Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Aron Ralston
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Book Summary Information
Author: Aron RalstonEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2005-08-30
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Unknown
Book Reviews of Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Book Review: Honest, Gritty, Inspiring.
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I read this book, I'd heard about "the kid who was out hiking alone and got his arm caught in the rocks and had to cut it off to get out."
I thought, sure, another dumbass gets his comeuppance for screwing up. Then I started to read more in-depth articles about him. And decided he had more guts than anyone else I knew.
When I found out there was an autobiography, specifically telling his story of this harrowing experience, I couldn't order it fast enough.
I thought I had respect for him before I read it. Then I read it. And re-read it.
This is not a blood-and-guts, rubbernecking, train-wreck of a book where you read it because you want to find out how gruesome things got. It's not even about how gross things were and how he pulled himself out of it.
This book is an exploration of the deepest well of strength of the human spirit under the worst kind of pressure - life or death.
Ralston does not ever try to gain your sympathy for a mistake he made. He's very clear about what he did that he would not have done if he'd thought things through more carefully, if he was doing it over again, etc. This is not a whiny, feel-sorry-for-me-I-went-through-hell-and-back novel.
Ralston's autobiography carefully and honestly chronicles what was going through his mind while he was living this experience, life experiences that shaped his character and which are probably responsible for making him the survivor he is, and finishes with an ending that is hardly the end. For Ralston, this is just the beginning.
I read this book because I wanted to understand what kind of strength, what kind of guts, a person would have to have to survive an experience like this. I now consider Ralston one of my personal heroes, and would very much like to meet him. This man is not limited, or handicapped. This man is ALIVE and LIVING his life in a way very few of us have the guts to do. He took his licks, and he didn't just get back up, he's still going, and better than ever.
Read it. You won't be sorry.
Summary of Between a Rock and a Hard Place
The unforgettable survival story of the year -- the astonishing, day-by-day account of Aron Ralston's terrible accident, self-amputation, rescue and recovery. On Saturday, 26 April 2003, Aron Ralston, a 27-year-old outdoorsman and adventurer, set off for a day's hike in the Utah canyons. Eight miles from his truck, he found himself in the middle of a deep and remote canyon. Then the unthinkable happened: a boulder shifted and snared his right arm against the canyon wall. He was trapped, facing dehydration, starvation, hallucinations and hypothermia as night-time temperatures plummeted. Five and a half days later, Aron Ralston finally came to the agonising conclusion that anyone who was looking for him was not going to find him in time. He then made the most difficult decision of his life: his only hope was to amputate his own arm and get himself to safety. Miraculously, he survived. Between A Rock And A Hard Place is more than just an adventure story. It is a brave, honest and above all inspiring account of one man's valiant effort to survive, and is destined to take its place among adventure classics such as Touching The Void.Biographies & Memoirs Books
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