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View From The Summit

Name: View From The Summit
Author: Sir Edmund Hillary
ISBN: 9780552151047

by Sir Edmund Hillary

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Overview

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE STORY OF

AN ORDINARY MAN WHO BECAME THE

CENTURY'S MOST IMPORTANT EXPLORER

Adventurers the world over have been inspired by the achievements of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man ever to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. In this candid, wry, and vastly entertaining autobiography, Hillary looks back on that 1953 landmark expedition, as well as his remarkable explorations in other exotic locales, from the South Pole to the Ganges. View From The Summit is the compelling life story of a New Zealand country boy who daydreamed of wild adventures; the pioneering climber who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth after scaling the world's tallest peak; and the elder statesman and unlikely diplomat whose groundbreaking program of aid to Nepal continues to this day, paying his debt of worldwide fame to the Himalayan region.

More than four decades after Hillary looked down from Everest's 29,000 feet, his impact is still felt -- in our fascination with the perils and triumphs of mountain climbing, and in today's phenomenon of extreme sports. The call to adventure is alive and real on every page of this gripping memoir.

About the Author, Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary was born in 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand, and served in the New Zealand Air Force during World War II. Knighted for his ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, he achieved many more adventuring "firsts" before establishing the Himalayan Trust, an organization devoted to improving the lives of the Himalayan people. He has two surviving children by his first wife, Louise, who died in a plane crash with their third child. He is now married to June, widow of his Antarctic partner Peter Mulgrew. Sir Edmund and Lady Hillary live in Auckland.

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Editorials

KLIATT

The author earned his fame and knighthood for being the first man to ever set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. His account of that historic climb is dramatic (and generous to his fellow summitter, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay), yet wryly understated. Not one to rest on his laurels, Hillary led groundbreaking expeditions to the South Pole and to the source of India's holy and mighty river, the Ganges. He also served for a time as New Zealand's ambassador to India. Hillary is most renowned for his Everest feat, but his greatest legacy may be the Himalayan Trust, a foundation he established that over the past 30 years has constructed schools and clinics and rebuilt monasteries and bridges in Nepal. In short, the author is an icon in the mountaineering world, a humble philanthropist, and a man who has suffered much personal loss. All is humbly and frankly told in his compelling autobiography, which belongs in all adventure collections. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1999, Pocket Books, 310p, illus, maps, index, 24cm, $14.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Randy M. Brough; Lib. Dir., Franklin P.L., Franklin, NH, November 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 6)