Dead Lucky: Life After Death on Mount Everest | 
 enlarge | Author: Lincoln Hall
Publisher: Tarcher
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.47
You Save: $8.48 (34%)
New (45) Used (27) from $1.04
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 80072
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 1585426466
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.522092
EAN: 9781585426461
ASIN: 1585426466
Publication Date: May 15, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The amazing story of Australian mountain climber Lincoln Halls rescue following a night spent near the summit of Mount Everest, where he had been left for dead by the other members of his expedition.
Lincoln Hall likes to say that on the evening of May 25, 2006, he died on Everest. Indeed, he attempted to climb the mountain during a deadly season in which eleven people perished. And Hall, in fact, was pronounced dead, after collapsing from altitude sickness. Two Sherpas spent hours trying to revive him, but, as darkness fell, word came via radio from the exhibitions leader that the Sherpas should descend the mountain in order to save themselves.
The news of Lincoln Halls death traveled rapidly from mountaineering websites to news media around the world, and ultimately to his family back in Australia. Early the next morning, however, an American guide, climbing with two clients and a Sherpa, was startled to find Hall, sitting cross-legged on the summit ridge, just staring at them.
As featured in the Emmy-nominated Dateline NBC documentary Miracle on Mount Everest, Dead Lucky is Lincoln Halls account of this miraculous night atop Everest and the days and nights that led up to and followed this fascinating expedition. Hall had been part of Australias first attempt to climb to the top of the mountain in 1984, but, he had not done any serious climbing for many years, having set aside his passion in order to support his family. Hall was forced to turn back due to illness in 1984 so his triumph in reaching the summit at the age of fifty is a story unto itself. Not since Into Thin Air has there been such a thrilling Everest story. Dead Lucky is a page-turner from beginning to end.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Could have used an editor December 18, 2008
Readers must wait 200 pages to get to the meat of this tale, the author's 'night out' atop Everest when he was left for dead. Seemingly every random thought and event that entered the writer's head before, during and after are recounted here, leaving the reader a bit antsy. Pages of 'hallucinations' weigh things down. Streamlining would have made for a better read. I wanted to know more about the frostbite because of the cover photo, but we never really see what happened afterward. No photo. Still, in the genre of deadly Everest literature, this one is worth wading through the dross to reach the shining nuggets.
complements similar titles November 22, 2008
This book complements, rather than competes with or overlaps, other descriptions of ascents on Mt. Everest. There is occasional superfluous detail, but it's easy to skim through. This is a very personal account of Hall's 2006 expedition. The author does not stray into the broader issues - environmental, social, political, economic, cultural, etc. - of the commercialization of Everest. Unlike many other Everest climbers-turned-authors, Hall does express awe and wonder regarding the natural beauty of Everest and its surroundings. From this standpoint, I consider Hall to be operating on a higher plane of awareness than those climbers for whom an Everest summit attempt is just an exercise in self-aggrandizement.
 Mixed feelings about this one September 17, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I'm an avid reader and find especially interesting the personal accounts of extreme survival situations. I am in awe of strength of the human spirit and the will to survive. Lincoln Hall's ordeal is no exception. I do however take exception to how poorly this book is written. Now I know not all and actually most people that do have these experiences aren't authors and so some forgiveness is required. But this guy....hmmmm he professes to be a writer! Whoa, I struggled with much of the book, because it was/is so poorly written. He rambles and there are paragraphs of boring minutia, that not only don't reveal any insight into who he is, nothing of any real interest regarding the "story" is added. Yes he survived an event that most people would not have and thus obviously has a story to tell, but his editor should have reined him in and kept his rambling under control. I say don't waste your money and check it out from a library rather than buy it. Buy... Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, instead.
An inspirational read August 31, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Lincoln Hall's climb on Everest was supposed to be in support of a young Australian's attempt to be the youngest ever climber to reach the summit. When he was forced back, Hall took the opportunity for one last go at reaching the summit himself.
In a year where a dozen climbers died on the mountain, Lincoln Hall was also left for dead just below the peak of Everest as night fell. And he had thought scaling Everest was going to be the real challenge!
In this account, Hall speaks in real terms of his battle with his mind and body to get through the night on Everest- something that no-one else had done. A revealing tale of the human body's ability to overcome adversity and to come back from the warm comforting reach of death, the strength of a family's love and the connection with the natural world. This book is truly an inspiration read.
 disappointed in the lack of humanity August 17, 2008
8 out of 13 found this review helpful
Being a connoisseur of human folly, I'm a fascinated spectator of high altitude mountaineering stories.
And on a mountain that, by it's very nature, seems to attract an inordinate proportion of sociopaths & narcissists, I'm not really surprised when I realize some mountaineer I'm reading about is self-centered, emotionally immature, and/or lacking the normal social connections & human motivations most of us have.
And I'm afraid this guy is among them.
One review I read said, "Mr. Hall seemed almost detached from the story he was penning", and I sensed that from the get-go, and couldn't even force myself halfway through the book.
That reviewer also said, more or less, that she was disappointed that he failed to describe his fellow climbers in any way that would give you a sense of who they were & what it was like to be on a team with them.
And then, what's the point?
It's very disappointing, because by his interviews, and the fact that Andrew Brash calls him "friend", I'd assumed he had some measure of humility & gratitude about the importance of other people to him.
But I guess not. It's like he fails to really see & connect to other people completely.
The humanity you find in the books by Krakauer & Kodas seem to be completely missing in this book.
And as for the author's professed religion... Sadly, I've noticed that many western Buddhists I've come across seem to miss the forest for the trees. They're all hung up on the trappings of rituals and a facade, that they seem oblivious to their attachment to the most ridiculous desires that even most non-Buddhist materialistic people don't attach themselves to... And some actually seem to use their religion to justify what appears to be the exact opposite of right action.
And it's very ironic really - because it seems to me that the aspiration & commitment to climbing Mount Everest is by its very nature, the ultimate of what Buddhism teaches to stop... being attached to a highly impractical diversion, claiming to oneself that it will bring some kind of fulfillment of happiness, when in reality it seems to be the epitome of needless suffering.
But using religion to one's own purposes & for appearances, or being a religious hypocrite, is not something self-proclaimed Buddhists have a monopoly on, of course. Seems that every religion has its share.
|
|
|
|
