Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
by Nando Parrado, Vince Rause

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $7.97
You Save: $5.98 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.64 (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: Nando Parrado, Vince Rause
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-15
ISBN: 140009769X
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Book Reviews of Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

Book Review: My life-altering book
Summary: 5 Stars

This book saved my life. My goal in this review isn't to explain the contents or to judge it objectively, but to describe how it impacted MY life.

I was struggling with the darkest days of having lost a loved one in a sudden random and senseless tragedy last Fall, which subsequently brought a stark and clear picture of how fragile the world around me was. Though had I bought and read "Miracle In the Andes" several times in early 2008, I was startled by the dimension and power that was revealed by the words through my unfiltered pain and loss later in the year.

Parrado's depth of feeling shines through his writing with Rause. The book gives a human dimension to his experiences, focusing on his psychology alone. The pacing is perfect, making it an easy read yet forcing me to simplify the complexities in my own life. The book made one thing abundantly clear: For love to exist in this harsh, sometimes cruel world, THAT in itself is a miracle. Death is a certainty, so embrace life. Share love. Live fully for yourself and the loved ones who no longer can. Do not allow a tragedy to define you, but do allow it to teach you.

I am fortunate Parrado has shared his intimate, unimaginable losses and experience with readers. Perhaps it was his beliefs were already similar to mine, or that his words were so compelling it made me examine my own faith. In the end, it didn't matter- I was engrossed. The more I read it, the more the book dragged me back onto the cliff and allowed me to emerge from the painful fog in which I had been drifting aimlessly and angrily. It reminded me that the world still rotates, that "getting on with it" to overcome my "personal Andes" was the best gift I could give myself.

Summary of Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence.

Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying-among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.

As time passed and Nando's thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.

Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes-a first person account of the crash and its aftermath-is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.


From the Hardcover edition.

Memoirs Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Books That Take You Away
Travels ImageTravels
by Michael Crichton
Knopf; Published: 1988-03-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $86.06
Sex, Death and Travel: A Novel ImageSex, Death and Travel: A Novel
by Morgan Rosenberg
IUniverse; Published: 2002-03-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.29
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Best American Travel Writing 2006 (The Best American Series) ImageThe Best American Travel Writing 2006 (The Best American Series)
Mariner Books; Published: 2006-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.37
Price in other shops: $14.00
Gulliver's Travels ImageGulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
ReadHowYouWant; Published: 2006-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.99
Classic Treks: The 30 Most Spectacular Hikes in the World ImageClassic Treks: The 30 Most Spectacular Hikes in the World
by Bill Birkett
Bulfinch; Published: 2000-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.29
Price in other shops: $40.00
Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home ImageMiracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
by Nando Parrado, Vince Rause
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2007-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.45
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World ImageThe Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World
by Lonely Planet Publications
Lonely Planet; Published: 2005-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.00
Price in other shops: $30.00
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey ImageThe River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
by Candice Millard
Anchor; Published: 2006-10-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Journey from Abandonment to Healing: Turn the End of a Relationship into the Beginning of a New Life ImageThe Journey from Abandonment to Healing: Turn the End of a Relationship into the Beginning of a New Life
by Susan Anderson
Berkley Trade; Published: 2000-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.64
Price in other shops: $16.00
Voyage ImageVoyage
by Stephen Baxter
Eos; Published: 1997-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.19
Price in other shops: $7.99
Similar Books and other products
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier ImageA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-08-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.91
Price in other shops: $12.00
The Raft: The Courageous Struggle of Three Naval Airmen Against the Sea ImageThe Raft: The Courageous Struggle of Three Naval Airmen Against the Sea
by Robert Trumbull
US Naval Institute Press; Published: 1992-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.87
Price in other shops: $24.95
Stranded ImageStranded
Release date: 2009-04-28; DVD
Best price: $18.00
Price in other shops: $29.99
Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea ImageAdrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea
by Steven Callahan
Mariner Books; Published: 2002-10-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.08
Price in other shops: $14.95
Into the Wild ImageInto the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
Anchor; Published: 2007-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.69
Price in other shops: $13.95
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
Liberty Mountain; Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2004-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.70
Price in other shops: $14.95
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why ImageDeep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
by Laurence Gonzales
W.W. Norton & Company; W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2004-10-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.60
Price in other shops: $15.95
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: $4.50
Price in other shops: $14.95
Alive ImageAlive
Release date: 2002-10-08; DVD
Best price: $6.07
Price in other shops: $14.99
Alive ImageAlive
by Piers Paul Read
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.87
Price in other shops: $13.99
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories