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David Breashears has climbed Mt. Everest four times. For this, he is known as a world-class mountaineer. A lengthy career in documentary filmmaking--including the Imax film, Everest--has earned him wide acclaim and four Emmy awards. For this, he is known as one of the elite cinematographers in his field. But his new autobiography, High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Other High Places, proves he is more than a climber and a filmmaker; he is also an able writer.
Breashears has no lack of good material. We follow him through the stunning backdrops of Yosemite, Europe, Nepal, and Tibet, brushing up against triumphs and tragedies along the way. And while the nuts and bolts of his adventures are entertainment enough, his knack for building suspense and employing understated drama makes his autobiography read like a novel: "The morning was sunny and calm, and Rob looked as though he'd lain down on his side and fallen asleep. Around him the undisturbed snow sparkled in the sun. I stared at his bare left hand ... I wondered what a mountaineer with Rob's experience was doing without a glove."
Breashears also likes to remind his audience of humble beginnings surmounted: his early climbing days when he was known as "the kid," and a winter he spent sleeping under a sheet of plywood during the Wyoming oil boom when he was called "the worm." But mostly he documents his filmmaking career and climbing passion, both of which he approaches with an obsessive fervor. Readers interested in either pursuit will find High Exposure a fascinating traverse across the spine of the world. --Ben Tiffany
Book Description
For generations of resolute adventurers, from George Mallory to Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay to Jon Krakauer, Mount Everest and the world's greatest peaks have provided the ultimate testing ground. As the world's fascination with mountaineering reaches a fever pitch, the question remains: Why climb? In High Exposure, elite mountaineer and acclaimed filmmaker David Breashears answers with an intimate and captivating look at his life. Breashears's passion for climbing began on the cliffs of Boulder, Colorado -- and nearly ended on the south side of Everest in 1996.
From childhood, Breashears felt irresistibly drawn to the Himalayas' promise of adventure and unforgiving demands on body, mind, and soul. Readers learn of his turbulent early years and his training on the rock before he was dubbed the Kloberdanz Kid. While most American teens were reveling in the recklessness of the seventies, Breashears indulged in a potent mixture of discipline, passion, and drive to pioneer the improbable Perilous Journey in Colorado, ascend Half Dome in Yosemite, and attempt Everest's unclimbed Kangshung Face in Tibet. Along the way, the intense young man apprenticed on film shoots and gradually took to the camera himself, relishing its physical and artistic demands. He was soon consumed with capturing on film the unsurpassed beauty and profound human experience he witnessed as a climber. That he would someday film at the top of the world with a forty-two-pound camera during the Everest IMAX Filming Expedition surprised no one who knew him: He was always looking to the next challenge, his eyes on the highest horizons.
For David Breashears, climbing has never been a question of bravery: Rather, it is the pursuit of excellence and a quest for self-knowledge. Danger comes, he argues, when ambition blinds reason. The stories this world-class climber and great adventurer tells will surprise you. From discussions of egotism and competitiveness on the heights -- despite the brotherhood of the rope -- to a frank description of mistakes made during the 1996 Everest tragedy, this personal history goes beyond Mallory's famous quip "Because it's there" to find meaning and hope at the top of the world.
Customer Reviews:
3 1/2 stars.......2007-07-03
I've read several mountain climbing/Everest books lately and this is in the top half of that list. That having been said, as one reviewer noted, it was more interesting than gripping, and for all the ability to give a auto-biographical look at a world class climber, it didn't really capture the drama of the climb. Since reading about it is about as close as I'm ever going to get to doing it, I need something that makes me feel the cold and the wind and the struggle for air. This was more of a narrative retelling, and emotion is overly removed from the story.
Everest is almost as much of a protagonist as Breashears himself, and it was indeed very interesting to read about the history, about the other expeditions, and about the call on the author that brought him to climbing as a life. It was enough, and I recommend the book without reservation, but I would say read "Into Thin Air" if you are looking for a more powerful and exciting retelling of an Everest climb.
Great war stories with some autobiography thrown in.......2007-06-12
This book lies somewhere between an autobiography and a collection of essays reminiscing about a life half-finished. Breashears is a mountaineer and high-altitude cinematographer. It's a great read, written in a lively style - - a must-read for mountaineers and wannabes, and enjoyable for anyone else who likes reading about the outdoors.
The book mostly concerns Breashears' personal exploits, and the story of how he went from rock climbing as a teen in Colorado to alpine expeditions and film. Along the way he touches on a variety of personal issues, such as his childhood and emotionally abusive father. He's honest about how his compulsion to climb led to the failure of his marriage - - a marriage to a woman whom he met in the Himalayas, so it's saying quite a bit that climbing could have broken it up.
