Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains

Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains
by Jon Krakauer

Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains
List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $3.99
You Save: $9.96 (71%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.83 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Jon Krakauer
Edition: Paperback
Published: 1997-05-19
ISBN: 0385488181
Number of pages: 186
Publisher: Anchor

Book Reviews of Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains

Book Review: Living Your Challenging Dreams
Summary: 5 Stars

People have always pushed to accomplish more. When one of my best friends took up mountain climbing well into his fifties after he back wasn't up to golf any more, I began to wonder what the sport was all about. Having remembered that Jon Krakauer is both a wonderful writer and an adventuresome climber, it seemed like I might learn the answers by reading this book. I was more than amply rewarded for my curiosity.

Knowing that adventures are better heard as a story rather than read, I also opted for Philip Franklin's reading for Books on Tape. This was a stunningly good choice. Mr. Franklin makes you feel like you are right there as you look down from dizzying heights of thousands of feet while being held up by a small patch of crumbling ice.

The diversity of the stories is remarkable, from those who want to set records for getting up dangerous new routes to those who want to set records for speed in sport climbing (lots of strength and technique but not much risk). I was very surprised by some of the stories, including the ones about climbing "impossible" boulders that might be only 30 feet high and tall columns of crumbling frozen water . . . unattached to any nearby rock.

Mr. Krakauer has a wonderful ability to bring you into the stories by recounting his own fearful beginnings as a climber and the ways that he has sought release from humdrum cares by climbing. You'll find yourself chilled to the bone in places, even though you may be sitting in front of a roaring fire. It's a great trip!

I don't think I'll take up climbing, but I am indebted to this brilliant exposition of climbing's appeal.

Summary of Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains

No matter what the actual temperature may be, several pages into Eiger Dreams you will begin to shiver. Halfway through you will acquire a new appreciation for your fingers, toes, and the fact that you still have a nose. And by the end of this collection, you'll define some commonly used phrases in an entirely different way. The understated "catch some air" and the whimsical "log some flight time" are climbers' euphemisms for falling, while "crater" refers to what happens when you log some flight time all the way to the ground. "Summiting," the term for reaching the top of a mountain, seems almost colorless in comparison. The various heroes, risk-takers, incompetents, and individualists Krakauer captures are more than colorful, whether they summit or not. The author is more interested in exploring the addiction of risk--the intensity of effort--than mere triumph. There's the mythical minimalist climber, John Gill, whose fame "rests entirely on assents less than thirty feet high," and the Burgess brothers--freewheeling, free-floating English twins who seem to make all the right decisions when it counts, and hence most often fail to reach the top. Of course, they are alive. Over these and other talented climbers hangs a malignant, endlessly creative nature--its foehn winds can make people crazy and its avalanches do far worse. Eiger Dreams is an adrenaline fest for the weary, an overdue examination of a stylish, brave subculture. As one of the heroes Krakauer outlines says of his occupation, "It's sort of like having fun, only different."
No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant victories and hardships more brilliantly than Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest essays and reporting, Krakauer writes of mountains from the memorable perspective of one who has himself struggled with solo madness to scale Alaska's notorious Devils Thumb.

In Pakistan, the fearsome K2 kills thirteen of the world's most experienced mountain climbers in one horrific summer. In Valdez, Alaska, two men scale a frozen waterfall over a four-hundred-foot drop. In France, a hip international crowd of rock climbers, bungee jumpers, and paragliders figure out new ways to risk their lives on the towering peaks of Mont Blanc. Why do they do it? How do they do it? In this extraordinary book, Krakauer presents an unusual fraternity of daredevils, athletes, and misfits stretching the limits of the possible.

From the paranoid confines of a snowbound tent, to the thunderous, suffocating terror of a white-out on Mount McKinley, Eiger Dreams spins tales of driven lives, sudden deaths, and incredible victories. This is a stirring, vivid book about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.

Essays & Travelogues Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in read dream love and live
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ImageA Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by Dave Eggers
Vintage; Published: 2001-02-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops: $14.95
Rand Mcnally World Map (Classic Edition World Wall Map) ImageRand Mcnally World Map (Classic Edition World Wall Map)
by Rand McNally and Company
Rand McNally & Company; Published: 2005-10; Map; Book
Best price: $6.20
Price in other shops: $9.95
No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories ImageNo One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
by Miranda July
Scribner; Published: 2007-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.96
Price in other shops: $23.00
Power Thought Cards (Beautiful Card Deck) ImagePower Thought Cards (Beautiful Card Deck)
by Louise Hay
Hay House; Published: 1999-01-01; Cards; Book
Best price: $9.60
Price in other shops: $15.95
The New Earth From Above: 365 Days ImageThe New Earth From Above: 365 Days
by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; Published: 2007-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops: $29.95
Skinny Bitch ImageSkinny Bitch
by Kim Barnouin, Rory Freedman
Running Press Book Publishers; Published: 2005-12-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops: $13.95
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda ImageWe Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
by Philip Gourevitch
Picador; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.18
Price in other shops: $15.00
The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking) ImageThe New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking)
by Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press; Published: 2000-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.14
Price in other shops: $19.95
You Are Not a Stranger Here ImageYou Are Not a Stranger Here
by Adam Haslett
Vintage; Published: 2003-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.03
Price in other shops: $14.45
I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel ImageI Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel
by Tom Wolfe
Picador; Published: 2005-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.10
Price in other shops: $15.00
Similar Books and other products
No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks ImageNo Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks
by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Broadway; Published: 2007-11-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops: $14.00
Everest (Large Format) ImageEverest (Large Format)
Release date: 1999-12-07; DVD
Best price: $5.91
Price in other shops: $14.99
Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest ImageLeft for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest
by Beck Weathers
Dell; Published: 2001-11-06; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops: $7.99
Annapurna ImageAnnapurna
by Maurice Herzog
The Lyons Press; Published: 1997-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.62
Price in other shops: $16.95
The Climb ImageThe Climb
by Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston DeWalt
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 1999-07-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops: $15.95
High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places ImageHigh Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places
by David Breashears
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2000-05-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.47
Price in other shops: $16.00
Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival ImageTouching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
by Joe Simpson
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2003-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.09
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith ImageUnder the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
by Jon Krakauer
Anchor; Published: 2004-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops: $14.95
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster ImageInto Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer
Anchor; Published: 1999-10-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $14.95
Into the Wild ImageInto the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
Anchor; Published: 2007-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.08
Price in other shops: $13.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories