Thursday, May 13, 2004
Book Review: Against Giants - The Life and Climbs of a Disabled Mountaineer - By David Lim
I have finished reading Dave’s new book; “Against Giants - The Life and Climbs of a Disabled Mountaineer”. Dave sent me a copy as a thank you for collecting and re-shipping a number of items (mostly satellite phone equipment) to him for his 2nd Expedition to Everest. I have a number of Mountaineering books on the shelf waiting to be read but I decided to read a little bit of Dave’s book first and I ended up finishing it 2 weeks later.
I was reminded of a few things as I was reading. First, I rediscovered how interesting it is to read a book written by someone I know (both from the SJ Chat Line and once in person). Secondly, as I read I was constantly reminded of things Dave had told us all on the Chat Line over the last 5 to 6 years. Many of those things I had forgotten along the way.
To me the book was a concatenation of 5 stories followed by an Epilogue. The first story was related to Dave’s recovery from GBS and his retraining for the climbing world. The second story was his Aconcogua trip which I remember him telling us about on the Chat Line. But the story in his book is so much more compelling than hearing a few things on the internet. The third story was about climbing Mount Cook in New Zealand. The forth story was about going back to Everest but this time climbing on the North side. And the last story was about his attempt to climb Shishapangma & Cho Oyu on one long Expedition. All the stories were great to read and it didn’t matter to me that Dave didn’t reach summits on all those climbs - well, I mean, it didn’t take away from making an interesting story at all. I think Dave has some really neat insights - which he shares. I have always suspected that the hardest thing about climbing is not the climbing itself but rather the kind of personality it takes to be away on expeditions for such long times. Dave seems to be cut out for it. Frankly, I don’t know if I am.
The book didn’t let me down at all. I have never climbed at high altitude but having climbed in Colorado quite a bit I could empathize with many things that Dave relates in his stories; climbing on the edge of endurance, self deception, and the utter joy of some simple thing that you love - like a hot cup of grape flavored Tang.
I recommend the book to everyone on the Chat Line.
Boulder Bob
I have finished reading Dave’s new book; “Against Giants - The Life and Climbs of a Disabled Mountaineer”. Dave sent me a copy as a thank you for collecting and re-shipping a number of items (mostly satellite phone equipment) to him for his 2nd Expedition to Everest. I have a number of Mountaineering books on the shelf waiting to be read but I decided to read a little bit of Dave’s book first and I ended up finishing it 2 weeks later.
I was reminded of a few things as I was reading. First, I rediscovered how interesting it is to read a book written by someone I know (both from the SJ Chat Line and once in person). Secondly, as I read I was constantly reminded of things Dave had told us all on the Chat Line over the last 5 to 6 years. Many of those things I had forgotten along the way.
To me the book was a concatenation of 5 stories followed by an Epilogue. The first story was related to Dave’s recovery from GBS and his retraining for the climbing world. The second story was his Aconcogua trip which I remember him telling us about on the Chat Line. But the story in his book is so much more compelling than hearing a few things on the internet. The third story was about climbing Mount Cook in New Zealand. The forth story was about going back to Everest but this time climbing on the North side. And the last story was about his attempt to climb Shishapangma & Cho Oyu on one long Expedition. All the stories were great to read and it didn’t matter to me that Dave didn’t reach summits on all those climbs - well, I mean, it didn’t take away from making an interesting story at all. I think Dave has some really neat insights - which he shares. I have always suspected that the hardest thing about climbing is not the climbing itself but rather the kind of personality it takes to be away on expeditions for such long times. Dave seems to be cut out for it. Frankly, I don’t know if I am.
The book didn’t let me down at all. I have never climbed at high altitude but having climbed in Colorado quite a bit I could empathize with many things that Dave relates in his stories; climbing on the edge of endurance, self deception, and the utter joy of some simple thing that you love - like a hot cup of grape flavored Tang.
I recommend the book to everyone on the Chat Line.
Boulder Bob
