Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 28, 2008 - 12:41am PT
|
Hey, Pepper, Conquistadors of the Useless is the #1 book we are considering for August. Only problem, it may not be available in a book for less than $20...
Ok, book forum, who has a problem getting this book? Maybe many have it in their personal library or can borrow from somewhere. Need to know how many have a prob. cause then we will move onto the next selection.
Next being Starlight and Storm by Rebuffat...is it necessary to wait for the new edition ?
Or Feeding the Rat ??? If it ends up "the rat" we will read in two weeks and then get into something else cause it is one short read.
There was a fair amount of interest in The Gambler .... is there still interest???? Let me know or I'll kick it to end of list.
Thanks all for your help, wisdom and encouragement!!!
Can't wait to start discourse on White Death....
|
|
SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 08:42am PT
|
White Death,
Man that Albinov was one tough hombre!
Don't think I'd like to tangle with a polar bear
or a walrus. . .
I am the Walrus. . .
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 12:57pm PT
|
I was surprised to read that the walrus were considered more dangerous than bear.
Those Russians that emerged from the late nineteenth century HAD to be tough. Still, he didn't seem to survive long after the revolution.
What an interesting time to live though, right on the cusp of the modern worlds ability to dramatically roll back the horizons of the world of exploration.
|
|
Anastasia
climber
Not there
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 02:18pm PT
|
Lynne,
Salt dear, The new edition of Conquistadors of the Useless is $14.95 on Amazon for the new edition, released on September 5th. We just need to pre-order it and use if for later.
Please... Can we do that?
Love,
Anastasia
|
|
Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 28, 2008 - 02:50pm PT
|
Ok guys, Anastasia, Piton, Stevep, Steve W, Mighty Hiker, Jaybro, Chiloej, Ed H. et al.
Is there a problem in doing what Anastasia suggests.... Ordering Conquistadors from Amazon (14.95) and reading it for late Sept? Know it's expensive, but it's a classic and a good addition for your personal library.
What do you think of reading Feeding The Rat for Sept? Amazon has copies starting at $3.40 Maybe read it in two weeks cause it's so short and then start on Conquistadors....
I'd like your honest opinion asap. Thanks All ! HappY Monday !
|
|
SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 02:53pm PT
|
Lynnie
I'm probably not gonna be available for the next
read. My new semester starts August 11 and I'll have
plenty of 'non recreational' reading then . . .
I'll look forward to everyone's discussions though.
|
|
Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 02:55pm PT
|
I don't have any problem with Terray's book - I have a copy on my bookshelf, obtained at a used book store long ago.
My suggestion is that we pick a book that few if any of us have read before. That would be fairer to everyone. I suspect that Ron at least also has a substantial library of mountaineering and climbing books. A non-mountaineering book is my preference - something that might even be called literature.
|
|
Fletcher
Trad climber
Kidland, 24x7, but sometimes Pasadena, CA
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 04:25pm PT
|
I"m OK, with reading Conquistadors later on. It's been on my list for a while.
While I've been very busy with family and work things this summer, I have been keeping up with the reading... though on a really delayed schedule. I finally finished Heart of Darkness last week. Will post up some belated comments soon (I hope!). I'm into Land of White Death and am enjoying it. It is a quick read, but I still need to light a fire under my pants.... oh, wait... my kids are doing that already! :-)
I will try to get more real time with this stuff and be a better participant. Ah well, there is a time for everything. And I am glad to have the opportunity to read these books and hear what y'all have to think about them.
I'd be happy with non-climbing oriented books too, but there are many classic climbing books I've not ready and am always happy to read those.
Fletch
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 04:42pm PT
|
I will never eat polar bear liver again...
I'm down with Useless, read my brother's copy by mastadon candle. As that copy is 1400 miles away I will happily go for the one from Amazon, about time it was on my shelf anyway.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2008 - 04:43pm PT
|
OK Anders,
hows this?
A lot of people have gotten on board the environmental determinism school of history as popularized by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs and Steel (GREAT title! No wonder it bagged a Pulitzer), but what about the counterpoint argument made Victor Davis Hanson who seems so intriguing in his appearances on the History Channel?
In Carnage And Culture (softcover $16 Anchor Books, 2001, 463 pages including an afterword regarding September 11) Hanson argues that the turning points in history have been decisive battles the outcomes of which are determined by the cultures of the protagonists rather than environmental factors.
Chapters include critical examinations of battles like Cannae, Gaugamela, Salamis, Poitiers, Tenochtitlan, Rorke's Drift, Midway (the chapter I read, it blew me away), and several others.
He asks and seems to decisively answer why the world has adopted the western form of warfare by looking at how people and their values and practices have made the difference.
It would be a big read, but thats my point. At $16 there's a lot of chuck for the buck, and we could discuss it in segments (battle of the week??) and stretch it for more than a month.
|
|
Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 28, 2008 - 08:01pm PT
|
Mighty Hiker, it's possible I spend too much time outdoors, cause I even missed The French Open and Wimbledon this year for first time in long time....thus needing your help for Conclusive read for August...