Lingering there and elsewhere in the book is the classic question always asked of climbers: "Why?" Breashears doesn't really have an answer, but reveals enough of his own life that you can make some educated guesses.
Those autobiographical notes aside, it's really a book about climbing. Like Krakauer, he was on Everest during the 1996 tragedy, and he has another take on those events. Well worth reading.
Everest Adventures.......2007-05-29
Purchased with Touching the Void and found this book very informative about Everest an many of the climbers that Joe Simpson mentions in his book. A good companion read to Touching the Void.
Fascinating, and highly readable........2007-01-25
David Breashears has summited Mount Everest four times by the South Col route, and has twice attempted (each) both the North Col route and the Kangshung Face. He's among the few late 20th Century Western climbers to make a career, a successful one, out of his enduring passion for the Himalayas and other such unforgiving places. Although his book uses the 1996 Everest disaster as its framework, it's actually the author's autobiography.
What creates in a human being the hunger for challenges of the sort that extreme climbing involves? According to David Breashears, who ought to know, mountaineering is about self-discovery. It's also about independence, and ultimate self-reliance. As he tells the story of his boyhood, the reader comes to understand what shaped this particular man to value those things so highly. He's honest about himself, at times almost brutally so; and therefore, what he has to say about the events of 1996 (which he witnessed, and participated in during the rescue phase) rings with total authenticity.
Interesting, But Not Gripping.......2006-07-12
I must agree witht he reviewer who commented about the book being written by committee. The narrative is choppy and lacking not only key details, but also historical background. Because it's an autobiography, I don't necessarily think that it's fair to damn the book for being self-centered; it IS about him. I do feel, however, that the book needs better editing and a bit more self-examination.
It's an okay addition to one's list of books about Everest expeditions - which I must admit, I've developed a morbid fascination with after recently re-reading "Into Thin Air". I wouldn't, however, use it as my primary source for information or impressions.
Customer Reviews:
THE MAKING OF A MOUNTAINEER..........2006-12-01
This is a terrific book which draws you into David Breashears' world. You follow his development from young rock climber to world class mountaineer and filmmaker. You also see his development as a person, all while drawing you into that exclusive club of mountaineers. He makes you feel his passion for the mountains he so loves. You learn how he combined that passion with the art of cinematography, making him an award winning filmmaker.
You live through the 1996 tragedy on Everest with him, and feel the compassion that he has for those who died on the mountain under such tragic circumstances. The narrative is always compelling and informative, making the book a hard one to put down. His compassion and sensitivity towards those who did not fare well on the ill-fated 1996 Everest climb is palpable, and for his assistance to those who needed it, even though it put him and his expedition in jeopardy, he is truly an unsung hero. This is, without a doubt, a man who leads by example.
David Breashears writes beautifully of his experiences and his book is a must read for all climbing enthusiasts, as well as for those simply interested in the human condition. This is a book that is simply too good to pass up.
Book Description
The Thirty Years War, a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants, raged across Europe between 1618 and 1648, devastating huge areas of Germany. By 1632 the Protestant powers were in a desperate situation until King Gustavus Adolphus II of Sweden, 'the Lion of the North', came to their rescue. This book describes how, having smashed one of the two main Catholic armies, he faced the other at Lützen near Leipzig in November 1632. In a nightmare battle fought in thick fog, his Swedish troops locked horns with the Imperial army. It was a bloody clash, in which Gustavus himself demonstrated true courage at the head of his cavalry - and one for which he would pay the ultimate price.
Customer Reviews:
another good campaign from osprey.......2002-10-22
Very good job of explaining the political climate before, and after the battle. Excellent detail concerning the actions of specific units.
Great analysis of a confusing battle.......2002-09-19
So, who won this battle? The book does not answer this question either, but it describes the action so vividly, the strategies and commander involved so clearly, that everyone who reads this book can draw their own conclusion. I think that Wallenstein won, but your view may differ completely - read the book and make up your own mind.
A Swedish defeat?.......2001-11-12
The Thirty Years War has not been much studied by British or American historians, and the reason is not hard to find: British involvement was minimal. Beyond this, the vast scope of the subject is a formidable obstace to research (a reading knowledge of Czech, German, French and Swedish would seem to be minimum requirements). Geoffrey Parker, Thomas M. Barker and David Parrott, among professionally-trained historians, have contributed to our understanding of the military background of the war, but none are 'Decisive Battlers' in the traditional sense. This leaves the field wide open to enthusiasts like Richard Brzezinski.
