I've always been interested in World War II, but I've never really found a whole lot of first-hand accounts that I've been interested in. For one of my classes, I had to read this book, previously never having heard of it. I fell in love with it the firs page I read. Its disturbing, but also very beautiful. A must read.

I picked up an advanced reader's copy of this book at a thrift store in Provo. It was sort of a whim, but also a way to fuel my irrational obsession with Mount Everest and it definitely did that.
Given everything that Jim Davidson experienced, rating this book anything below 5 stars is difficult. You cannot put a rating on tragedy. The things that Davidson went through and persevered through are nothing sorting of amazing and inspiring. However, Davidson's writing is as mesmerizing as his climbing. I found many of the passages redundant and ending up skipping many of them. Davidson did a great job of serving up the action and the drama, but when it came to describing the more mundane it was kinda boring. I absolutely loved that Davidson talked about how everything in his life was building up to the moment of his summit and how everything and everyone came together. I loved that Davidson didn't just talk about the earthquake that destroyed a country and left it there. He took the time to explain the effects and took action to help Nepal. Davidson is a very admirable person, but his writing could use a little bit of work.