my lust for dangerous literature continues
I have been reading all kinds of books about climbing over the last few months. it all started with my fourth read through "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance". Of course, most of the book is about a cross country motorcycle roadtrip, but does stray briefly into a fascination the main character has with hiking difficult and mountainous trails. Even in his childhood he would relish the challenge of hiking with full grown family members and carrying all his own gear. a challenge he pressed on his own son in the story.
Next i read "Into The Wild". this book really took me by surprise seeing at it's perspective is completely different from that of the Emile Hirsch film. The book is an autobiographical account of the author, Jon Krakauer, and his nearly obsessive interest in the case of Alex McCandless, the main character postrayed by Emile Hirsch in the movie. He wrote an article about McCandless in Outside Magazine, reporting on his disappearance and death. Krakauer, who had already written extensively about his own near death experience climbing Everest, identified strongly with McCandless and used his own climbing narrative as an anchor of personal experience thoroughout his novel.
After that, while we were in Costa Rica, i read "Three Cups Of Tea". It turned out to be a book i tore through in a few days of laying by the pool. What an incredible story! The story follows the life of a hardcore climber named Greg Mortenson who credits all of the amazing work he's done thoroughout South Asia to his failure to summit K2, the second largest peak on the planet, and the circumstances he found himself in after nearly dying during his desent. Although the truely inspiring work that he has committed his life to was the real meat of the narrative, his climbing was his inspiration and his incentive. Towards the end of this book, Mortenson meets Krakauer at a climbing conference where he had gone to speak about his work building schools for girls in remote mountain villages in Pakistan.
After this i read a book called "Grizzlyville", written by a writer called Jake MacDonald. Although climbing takes a backseat to the books main storytelling intention, Black, Grizzly and Polar bears in North America, the vast and sprawling back country of The United States and Canada frame his narrative. Hiking, roadtriping, and winching his shitty van up the British Columbian Bella Coola mountains set the stage for his fascination with the giant and largely unpredictable mamalian subject matter for his book.
Today, Jordan and i hit up The World's Biggest Bookstore downtown and i picked up Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air" and started to read it immediately.
i think the reason i've been so fascinated with these stories has a lot to do with my own ever present sense of escapism. when i think about the kinds of things i want to accomplish in my life i always seem to be most enchanted with the idea of pursuing as many chances to travel as i can. i've always loved to wander and drink in new experiences. Reading these stories writen by individuals who really have seized their desire for exhileration and followed through with intense, life altering challenges is incredibly inspiring to me.
i'm going indoor rockclimbing next week. who knows, maybe i'll develop a taste for it :)
Next i read "Into The Wild". this book really took me by surprise seeing at it's perspective is completely different from that of the Emile Hirsch film. The book is an autobiographical account of the author, Jon Krakauer, and his nearly obsessive interest in the case of Alex McCandless, the main character postrayed by Emile Hirsch in the movie. He wrote an article about McCandless in Outside Magazine, reporting on his disappearance and death. Krakauer, who had already written extensively about his own near death experience climbing Everest, identified strongly with McCandless and used his own climbing narrative as an anchor of personal experience thoroughout his novel.
After that, while we were in Costa Rica, i read "Three Cups Of Tea". It turned out to be a book i tore through in a few days of laying by the pool. What an incredible story! The story follows the life of a hardcore climber named Greg Mortenson who credits all of the amazing work he's done thoroughout South Asia to his failure to summit K2, the second largest peak on the planet, and the circumstances he found himself in after nearly dying during his desent. Although the truely inspiring work that he has committed his life to was the real meat of the narrative, his climbing was his inspiration and his incentive. Towards the end of this book, Mortenson meets Krakauer at a climbing conference where he had gone to speak about his work building schools for girls in remote mountain villages in Pakistan.
After this i read a book called "Grizzlyville", written by a writer called Jake MacDonald. Although climbing takes a backseat to the books main storytelling intention, Black, Grizzly and Polar bears in North America, the vast and sprawling back country of The United States and Canada frame his narrative. Hiking, roadtriping, and winching his shitty van up the British Columbian Bella Coola mountains set the stage for his fascination with the giant and largely unpredictable mamalian subject matter for his book.
Today, Jordan and i hit up The World's Biggest Bookstore downtown and i picked up Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air" and started to read it immediately.
i think the reason i've been so fascinated with these stories has a lot to do with my own ever present sense of escapism. when i think about the kinds of things i want to accomplish in my life i always seem to be most enchanted with the idea of pursuing as many chances to travel as i can. i've always loved to wander and drink in new experiences. Reading these stories writen by individuals who really have seized their desire for exhileration and followed through with intense, life altering challenges is incredibly inspiring to me.
i'm going indoor rockclimbing next week. who knows, maybe i'll develop a taste for it :)