You and Ron seem to have several decent selections that are different, which is good. Steer us in the right direction guys, just lay it out there.
Thanks, Lynne
PS .... MH I don't think you can ever read too much, smiles..lrl
|
|
stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
|
|
|
Jul 29, 2008 - 12:04am PT
|
Carnage and Culture might be a little too serious of military history for a book of the month club selection. But it does look interesting.
If we want a military-oriented book and something literary, how about Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer? It is long however.
As far as climbing books go, at least a few of us will have read most suggestions. I don't think that should be a limiting factor -- as long as most wouldn't mind reading it again.
Etoiles et Tempetes would be OK with me.
Or how about Endurance, and compare it to the Albanov? Or for something that maybe fewer have read to compare to Albanov, how about Mawson's Will, by Lennard Bickel?
|
|
Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 29, 2008 - 12:14am PT
|
Thanks, stevep, for all your considerations. Will do our best and Tues or Wed make a selection...still time for others to jump on board. Cheers, Linnie.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Jul 29, 2008 - 12:24am PT
|
I'd go for the Keegan if others are game.
He is a bit dry, but what do you expect of someone who was a Master at Sandhurst for more than a quarter century.
I already have three of his Penguin publications, The Face Of Battle, The Second World War, and The Book Of War, as well as the Visual Encyclopedia of WWII that he edited.
But I suspect that it would be a slower go than Hanson who appears to crystalize his premise using a dozen events or less in lucid depth (OK, I read the Rorke's Drift chapter too).
Keegan is more like some bellicose literary claymore.
I bet the print is real small too. :)
|
|
Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 29, 2008 - 12:25am PT
|
Carnage and Culture .... does it work for you all ? Then pick up next read for sure ....conquistadors?
Post please.... smiles Linnie
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
Jul 29, 2008 - 12:44am PT
|
Starlight and Storm is 114 pages in the edition that I have (hardcover, J.M. Dent & Sons, LTD, London, 1956) I have read it every other year (not this particular edition) since I was 15 years old. Wouldn't mind reading it again, about due...
Conquistadors of the Useless is on my bookshelf too, the 1963 edition published by Victor Gollancz LTD, London... Terray was an amazing man.
A Canadian offer might be Where The Clouds Can Go by Conrad Kain... but it might not be too accessible. Mine is the 1954 edition by Charles T. Branford Company Boston.
I can't remember if I read Feeding the Rat by Al Alvarez... mostly because the title had become a pretty standard phrase in my climber circles... if I did read it it was forgettable... but I'd risk that against my bad memory and try it.
Another more recent story, which keeps us in SouthCentral Asia, would be the book by Patrick French, Younghusband; The Last Great Imperial Adventurer which is in the genre of modern road trip following an historic figure. ISBN 0002157330 (which is the hard cover, probably in paperback too) at 405 pages maybe a bit much (as little as $6.35 used on Amazon).
|
|
Pewf
climber
nederland
|
|
|
Jul 31, 2008 - 03:00pm PT
|
I'm just bumping this because it is the LAST DAY of July! I finished about a week ago, but I've had little toddling nieces visiting (aww so cute) and haven't had a lot of free time. And now gotta run to the airport, mum-in-law is getting remarried.
A couple things stood out for me. I can't imagine the feeling of futility, trudging south over ice that's drifting north at twice the speed. I knew it was best to thoroughly cook pork, but I ended up looking up trichinosis and now know it's best not to eat bear raw either.
I thought that everyone involved in the story seemed very old-fashioned "male". Quiet islands of solitude and emotional stoicism. I'm sure there were more bonds of friendship than were portrayed by the narrator and others, but I found the lack of camaraderie made me feel extra isolated just reading it.
Gotta run!
|
|
Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 31, 2008 - 04:14pm PT
|
Pewf made some good points......
Tho White Death was a short read, it gave one much to think about on several levels.
Maybe it's a Venus vs. Mars thing, but would you not check out who your Captain is personality wise, problem solving skills,etc. before signing on for an exploratory journey in such an unforgiving place?
The personal dispute between Captain B. and Albanov was difficult to really understand. Wrote Albanov, "we had both major and minor differences....led to senseless fits of anger...neither of us made any effort....perhaps a little mutual patience would have helped."
Perhaps, Albanov didn't attempt to make amends because he instinctly knew death was with the Captain? Wanted to create an excuse to legally leave and try to survive?
When I read the description of how Albanov and his men made even the tools to make the sleds and kayaks, clothing they would need etc. I was amazed ! All that Albanov orchestrated to get off the ship and onto land... I thought, did the man never rest.
Funniest Part: Sacrificed most of the second ship to create the power they needed, but didn't burn the Grand Piano : )
SO, what did you guys think ?
|
|
SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
|
|
|
Jul 31, 2008 - 04:47pm PT
|
Not only was Albanov crafty, but aside from not knowing
much about polar bear livers, he knew a lot of wildlife--
the different ducks he was identifying, and knowing what
their presence meant--how close to land he might be.
A mighty well-rounded fellow, I'd say. He also had the
will to survive--tried to lead his men correctly, but it
seems he alone had that drive to live.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!