Heinrich Harrer
Paperback | Pages: 364 pages Rating: 4.12 | 3353 Users | 156 Reviews
Be Specific About Books As The White Spider
| Original Title: | Die Weiße Spinne |
| ISBN: | 0874779405 (ISBN13: 9780874779400) |
| Edition Language: | English |
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The White Spider dramatically recreates not only the harrowing, successful ascent made by Harrer and his comrades in 1938, but also the previous, tragic attempts at a wall of rock that was recently enshrined in mountaineer Jon Krakauer's first work, Eiger Dreams. For a generation of American climbers, The White Spider has been a formative book--yet it has long been out-of-print in America. This edition awaits discovery by Harrer's new legion of readers.Specify About Books The White Spider
| Title | : | The White Spider |
| Author | : | Heinrich Harrer |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 364 pages |
| Published | : | September 28th 1998 by TarcherPerigee (first published 1959) |
| Categories | : | Sports. Mountaineering. Nonfiction. Adventure. Climbing. Travel. Biography |
Rating About Books The White Spider
Ratings: 4.12 From 3353 Users | 156 ReviewsAssessment About Books The White Spider
I really enjoyed it. Some amazing stories told that make me want to go back to Switzerland and look at the Eiger with a new appreciation. My only criticism of the book is that he didn't need to provide details of every single attempt, consideration of an attempt and longing look cast in the direction of the Eiger. :)The bedrock of mountaineering lit, a Shelob for adventurers. Undeterred, I still want to climb a mountain. The Eiger is out of reach beyond these pages. Thank you Harrer, for articulating why and getting all Hemingway with your reverence for the bravery & codes of conduct governing "true mountaineers." I really dig the special contempt he has for the outsiders & rubberneckers who gawk at the climbers. The idea of people peering through telescopes to watch these guys push through
I really did want to enjoy this, I gave this a go after reading Joe Simpson's "Beckoning Silence" since he had been so inspired by this book in his childhood. But I came away from it with far less appreciation that I had anticipated; the first few chapters are undeniably very compelling as Harrer outlines the early history of the Eiger attempts, the tragedies of climbers like Toni Kurz for example, and not to mention his own successful ascent which was the first ever.But much of the rest of the
Heinrich Harrer talks about how he and a team of four were the first to ascend the notorious north face of the Eiger (in the Bernese Alps) in 1938, of the failed attempts before that, and attempts and successful climbs after that, all the way up to the early 1980s. I think this book would be very interesting to people involved in mountain climbing and rock climbing because it delves a lot into the practicalities and methods of what went on in these climbs. I got a little tired of the author's
This book was originally written in German and translated to English, so some of the phrasing and wording are a bit clunky. It's also full of technical of climbing techniques. The author has a habit of throwing half a dozen names at you then referencing them two chapters later, as you scramble to recall any details. Interesting book though.
I have really enjoyed climbing books that are matter-of-fact. Jon Krakauer is the most famous, but there are a number of authors who focus on the facts, not the legends, surrounding noteworthy climbs. Harrer already demonstrated that he doesn't get tangled up too much in the abstract, and that was a chronicle of Tibet, possibly the most mythical place in the world. Now he takes that detailed approach, and gets to mix it with the practical part of climbing. If you don't already know what's
I'd been wanting to read this book for some time, and it was enjoyable and inspiring. It is of its time, but I felt it was fairly balanced and European in outlook and scope, where it could easily have been far more nationalistic although Corti got a harder time than he perhaps deserved. The focus is rightly on the mountain and its challenges, and the climbers and their techniques. All of the classic ingredients of an adventure story are in it: heros, chivalry, danger (lots), hardship,
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