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Touching The Void [Paperback]

Joe Simpson (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (160 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 11 Dec 2004

THE BOOK BEHIND THE AWARD-WINNING FILM

Joe Simpson, with just his partner Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed West Face of the remote 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck.

A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out with torches, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm in a delirium.

Far from causing Joe's death, Simon had paradoxically saved his friend's life. What happened, and how they dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.

(20021018)

Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (11 Dec 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099452294
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099452294
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (160 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 452,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Joe Simpson
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Product Description

Review

A brilliant, vivid, gripping, heart-stopping account of their terrifying adventure... Superbly written (Sunday Express )

On every level it is an outstanding literary achievement (Independent )

A quite extraordinary and moving book... Touching the Void touches the Great Questions in an understated yet utterly compelling way (Guardian )

A truly astonishing account of suffering and fortitude...the narrative acquires an irresistible force, carrying all before it (Sunday Times )

One of the great stories of survival eloquently described (Philip French Observer 20031218)

Book Description

'One of the absolute classics of mountaineering - a document of psychological, even philosophical witness of the rarest compulsion' George Steiner, Books of the Year, Sunday Times (20021018)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars EXTREME ADVENTURE IN THE PERUVIAN ANDES... 29 Dec 2002
By Lawyeraau HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This book recounts an amazing tale of courage, fortitude, and the will to live, despite dire circumstances. The author, Joe Simpson, and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, attempted to ascend a perilous section of the Peruvian Andes. Near the summit, tragedy struck when Joe, up over 19,000 feet, fell and hit a slope at the base of a cliff, breaking his right leg, rupturing his right knee, and shattering his right heel. Beneath him was a seemingly endless fall to the bottom.

When Simon reached him, they both knew that the chances for getting Joe off the mountain were virtually non-existent. Yet, they fashioned a daring plan to to do just that. For the next few hours, they worked in tandem through a snow storm, and managed a risky, yet effective way of trying to lower Joe down the mountain.

About three thousand feet down, Joe, who was still roped to Simon, dropped off an edge and found himself now free hanging in space six feet away from an ice wall, unable to reach it with his axe. The edge was over hung about fifteen feet above him. The dark outline of a crevasse lay about a hundred feet directly below him.

Joe could not get up, and Simon could not get down. In fact, Joe's weight began to pull Simon off the mountain. So, Simon was finally forced to do the only thing he could do under the circumstances. He cut the rope, believing that he was consigning his friend to certain death. Therein lies the tale.

What happens next is sure to make one believe in miracles. This is an absorbing read and one of the great stories in mountaineering literature.

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96 of 100 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The remarkable true story of a mountaineering accident 25 Jan 2000
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
In 1985 two English climbers set out to climb the remote western face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. The face had repulsed several previous attempts, and despite the odds the two experienced Alpinists made the summit. It was during the descent that the author fell down a small ice cliff and broke his leg. The few paragraphs describing what happens when his climbing partner reaches him, and the descriptions of what is going through their minds and what is said and what is not said is perhaps one of the most tense things in the book. What follows is perhaps one of the most outstanding and dramatic accounts of the human will to survive ever written. Simpson wrote the book whilst recovering from his injuries and has admitted that he found reliving the ordeal painfull. Consequently he wrote the book in a very succinct fashion; he does not use ten words if he can use one, and he always chooses the words well. This book is real edge of the seat stuff, and I read it through in one night, dosed up on coffee, and turned up at work the next day babbling about the book. My advice is don't start reading it if you have work the next day. I have spoken to several other people who have read it and without exception they have found it memorable. A truly remarkable book, one you will remember for a long time. Now move the mouse to the order button !
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Touching the Void 23 Jan 2006
By spirit9479
Format:Paperback
I think this is a wonderful book and I am only a teenager. Simpson gives you a detailed account of his ordeal on Siula Grande. It is one of the few books that have you looking upon life differently and consider that maybe there is more to life and death and anything in between. He tells us how terrible dying alone is and how much he longed for company on those fateful nights.
Simpson gives good descriptions on the technical side of mountaineering and the photos of Siula Grande are absolutly wonderful. I was also quite shocked to hear that Simon Yates, Simpsons climbling partner, was harshly criticised about cutting the rope, as to me it was the only option to save at least one of their lives, and as a catch22 situation, one of them or both of them was bound to die. However but got away with it and I'm sure it is something no human could ever even imagine was possible.
All in all, a superb book and I recomend it to anyone, climber or not, because I honestly could not put it down and kept re-reading it for a month.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant meditation on survival
What makes Joe Simpson's book so wonderful is not the climbing. Simpson has obviously managed many things that most people would regard as mad, but in the climbing world there are... Read more
Published 2 days ago by R. Newton
5.0 out of 5 stars GRIPPING
A wonderful book.......made all the more amazing because it is a true story. Fabulous reading - couldn't put it down
Published 7 days ago by Trish from Addingham
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Read this twice now had a copy off my boss at first then had to get my own interesting story if you're into climbing.
Published 13 days ago by L.Atk
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good!
Very good indeed! arrived extremely quickly and in very good condition, better condition than I expected! I needed this book for my English school work and it is great! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Bryony R
5.0 out of 5 stars Great and inspiring read
I saw the film first, couple of years ago, so I knew the story line. I still really enjoy teh book, it is well written and very inspiring - your problems suddenly seem minute in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Martina
3.0 out of 5 stars Reviw of 'Touching the Void'
I read this for my book club and was bored by the technical stuff as I am no that interested in mountaineering. Read more
Published 1 month ago by kerry gamble
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
This book is the story of a true climber and just what you are able to do if you what to live.
Published 2 months ago by Kate
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary...
A gripping account of an extraordinary story. Written with honesty, perspective and humility. An inspiring, fast paced read - I couldn't put it down!
Published 2 months ago by CCS Oxfordshire
4.0 out of 5 stars Touching the truth
An amazing, inspiring story, skilfully told and expertly narrated by both Joe Simpson and his climbing partner Simon. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Simon Partington
5.0 out of 5 stars A really good read
I just found it a fab book that captured the whole trip
Almost felt the fear of the mountains myself
Published 2 months ago by Jason G Handley
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