price following a favorable review in Outside magazine. It's really two books in one, as another reviewer said - a book about the author's search for the Yeti of myth, and a few chapters about an obscure kind of bear. Apparently the author thinks that the Yeti stories are basically Tibetan legens about the bear; that's a great theory, but I'm not sure it's worthy of the sensationalistic title/cover that this book has.
Rating:
Summary: Good adventure, Questionable zoology
Review: Messner's book is really two books: one, a well-written adventure story; the other, a confusing attempt to show the yeti is a large and very strange type of brown bear. Whatever one thinks of the yeti, the bear hypothesis seems a poor fit. Messner describes yetis routinely walking and even running on two feet and includes photographs of an ordinary-looking brown bear he claims is the mysterious bipedal chemo, or yeti. Messner knows the land and its people well, but seems not to have done much research on bears. This is a worthwhile addition to the literature on this subject, but Messner has not found the definitive solution to the yeti mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Theory-Schmery -- excellent book!
Review: Since this book came out in 1998 in German -- yet somehow the whole world wasn't talking about it -- I figured that the ultimate answer to the yeti mystery was not to be held inside before I bought it. Thus, I was neither surprised nor disappointed by his conclusions that the chemo (bear) was the yeti. I did not feel the bipedal aspect of the myth and regular reports was adequately addressed, but then again, I can't say I much cared. This is an adventure book like no other. Being regularly arrested and detained by the Chinese, climbing 8,000+ meter peaks, chased by packs of dogs, braving conditions Westerners don't approach in horror movies -- amazing stuff! Like "Into Thin Air" (J. Krakauer), Messner begins the tale with the height of climactic action, just great! Messner should be applauded for the effort to address lore left mainly to tabloids in a serious, important, groundbreaking (if for no other reason than the wealth of his experience in the Himalayas), and meaningful way. Certain enjoyment for anyone with a pulse _and_ a brain. Messner, Brashears, Krakauer -- does high altitude create great writers? Ed Viesturs, you need to join this crowd with some regular submissions of _your_ adventures on the 8,000+ peaks!
Rating:
Summary: His writing mirrors the myth
Review: The title is probably a lot more descriptive than you think. When I noticed this book on the shelf, I saw the word YETI in large letters and took it to be another book with a cryptozoological bent. That isn't what the book is about though. It is about his quest for an answer to his question of the Yeti's origin. This is a quick read. Primarily, this is because his descriptions of the territory and his travels throughout the mountains are fascinating. Just hearing about how he goes from culture to culture and lets us know what Tibet is becoming was interesting. Not until the very end of the book are we sure what Messner thinks of the Yeti. Of course, from his narrative, he doesn't know what he thinks until the end. He has the hypothesis that the yeti is pure myth with a basis in reality. He believes that the local bear, the chemo, is the basis for these myths. Myths are real in that they shape the local beliefs and culture. Obviously Messner is intelligent. He is able to speak many languages. Unfortunately, I found his jumping from term to term concerning the yeti to be confusing. After reflecting on the book, I think that is pretty indicative of the whole yeti myth (which Messner may be trying to tell us). No one can agree on the terminology or characteristics of the yeti. This is part of the myth. The characteristics and name will change from culture to culture. If you are wanting to read a book on the yeti. This would be a nice change of pace from the average X-Files type of story about the yeti. As a general travel book, this is a fairly entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: His writing mirrors the myth
Review: The title is probably a lot more descriptive than you think. When I noticed this book on the shelf, I saw the word YETI in large letters and took it to be another book with a cryptozoological bent. That isn't what the book is about though. It is about his quest for an answer to his question of the Yeti's origin. This is a quick read. Primarily, this is because his descriptions of the territory and his travels throughout the mountains are fascinating. Just hearing about how he goes from culture to culture and lets us know what Tibet is becoming was interesting. Not until the very end of the book are we sure what Messner thinks of the Yeti. Of course, from his narrative, he doesn't know what he thinks until the end. He has the hypothesis that the yeti is pure myth with a basis in reality. He believes that the local bear, the chemo, is the basis for these myths. Myths are real in that they shape the local beliefs and culture. Obviously Messner is intelligent. He is able to speak many languages. Unfortunately, I found his jumping from term to term concerning the yeti to be confusing. After reflecting on the book, I think that is pretty indicative of the whole yeti myth (which Messner may be trying to tell us). No one can agree on the terminology or characteristics of the yeti. This is part of the myth. The characteristics and name will change from culture to culture. If you are wanting to read a book on the yeti. This would be a nice change of pace from the average X-Files type of story about the yeti. As a general travel book, this is a fairly entertaining read.
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