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Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
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March 2020: Other Books > [Bingo][Poll Ballot Tally] Touching the Void (plus a long subtitle) by Joe Simpson 2 stars

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Karin | 9216 comments This is the account of the amazing survival of British mountain climber Joe Simpson who was correctly left for dead after an accident that should have killed him, but due to various things that stopped his fall early, etc, he didn't die then. The spoiler is in the subtitle, and it's a first hand account (along with some sections written by his fellow climber, Simon Yates).

The beginning and the ending read okay, but, frankly, I found all of the description of the climb, etc, rather tedious; I had to take breaks in reading it just to clear my head. In addition, I have never, ever, not even once, thought this sort of climbing at nearly 4 miles above sea level something that is wise to do. I realize that we are supposed to be accepting of things people like to do, and of course he loves this stuff, but I have a very difficult time putting myself in someone's shoes who endures bitter cold and extremely hazardous conditions such as this for fun and adventure. What's more, he was out climbing again two years later, only 10 weeks after his sixth operation on the leg he broke in six places during this event (again, not a big spoiler).

That said, if you like this sort of tale, don't let this stop you from reading it.


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