Minus 148 Degrees by Art Davidson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Minus 148 Degrees
Book Review: A Page Turner
Summary: 5 Stars
I rely on the other reviews here at Amazon. They did not let me down. This is a page turner. I picked it up on a Saturday morning and I could not put it down. I was done that night! The writing is simple a clean and the story very exciting. This is the best kind of book - a true story told well. A great read.Book Review: A book ahead of its time
Summary: 4 Stars
I am not going to rehash the plot here, I'm sure others have done so and you can get that in some capacity from many sources. The author was on the expedition which this book is about, and it was a bold one to say the least; the first winter ascent of Mt Mckinley. He does a great job inviting us onto Mt McKinley (it was not Denali in 1967, at least not in the public mind) and this is a quick and pleasing read. However he does not interweave as deftly the history and personal story lines that have taken the genre to new places in the past decade or so. Granted Art wrote this in 1969 at which time he'd sworn off expeditions -- largely as a result of holing up in snow cave in a hurricane at 18,000 plus feet for 8 days - so the books that I'm used to reading from adventure writers simply feel more modern. Regardless of this I would highly reccomend this read, and I would also pair it with Forever on the Mountain by James Tabor; about the Wilcox expedition on the same mountain a mere 3-4 months after the first winter ascent (which ended up changing the rules for how Mountains would be climbed in general - not from the mountaineering standpoint, but rather from the standpoint of how gov't officials approved and approached expeditions). For any armchair expeditioner -- such as myself -- the literature on McKinley is essential. This is a mountain that can be every bit as evil and unforgiving as the nastiest Himalayian peak, the weather and the relief are actully in most cases at least equal. Donavan's book is certainly a great read. I bought the paperback reprint, but if I had a do-over I'd look for an early edition as I suppose they must be out there.
Book Review: A great read
Summary: 4 Stars
A little slow to start but by midway through the book I was hooked. The last few chapters are terifying - you were just willing that wind to abate for those guys. For those into mountain climbing books this is an great historic piece about expeditions in the 1960's. I liked the post script about the team members directions after the climb too.Book Review: A gripping adventure story!
Summary: 5 Stars
Fantastic gripping book which I had difficulty putting down. Before this book, I pretty much stuck to climbing adventures about Everest and K2 but after a friend lent me "Minus 148 Degrees", I began reading as many books as I could get my hands on about climbing Mt. McKinley. This is my favourite Alaskan adventure and one of my top 20 adventure books. If you enjoyed "Into Thin Air", you will enjoy this.
For other books that I found gripping and well worth reading, see my other reviews or my listmania list. I am an avid reader of true adventure and/or survival stories.
Book Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved how suspenseful it is when they are trapped in the snow cave for a week. I would definetly recommend this book to anyone about the age of 12. It is kind of challenging.