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William Nothdurft

Författare till Ghosts of Everest

5 verk 574 medlemmar 15 recensioner

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Inkluderar namnet: William E. Nothdurft

Verk av William Nothdurft

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I'm vey much into both science and dinosaurs, so this book should have really grabbed me. Instead, I found it a dry, dusty account of what should have been an exciting discovery, marred by a tendency to time-shift between centuries. It needed more focus, and less digression into Ernst Stromer's career.
 
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gjky | 3 andra recensioner | Apr 9, 2023 |
Non-fiction account of the 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition to seek answers to the mystery of what happened to them during their 1924 ascent of Everest. Did they make it to the top? What is the evidence that says they did or did not? And what happened to them on that last day when they disappeared? This book attempts to answer these questions as much as is possible from the evidence in existence. Three of the 1999 participants told their story to William Nothdurft, who has done an excellent job of capturing the dual journeys of both the 1924 and 1999 expeditions. The authors employed the approach favored by Sherlock Holmes to get to the crux of the mystery. The first half got a little bogged down in the logistics, but I found the last half of the book extremely engrossing. I found a hardcover edition of this book in the library, and the maps and photos add context to the narrative. Recommended to readers interested in mountain-climbing, its history, unsolved mysteries, or adventures in the extreme cold.

Memorable quote:
“If one should ask me what ‘use’ there was in climbing, or attempting to climb the world’s highest peak, I would be compelled to answer ‘none.’ There is no scientific end to be served; simply the gratification of the impulse of achievement, the indomitable desire to see what lies beyond that ever beats within the heart of man. With both poles conquered, the mighty peak of the Himalayas remains as the greatest conquest available to explore.”
--George Mallory

… (mer)
 
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Castlelass | 9 andra recensioner | Oct 30, 2022 |
All my life I've been fascinated by Everest and the early climbers who faced incredible challenges to get to the summit. In all my reading Mallory has featured widely, and I know his story well. This book details the 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition, an expedition made with the aim of finding signs of Mallory and Irvine's 1924 climb. Only an hour and a half into a search of a vast section of the North Face they found a body. The climbers stood or kneeled around the ancient body, speechless. Initially they thought it was Irvine and even after seeing the name inside the shirt collar, they wondered why Irvine was wearing Mallory's shirt. Further examination proved it was Mallory. The question was, did he fall on the way up or the way down. The body as well as contents of his pockets and a pouch were well preserved, handwritten notes still clear. A photo of his wife that he promised to leave on the summit was not among his possessions. The reverence with which the climbers treated the body was quite moving.

Well written, fantastic photos: it gave me goosebumps. I fully believe (and always have done) that Mallory reached the summit in 1924 (nearly 30 years before Hilary) although it is a worthless claim without making it down again.
… (mer)
 
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VivienneR | 9 andra recensioner | Dec 29, 2021 |
In 1999, the authors, along with others including a crew from the BBC, got together to climb Mount Everest, not necessarily with the plan to summit, but wanting to find clues to George Mallory’s and Andrew Irvine’s disappearance and the mystery as to whether or not they’d actually been the first to summit the mountain in 1924. This book details that expedition, in addition to telling the story of Mallory and Irvine, in general.

The first half of the book – including preparation and parts of the known portions of Mallory and Irvine’s story – I would rate 3.5 stars (good), but it really picked up for me in the second half when the group searching for clues got climbing. And they did find quite a few things, and a couple of them even managed to summit afterward. This book contains some of the best photos I’ve seen of Everest in the books I’ve read; they really gave me a better perspective than I think I’ve realized before, possibly due to the fact that all the photos are in colour. It’s easier to see details in the colour photos. The second half of the book and the photos upped my enjoyment and rating of the book.… (mer)
 
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LibraryCin | 9 andra recensioner | Apr 21, 2019 |

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Statistik

Verk
5
Medlemmar
574
Popularitet
#43,646
Betyg
3.8
Recensioner
15
ISBN
26
Språk
5

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