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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Joe Fitschen's "Going Up". And diggin' it.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw
Fascinating.
Just finished his Blink, which should not be missed.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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"Blink" was cool.
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the kid
Trad climber
fayetteville, wv
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Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young..
super super super.. good.
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T2
climber
Cardiff by the sea
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Just finished "No Easy Day"
The first hand account of the mission that smoked Bin Ladin
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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"Glittering Images" by Camille Paglia... grating but interesting look at art. Highly recommended for the introduction alone. Find it difficult to accept the idea that George Lucas is the greatest living artist though!
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Mountains Beyond Mountains wasn't high lit, but it sure did make me feel lazy and like I should be doing more to make the world a better place. I'm very glad that I listened.
I'm not to the new Tom Wolfe book now. It's great fun. Basically, it's the Bonfire of the Vanities set in Miami in 2012, but I don't mind.
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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Issac's Storm, by Erik Larson. About the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston TX and killed over 6k people - still the deadliest storm in US history. Apropos, although I picked it up at a book swap last month before Sandy was in the news.
Finished the Empire of the Summer Moon and liked it a lot. Started looking up places mentioned in the book on Google to see photos and saw there is a climbing area in SW Oklahoma in the Wichita Mnts near Ft. Sill where Quanah and his Comanches settled on the reservation. Also the Palo Duro canyon looks cool.
In between these books I had a quick read of Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. I had bought if for my son to read. It was only the 2nd time I'd read it. That was because I have such good memories of the first time. That was back in High School in the early 70s when I went on a weekend trip up to Old Rag in the Virginia Blue Ridge with the idea of climbing. It never stopped raining. So my partner and I wound up bivied in some cave and just read the whole time while downing pop tarts and hot chocolate.
Ever climber must have some book that brings back memories of long bivies in bad weather, or of some great climb in their lives. What's yours?
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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"To Lhasa in Disguise" by William McGovern
Fun read about an early travler.
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HuecoRat
Trad climber
NJ
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Just re-read Traverse of the Gods by Bob Langley. It is the best mountain fiction book I've ever read.
Now reading Indian Fights and Fighters by Cyrus Brady. It's a history of the plains indian wars written in 1904. Pretty interesting.
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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To speak to little Z, Jon Krakauer's Eiger Dreams is a light hearted anthology of climbing yarns which is so broad in its scope of climbing areas that I'm sure it would resonate with most S Topians...although for some reasons the current edition is lacking the “Is Yosemite Going to the Dogs?” chapter.
And, to take a tip from his “On Being Tentbound,” Marcel Proust does offer more ounce of weight to hour of entertainment, Swann's Way, from his A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time) is probably the most accessible – although one may chose to bring along all 5 volumes if contemplating a visit to Patagonia or the Alaska Range. Of course, one does not read Proust; one re-reads Proust.
Right know I'm re-reading Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, which feels so appropriate to our current economic state. “Who is John Galt?” Our heroine eventually finds out, when she is forced to make an emergency landing in her private airplane through the mists of a remote and uncharted valley high in the Rockies. There, she meets all of the various and very prominent industrialists; scientists; inventors; financiers; philosophers and thinkers, who have mysteriously disappeared, one by one, from our country and its corrupt efforts at nationalization across all sectors to delay its economic depressions descent into complete financial collapse. And it is here, in this valley (which is rendered undetectable by the artificial mist which is sort of like a 1-way mirror) that our country's best minds have reestablished themselves in a small and self contained utopia, its internal economy based on the gold standard.
This kind of idealism I find very appealing in this day and age. It also strikes very close to home, as it closely parallels what we were to find here in the very small world of the Owens Valley, with its diverse populace which ranges from ranchers and packers; Pulitzer Prize authors; Cal Tech astrophysicists; artists; Olympic medalist athletes; Everest summiteers...and a thriving community of some damn good rockclimbers to match the world-class terrain.
And, as if by a strange coincidence, when we finally decided to make the Owens our new home, we were flown in by private plane. After dropping through a veil of clouds, spanning from the crest of the Sierra to the top of the Whites, the Valley floor was laid out before us, like some delicately tinted cartographer's artwork.
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MH2
climber
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All 5 volumes? I thought Proust lost more time than that.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Nov 11, 2012 - 06:35am PT
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Neptune's Inferno by James D. Hornfischer, recommended up thread by Piton Ron; I recently read Last of The Tin Can Soldiers by the same author.
Neptune's Inferno won't let you go; from the opening pages. I don't relish the thought of having been a sailor in the Battle of Guadalcanal. I finished it 2 days prior to the 70th Anniversary of the U.S. Navy's first successful night action against the Japanese fleet trying to resupply the troops on Guadalcanal (Nov 12-13th 1942). A masterful account of the sacrifices made by the young sailors and older officers of the U.S. Navy.
Two of the most remarkable tales told are the strange ways in which the U.S. Navy would substitute inexperienced commanders of night and/or surface battles for those who had recently gained hard won experience in this brutal type of warfare right before expected clashes with the superior Japanese.
The other is the story of Eugene Tarrant, a steward, aboard the U.S.S. Atlanta. Treated with disdain due to his race, in normal times, he performs many acts of heroism that saved plenty of lives during or after the battle; only to return to status of a second class citizen later. Makes you scratch your head.
Just started Flying Through Midnight by J. Halliday as recommended on the taco by someone.
For all the discussion of OT threads on the taco, this thread and the What Song thread provide peaceful proof that some OT threads bring out the best sides of tacoians as compared to some other threads that do the opposite.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Nov 11, 2012 - 12:37pm PT
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I just started "Lionel Asbo", the new one from Martin Amis. We'll see how it goes. I'm a bit ambivalent about Martin. There can be a little too much seamy underbelly of life stuff in his books for my delicate sensibilities.
Edit: Stopped reading it. He's a good writer but it's just not for me.
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Nov 13, 2012 - 08:23pm PT
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Just finished Flying Through Midnight by John Halliday, recommended by Reilly on another thread.
Once I got into it; I couldn't put it down. More than a history lesson.
Took me away from my minuscule self for a day or so.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 20, 2012 - 03:16am PT
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So He's not a She in this one--meh! Not a problem.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Nov 20, 2012 - 03:57am PT
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
Sparse. Lean. Profound.
A few curves on canvas can paint a rich picture. If the artist is good. So it is with words. Clarity of thought, of vision, to evoke a reaction. And nothing more. Life, grief, longing, loss, love. All are on the table. Nothing is lost for want of words.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Nov 20, 2012 - 02:31pm PT
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Issac's Storm, by Erik Larson is a good read. I have that one on my shelf also. PM me if you want it, I'll send it out.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Nov 20, 2012 - 08:46pm PT
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Road trip listening: Henning Mankell's "The Troubled Man" with the great character of police detective Kurt Wallender. To J Tree and back from the Bay area, 18 hours of driving, we got through 10 cds - 4 more to go!!
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tom Carter
Social climber
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Nov 21, 2012 - 12:46am PT
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Bernd Heinrich "Life Everlasting" (not religious).
If you have not picked up something by him - do.
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