On the Ridge Between Life and Death

On the Ridge Between Life and Death PDF

Author: David Roberts

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2006-09-07

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0743255194

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One of the world's best-known writers on mountaineering recalls his climbing career and reconsiders the cost of this most perilous sport.

Warnings against Myself

Warnings against Myself PDF

Author: David Stevenson

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2016-04-05

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0295806559

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From his youthful second ascent of the north ridge of Mount Kennedy in the Yukon�s Saint Elias Range, an in-and-out on skis for which he had not entirely learned how to ski, to a recent excursion across the Harding Icefield conceived under the influence of rain and whiskey, David Stevenson chronicles several decades of a life unified by a preoccupation with climbing. Reflective and literary, and also entertaining and funny, his accounts move across the great climbing locations of the western United States, with forays into the spires of the Alps, and slip freely in time from the author�s childhood, when he could not wait to head west, to his adulthood, with a wife and two sons, in which he still feels compelled by a longing to be on the heights.

People, Problems, and Proofs

People, Problems, and Proofs PDF

Author: Richard J. Lipton

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-12-11

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 3642414222

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People, problems, and proofs are the lifeblood of theoretical computer science. Behind the computing devices and applications that have transformed our lives are clever algorithms, and for every worthwhile algorithm there is a problem that it solves and a proof that it works. Before this proof there was an open problem: can one create an efficient algorithm to solve the computational problem? And, finally, behind these questions are the people who are excited about these fundamental issues in our computational world. In this book the authors draw on their outstanding research and teaching experience to showcase some key people and ideas in the domain of theoretical computer science, particularly in computational complexity and algorithms, and related mathematical topics. They show evidence of the considerable scholarship that supports this young field, and they balance an impressive breadth of topics with the depth necessary to reveal the power and the relevance of the work described. Beyond this, the authors discuss the sustained effort of their community, revealing much about the culture of their field. A career in theoretical computer science at the top level is a vocation: the work is hard, and in addition to the obvious requirements such as intellect and training, the vignettes in this book demonstrate the importance of human factors such as personality, instinct, creativity, ambition, tenacity, and luck. The authors' style is characterize d by personal observations, enthusiasm, and humor, and this book will be a source of inspiration and guidance for graduate students and researchers engaged with or planning careers in theoretical computer science.

Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters

Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters PDF

Author: James M. Tabor

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2008-06-17

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0393066851

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Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award Grand Prize Winner, Banff Mountain Book Festival "Forever on the Mountain grips even non-climbers with its harrowing scenes of thorny relationships tested by extraordinary circumstances." —Washington Post In 1967, seven young men, members of a twelve-man expedition led by twenty-four-year-old Joe Wilcox, were stranded at 20,000 feet on Alaska’s Mount McKinley in a vicious Arctic storm. Ten days passed while the storm raged, yet no rescue was mounted. All seven perished in what remains the most tragic expedition in American climbing history. Revisiting the event in the tradition of Norman Maclean’s Young Men and Fire, James M. Tabor uncovers elements of controversy, finger-pointing, and cover-up that make this disaster unlike any other.

The Times They Are A Changin'

The Times They Are A Changin' PDF

Author: D. Savage

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-02-25

Total Pages: 79

ISBN-13: 1137525150

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This narrative and empirical analysis investigates Hilary's claim that in his day they would not have left a man behind to die. The authors examine over 60 years of Himalayan climbing data and stories in order to test the changes in cooperation in this extreme life and death environment.

No Summit Out of Sight

No Summit Out of Sight PDF

Author: Jordan Romero

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-05-06

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1476709629

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"The story of Jordan Romero, who at the age of 13 became the youngest person ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest. At age 15, he reached the summits of the world's 7 highest mountains"--

The American Adrenaline Narrative

The American Adrenaline Narrative PDF

Author: Kristin J. Jacobson

Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 0820356999

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1. DESIRING NATURES -- 2. CONQUERING NATURES -- 3. SPIRITUAL NATURES -- 4. EROTIC NATURES -- 5. RISKY NATURES -- 6. RESTORATIVE NATURES -- Appendix : List of Contemporary American Adrenaline Narratives.

Pilgrims of the Vertical

Pilgrims of the Vertical PDF

Author: Joseph E. Taylor III

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2010-10-15

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 0674257103

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Few things suggest rugged individualism as powerfully as the solitary mountaineer testing his or her mettle in the rough country. Yet the long history of wilderness sport complicates this image. In this surprising story of the premier rock-climbing venue in the United States, Pilgrims of the Vertical offers insight into the nature of wilderness adventure. From the founding era of mountain climbing in Victorian Europe to present-day climbing gyms, Pilgrims of the Vertical shows how ever-changing alignments of nature, technology, gender, sport, and consumer culture have shaped climbers’ relations to nature and to each other. Even in Yosemite Valley, a premier site for sporting and environmental culture since the 1800s, elite athletes cannot be entirely disentangled from the many men and women seeking recreation and camaraderie. Following these climbers through time, Joseph Taylor uncovers lessons about the relationship of individuals to groups, sport to society, and nature to culture. He also shows how social and historical contexts influenced adventurers’ choices and experiences, and why some became leading environmental activists—including John Muir, David Brower, and Yvon Chouinard. In a world in which wild nature is increasingly associated with play, and virtuous play with environmental values, Pilgrims of the Vertical explains when and how these ideas developed, and why they became intimately linked to consumerism.

Limits of the Known

Limits of the Known PDF

Author: David Roberts

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2018-02-20

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0393609871

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“If you’ve run out of Saint-Exupéry and miss the eloquent power of his work, then you are ready to read David Roberts.” —Laurence Gonzales, author of Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why David Roberts has spent his career documenting voyages to the most extreme landscapes on earth. In Limits of the Known, he reflects on humanity’s—and his own—relationship to exploration and extreme risk. Part memoir and part history, this book tries to make sense of why so many have committed their lives to the desperate pursuit of adventure. What compelled Eric Shipton to return, five times, to the ridges of Mt. Everest, plotting the mountain’s most treacherous territory years before Hillary and Tenzing’s famous ascent? What drove Bill Stone to dive 3,000 feet underground into North America’s deepest cave? And what is the future of adventure in a world we have mapped and trodden from end to end? In the wake of his diagnosis with throat cancer, Roberts seeks answers with new urgency and “penetrating self-analysis” (Booklist).