Edmund Hillary (1919–2008)

Mildly interesting. The idea of the expedition is neat, but I'm not sufficiently interested in either the details of the rapids on the Ganga (Ganges) or the equally specific details of making camp and climbing high mountains. Each major rapid was discussed, and many mapped, telling the reader how the water flowed and exactly what path each of the three boats took to get through them; and later, there's much discussion of how much weight each person carried and what medicines they were taking in order to be able to sleep. There's also a lot about the crowds gathered at each refueling stop and overnight camp, and how they crowded in asking for autographs, or (journalists) asking questions, mostly the same questions over and over. Hillary was appreciative at first, but later in the trip becomes somewhat desperate to get away from them. After the trip - in the conclusion, and the foreword written for this book - he says he remembers with pleasure the great warmth of the people of India - but in the parts drawn from diaries written during the trip, he's not so happy. For good reason, both. There's one afterword about the Hindu religion, by Jim Wilson, one of the expedition; and another, about jet boats and jet boating, by another expedition member, Jon Hamilton. Again, both would probably be interesting to someone interested in the subject. I found the one about Hinduism mildly interesting and the jet boat one mostly uninteresting; someone who greatly enjoyed the book would probably reverse that. Not sorry I read it, but I see no reason ever to reread.… (mer)