In two previous books for Osprey on the army of Gustavus Adolphus, Brzezinski tackled the many myths that have attached themselves to the 'Lion of the North'. If most of these myths seem in retrospect almost laughably wide of the mark, all credit is due to him for having been the first to systematically demolish them. Here Brzezinski sets himself the task of describing Gustavus's last battle, in which the Swedish king confronted Wallenstein's Imperialists for a final showdown outside Leipzig (Saxony) in 1632. The author identifies closely with his subject, feelingly referring in his preface to the 'protracted gestation period' of what is clearly a labour of love. And if the Osprey 'Campaign' format is something of a straightjacket for the presentation of original research (the series is, after all, aimed at the general reader), in a battle as little studied by non-Germans or Swedes as this one, almost everything in the book will be new to English readers. Brzezinski's reconstruction is painstaking, judicious and far more convincing than that of Josef Seidler, who in the 1950s claimed to have finally solved 'the Lutzen problem'. The conclusion - that Lutzen was a strategic victory for the Swedes but a tactical one for Wallenstein - is inescapable.
According to the publisher's blurb, Brzezinski is 'the leading English language expert on the 30 years war'. But this glosses over a starker truth: to all intents and purposes, he is the ONLY writer in English on the purely military aspects of the conflict. It is to be hoped that this book will stimulate others to join him as he ploughs his lonely furrow.
Excellent Research, but Controversial Interpretations.......2001-03-23
Eastern European military expert Richard Brzezinski has written an original, well-researched account of the Battle of Lutzen in 1632. Given the rarity of English-language sources on the Thirty Years War, this book represents a valuable contribution to an understanding of this climactic battle. It is quickly apparent that the author has gone to great lengths to get details on the orders of battle, battlefield dispositions and tactical movements as correct as possible. This work is heavily based on German and Swedish sources.
Overall, this volume is one of the better books in the Osprey Campaign Series. The artwork, illustrations, maps and diagrams are all excellent. However, there are two troubling minor criticisms with the maps. First, the campaign maps that lead up to the battle are too complex and the events are not listed in the proper sequential order. Second, the 3-D "bird's-eye" view maps of the battle are oriented toward the northeast, which makes them seem skewed from the 2-D maps that are oriented toward the north.
This account of Lutzen hinges on two questions: why did Wallenstein [the Catholic commander] disperse his forces just prior to the battle and why, having inflicted crippling damage on the Protestant forces, did Wallenstein elect to retreat? On the first question, Brzezinski suggests that rather than dispersing his forces for winter quartering (the conventional explanation), Wallenstein was actually laying a trap to lure Gustavus Adolphus' Protestant army out of its fortified camp. This is a very weak theory. Dispersing one's army only ten miles away from the army of a formidable opponent like Gustavus Adolphus appears more foolhardy than cunning. Lack of a proper covering force to inform Wallenstein of any advance by the Swedes and the hasty nature of the defenses at Lutzen demolish any notions of operational cunning. At the very least, by retiring into Leipzig, Wallenstein was surrendering the strategic initiative. Any proper military analysis of Wallenstein's generalship in the period leading up to Lutzen would reveal indecisiveness and reluctance to fight pitched battles. I believe Wallenstein was a general in the mold of our own McClellan; expert at organizing and training armies but uncertain how to use their armies on campaign. Brzezinski states that one of his intentions is to "debunk" the glorification of Gustavus Adolphus, but the Swedish general kept the initiative and the Battle of Lutzen was fought on his terms.
As for Wallenstein's retreat, this again points to weak generalship. Brzezinski tries to offer the extenuating circumstances of Wallenstein's minor battlefield injuries, but this is very weak justification for abandoning one's entire artillery and logistic trains, as well as hundreds of Catholic wounded who were butchered. It was a hard fight, but Wallenstein's army had held most of their ground and substantial reinforcements were arriving at nightfall. The best Swedish brigades had been smashed and Gustavus Adolphus was dead. Wallenstein's decision to cut and run was somewhere between a poorly considered mistake and a craven abdication of command responsibility. Brzezinski concludes that, "Wallenstein got the better of the fighting, but he blotted his copy book by abandoning the field, his artillery and ammunition, turning a tactical victory into a strategic defeat." However, the author adds, "In a broader sense though, both sides lost the Battle of Lutzen." In reality, Lutzen was a defeat for the Imperialists [Catholics] because their commander perceived himself to be defeated and thereby, denied his victorious troops the fruits of their hard-won stand.
Book Description
The thwarted invasion of England by the Spanish Armada is studied here in fascinating detail. How, in a few short days, Philip II's fleet was stopped from invading England and forced into full retreat is looked at in a new and unique way. With the help of battle plans and bird's eye views of the action, leading historian Angus Konstam considers many of the intriguing questions surrounding the campaign, concluding with details of how the Armada's disastrous return voyage around Scotland and Ireland became one of the most tragic episodes in maritime history.
Customer Reviews:
In the fine tradition of the Osprey Series.......2002-06-07
The Armada Campaign 1588 : The Great Enterprise Against England (Campaign, 86) by Angus Konstam, and Howard Gerrard (Illustrator) is written in the fine tradition of the Osprey Campaign Series. It is written in the traditional format and describes the immediate causes and effects of the battles as well as the battle itself.
The book is well written and easy to follow. The maps are very helpful and do a good job of putting the narrative into context. When one finishes, one has a basic understanding of the wheres, whys and hows of the attempted invasion of Britain. The fact that the British protagonists are names which bring forth images of dashing and gallant pirates, such as Francis Drake, doesn't hurt.
Decent but Too-Limited a Focus.......2001-04-28
The Armada Campaign 1588 is a decent summary of the Spanish attempt to invade England in the late 16th Century. As per the standard Osprey Campaign format, Angus Konstam provides succinct but accurate sections on the origins of the campaign, the opposing leaders, opposing plans and opposing warships. A detailed campaign chronology, blow-by-blow battle account and epilogue complete this survey of the Spanish expedition. Konstam concludes that the Spanish fleet maintained fairly tight defensive formations throughout the week-long fighting and while the English had the upper hand in gunnery and maneuvering, the English were unable to defeat the armada outright. Rather, the fortuitous fireship attack off Calais forced the Spanish to abandon the amphibious part of their mission and severe Atlantic storms demolished the once-mighty fleet on its return to Spain. The maps and illustrations that support the text are excellent.
However the problem with this volume is an over-focus on the English-Spanish naval battles in the channel. This campaign was merely an episode in a very long Anglo-Spanish struggle for hegemony, not an isolated event. For example, Drake's pre-emptive raid on Cadiz in 1587 inflicted far more damage on the preparations for the Armada than this account suggests. Although Konstam provides a good order of battle table on the English and Spanish fleets, there is no information on the Duke of Parma's Spanish in the Netherlands or the Dutch rebels. In fact, the Dutch fleet was far from insignificant in the campaign because it served to impede Parma's ability to mount an amphibious operation from the Netherlands. Certainly the large Spanish galleons in the Armada were no solution to dealing with shallow-draft Dutch warships that could interdict the Spanish invasion barges. Nor does Konstam mention the 18,973 soldiers that sailed with the Armada in his order of battle (there were five brigade-size tercios with the fleet). Another area that is totally ignored is that of finances and logistics. Nobody had ever supplied a fleet for extended operations with gunpowder weapons before and ammunition shortages were a major limiting factor, particularly for the British. While Konstam mentions the "Royal ships" (ie. warships owned by the crown), he does not mention how expensive it was to maintain a standing navy. Queen Elizabeth had to de-mobilize parts of the fleet in late 1587 when the Armada was delayed and then time re-mobilization in 1588 with the expected arrival of the Spaniards. Disease was another factor that caused attrition of trained crews sitting around in ports. All of these are examples of a broader view of the campaign, rather than just warships slugging it out in the channel.
Nor does the author spend much effort in discussing follow-up operations or the impact of the failure of the Armada. The English expedition to Portugal in 1589 is ignored, as is the Spanish intervention in the French civil wars in 1588-9. The Spanish expeditions of 1596-7 are mentioned, but not detailed. The loss of fifty or more warships and 15,000 or more crewmen was a catastrophe for Spain that is not spelled out in this account. King Philip II sent the hurled the best force he could afford at England and failed utterly. Reconstituting a similar force was beyond his means. Finally, the Armada Campaign was a landmark in naval history due to the fact that it set the pattern for the next two centuries of fleet battles.
Book Description
The Thirty Years War, a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants, devastating huge areas of Germany as it raged across Europe between 1618 and 1648. By 1632 the Protestant powers were in a desperate situation until King Gustavus Adolphus II of Sweden, 'the Lion of the North', came to their rescue. This book describes how having smashed one of the two main Catholic armies, he faced the other at Lutzen near Leipzig in November 1632. In a nightmare battle fought in thick fog, his Swedish troops locked horns with the Imperial army. It was a bloody clash, in which Gustavus himself demonstrated true courage at the head of his cavalry - and one for which he would pay the ultimate price. Written by the leading english language expert on one of the most destructive conflicts of European history, this book combines previously unpublished research from primary sources in an examination of the climactic battle in the career of one of history's greatest soldier kings.
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Gustav II Adolf: 350 ar efter Lutzen
Manufacturer: Livrustkammaren
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 9138072300 |
Book Description
From the bestselling author of A People's History of the United States comes this selection of passionate, honest, and piercing essays looking at American political ideology.
Howard Zinn brings to Passionate Declarations the same astringent style and provocative point of view that led more than a million people to buy his book A People's History of the United States. He directs his critique here to what he calls "American orthodoxies" -- that set of beliefs guardians of our culture consider sacrosanct: justifications for war, cynicism about human nature and violence, pride in our economic system, certainty of our freedom of speech, romanticization of representative government, confidence in our system of justice. Those orthodoxies, he believes, have a chilling effect on our capacity to think independently and to become active citizens in the long struggle for peace and justice.
Customer Reviews:
Good read.......2005-07-25
An inherent problem with any work that is written to prove a particular point of view is that it just collects and presents evidence that substantiates that point of view. This book isn't so much an exception, delectable, though, it is in its language, and grand in its scope.
Dr. Zinn articulates with considerable passion the many facets of American politics and its society - just about all of it driven, as Dr. Zinn advocates, by ruthless capitalistic mindset & a very misplaced sense of nationalism.
It dwells on the history of many American wars, its anti communist passions, its social classes, Afro-American experience in the USA & shows how all these nuances are just manifestations of Machiavellian attitudes & a capitalist bent of mind.
Beyond any doubt, each essay is splendidly articulated, each conclusion analytically arrived at, & each belief he expresses has deep roots in compassionate human experience.
Since the agenda was only to write about the many difficulties of the American experience, the reader should understand that this book is, by no means, a sum total of American social and political history; & therefore, I'd advice some more reading about America (not sure which books though) before the informed reader forms a concrete opinion of the country and its policies.
S!
Keeping democracy alive.......2003-10-10
"Passionate Declarations" by Howard Zinn is an outstanding collection of essays that were originally published in 1990. The new edition from 2003 features a Preface that was written just prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In my view, Dr. Zinn's essays are helpful in understanding many of the forces that have influenced international events today.
A theme that runs through most of the essays pertains to the contradictions of U.S. rhetoric and policy. While the U.S. consistently espouses democratic principles, Dr. Zinn asserts that the country often acts in a Machiavellian manner in order to protect deeply embedded corporate and elitist privileges. However, Dr. Zinn is most interested in highlighting some of the individuals and organizations who have spoken truth to power and have struggled to keep democracy alive. The author reminds us about forgotten heroes from the past -- such as the laborers from the Colorado coal strike of 1913-1914 -- and helps us appreciate the hard-fought victories that were won against significant opposition from capital and government.
Dr. Zinn's personal experiences as a World War II airman and as an organizer during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s adds vibrancy to the narrative; you soon realize that the author is an intelligent person who has had meaningful first-hand interactions with some of the important historical events of the 20th century. Dr. Zinn helps the reader understand that freedom and democracy depend more on an informed and active citizenry than on the government, whose elitist political class more often represent their own self-interests than those of the people.
One of my favorite chapters was Dr. Zinn's refutation of the idea of a just war. The author contends that the most damaging popular legacy of WW II is that the U.S. can and should use its military superiority to achieve political and economic objectives whenever it is convenient to do so. Dr. Zinn challenges this widely-held belief by highlighting the many atrocities committed by the U.S. and its allies during the war, the most spectacular of course having been the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan. He goes on to illustrate the corrupting effect that this immense military power has had on American leaders ever since; the reader is able to easily connect these tendencies with the current abysmal situation in Iraq.
I recommend this insightful book to everyone.
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The Joy of Birding: A Guide to Better Bird Watching
Chuck Bernstein
Manufacturer: Capra Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0884962202 |
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The Joy of Birding: A Guide to Better Birdwatching
Chuck Bernstein
Manufacturer: Borgo Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0809540193 |
Books:
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Hole in My Life
- Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness
- Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez
- Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
- I Love the Illusion: The Life And Career of Agnes Moorehead
- Jacob Have I Loved
- Khrushchev: The Man and His Era
- Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft
- Lessons from a Sheep Dog
Books Index
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Everest
