THE MOUNTAINS OF MY LIFE

Name: THE MOUNTAINS OF MY LIFE
Author: Walter Bonatti
ISBN: 0-375-75640-X

by Walter Bonatti ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 9, 2001

Ably translated and edited by Australian climber Marshall, this will be of great interest to mountaineering buffs, and to...

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Well-made compendium of adventures—and misadventures—on some of the world’s highest peaks.

In his day, Italian adventurer Bonatti was among the world’s best-known climbers, having established daring new routes on some of the most forbidding mountains of the Alps, many accomplished on solo climbs without oxygen. This collection, a volume in a series edited by Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air, 1997, etc.), gathers portions of several of Bonatti’s climbing memoirs, some of which were published in English editions but have long been out of print. As adventure writing, the memoirs are often standard fare: I came to a peak, I climbed it (or, in some cases, failed to climb it), I endured harrowing weather and the possibility of swan-diving into the abyss. Bonatti, however, is both more modest and more reflective than many of his contemporaries and successors (Reinhold Messner comes to mind); mountains, he writes, “are no more than the reflection of our spirit. Each peak is big or small, generous or mean, in proportion to what we offer it and what we ask of it.” Much of the book is given over to documents relating to Bonatti’s ill-fated climb of the Himalayan peak K2 in 1954, which, he notes with considerable understatement, “turned out to be more complicated and full of surprises than had been expected.” The junior member of an Italian national team, Bonatti was accused of abandoning his fellow climbers to scale K2 by himself and thus claim the honor of being the first to the summit; senior members charged that he had left them without sufficient oxygen, although two did make it to the top. Bonatti’s defense is vigorous and convincing, although it will doubtless not prove to be the final word in a controversy that has gone on for more than four decades.

Ably translated and edited by Australian climber Marshall, this will be of great interest to mountaineering buffs, and to armchair adventurers generally.

Pub Date: March 9, 2001

ISBN: 0-375-75640-X

Page Count: 576

Publisher: Modern Library

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001

Categories:

SPORTS & RECREATION

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DiMAGGIO

THE LAST AMERICAN KNIGHT

by Joseph Durso ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 7, 1995

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New York Times sportswriter Durso (Madison Square Garden, 1979, etc.) adds a tepid volume to the lengthy shelf on the fabled Yankee Clipper. This book was almost an autobiography: DiMaggio thought the time was right for his own version of his oft-told story, and a publisher was willing to give him and Durso a $2 million advance. But when DiMag realized that he would have to discuss his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, he pulled out of the project; Durso decided to proceed without him. Durso's tome opens promisingly with a chapter on DiMaggio's return to the public eye in the early 1970s as a TV spokesman for the Bowery Savings Bank and, later, for Mr. Coffee. This fascinating material reveals a side of the reclusive hero that few know; Durso perceptively notes that DiMaggio was a shrewd businessman who proved a natural pitchman, projecting great sincerity on the small screen. Unfortunately, subsequent chapters add little to the familiar saga of this first-generation Italian- American kid from San Francisco, the fisherman's son who become not just a great baseball player but an American icon. Durso rehashes the tale: high school dropout, sandlot player who joined the Triple-A San Francisco Seals at 18 and tore up the Pacific Coast League, 13 seasons with the Yankees, the 56-game hitting streak, the Homeric comeback to win the pennant in 1949, the 274-day marriage to Marilyn. It's all been told before and most of it has been told better. If you have never heard of DiMaggio, this will give you the basics. Otherwise, nothing special. (b&w photos, not seen)

Pub Date: June 7, 1995

ISBN: 0-316-19730-0

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995

Categories:

SPORTS & RECREATION

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A GOOD WALK SPOILED

DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE PGA TOUR

by John Feinstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 5, 1995

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Best-selling sportswriter Feinstein (Running Mates, 1992, etc.) turns his attention to a new sport, golf, with this chronicle of a year on the men's pro tour. Golf is, by its very nature, a brutally winnowing game (as Tom Boswell once observed), a mental test as well as a physical one. At the professional level, as practiced on the PGA Tour, it is the last bastion of true athletic individualism; you win or lose because of your own efforts, with no teammates or coaches to blame. Moreover, in order to make any money at all on the pro tour, you have to play well. Unlike tennis, there are no appearance fees, and you have to survive the cut after two days of a tournament to collect a check. Therefore, there is a certain amount of inherent drama in the lives and games of the pros. Feinstein has chosen wisely in his subjects, a wide range of successful and not-so- successful players, from Davis Love III, who overcame memories of his father's death in a plane crash to score the decisive victory for the US in the Ryder Cup, to Paul Azinger fighting cancer. Some of the best moments in the book, however, are provided by lesser- known golfers like Brian Henninger and Paul Goydos, who are struggling just to stay on the Tour. Feinstein isn't the best prose stylist or the most poetic or humorous sportswriter in America; what he does better than anybody else is to make you understand the complex mix of psychology, group dynamics, and political pressures that make athletes tick. Although too much of the second half of the book turns into a monotonous replaying of individual rounds of golf, for the most part A Good Walk Spoiled (Twain's description of golf) is an insightful look at one of our best games. It's not A Season on the Brink, but even baseball stalwarts languishing for a sports fix might find this compulsively readable. (17 b&w photos, not seen)