written by: Mark Synnott
narrated by: Steve Campbell rating: liked
Mark Synnott was drawn to Everest to pursue an unlikely expedition to solve a 100 year old mystery: whether or not George Mallory and Sandy Irvine actually submitted Everest in 1924. Some historical sleuthing and back room deals had led to information that might lead Synnott and his team to Irvine's body and hopefully the Kodak camera believed to be on his person's that might have recorded a summit to the roof of the world.
As much as I loved learning about the history and the context of Everest and the push for it to be the "third pole" of mountaineering, adventuring, and discovery in this book, it was easy to get bogged down in the history and the details and the names. Maybe this was because I read this book on audio, but I frequently went "who, who are talking about?" I was easily disoriented in time and place as we jumped from story to story.
While I enjoyed the humanity brought to this book by the stories told about climbers who have attempted and/or succeeded in summiting Mt. Everest, it felt like too many stories were being told and that I couldn't connect fully to any one of them. I think that if it had been a more streamlined book, more about the history of Everest and whether Irvine and Mallory actually submitted, paired with the writer's own expedition, rather than both of those things PLUS the stories of many many many other adventurers on Everest, it would have been a better reading experience for me, and one that I would gone through much quicker, and therefore could recommend much more.
If you are looking for great reads about Everest I recommend The Next Everest by Jim Davidson and Beyond Possible by Nims Purja. Do you have any Everest books to recommend?
Content warning for discussion of death and dead bodies.
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