Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road
Author: Donald Miller
Fueled by the belief that something better exists than the mundane life they've been living, free spirits Don and Paul set off on an adventure-filled road trip in search of deeper meaning, beauty, and an explanation for life. Many young men dream of such a trip, but few are brave enough to actually attempt it. Fewer still have the writing skills of Donald Miller, who records the trip with wide-eyed honesty in achingly beautiful prose. In this completely revised edition, he discusses everything from the nature of friendship, the reason for pain, and the origins of beauty.
As they travel from Texas to Oregon in Paul's cantankerous Volkswagen van, the two friends encounter a variety of fascinating people, witness the fullness of nature's splendor, and learn unexpected lessons about themselves, each other, and even God.
"A record of a classic road trip. Miller's tale is full of serendipitous adventures and thoughtful Christian reflection . . . offering the sort of deep-thought wanderings into meaning and significance that are the meat of college-age existence . . . a reminder that life was meant to be lived, not just gotten through." (Publishers Weekly)
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The Kid Who Climbed Everest: The Incredible Story of a 23-Year-Old's Summit of Mt. Everest
Author: Bear Grylls
In 1996, a twenty-three-year-old soldier in the British Army was flying over an African desert on a routine parachute jump. He had a lot to look forward to-a long career ahead of him in the army, a beautiful girlfriend back home. But those dreams were cut short when his parachute failed to open at eleven thousand feet. He had cracked three vertebrae and had come within a fraction of an inch of severing his spinal cord. A grueling eight months of physical therapy followed. Bear had to retrain his muscles to do all of the things we take for granted-how to sit, to stand, to walk, even to breathe. Eighteen months after his accident, he overcame incredible odds to reach the peak of Everest.
The Kid Who Climbed Everest is a tale of courage and determination. Bear's quest for funding for his expedition, his seventy days on Everest's southeast face, and a narrow brush with death after a fall into a crevasse at nineteen thousand feet, make this story an essential read for anyone who's ever had a dream and made it come true.
Bear Grylls was brought up on a small island off the south coast of England, where his late father taught him to climb and sail. Now one of the youngest and most sought-after motivational speakers, he relates his remarkable experiences to audiences and corporations all around the world.
Publishers Weekly
For a year, Grylls held the record for the Youngest Englishman on the Hill for his summit ascent at age 23 (only to be bested the following year by a 22-year-old). Grylls, while serving in the army, suffered a parachuting accident that nearly severed his spinal cord. After eight months in a military rehab center, he decided to leave the military and climb the legendary Everest. Barely escaping death (he fell into a crevasse at 19,000 feet), he reached the summit just 18 months after his accident. Unfortunately, Grylls's account of 70 days on Everest has a flat pitch, stiff syntax and little insight to offer on the experience of reaching for the top of the world save earnest observations on grit, body functions at high altitudes, his grandpa, faith, queen and country. The transcendent folly and physical drama of climbing above 26,000 feet were sharp narrative tools in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, but the Kid can't quite elaborate on how he felt as he passed the decayed, mummified body of Rob Hall, who tragically failed to scale the summit ridge. Grylls's report from the top of the world is almost without discernible color except the "bully" attitude Grylls and his mates brought along from England and took back home after a few celebratory ales in Kathmandu. His story adds little to the ever-expanding Everest genre. (May) Forecast: No matter how unexceptional they might appear to the uninitiated, diehard Everest fans never seem to tire of books like this. The effusive blurb from British Prime Minister Tony Blair certainly won't hurt sales, either.
Library Journal
This is an exhilarating story of the youngest (at the age of 23) Briton ever to scale Mount Everest. Grylls recounts his battle against nature and his own physical and mental limits. He brilliantly details his long, slow trek up the mountain, where altitude acclimations become critical as oxygen limitations, headaches, and lethargy challenge all those who attempt to climb the 29,035 feet above sea level. What makes Grylls's story all the more enthralling is that he had fractured three vertebrae and came close to severing his spinal cord in a free-fall parachuting accident two years prior, while serving in the British Army. After spending months in rehabilitation, he decided to pursue his childhood dream to climb the world's highest peak. Even considering the glut of Everest works, this is an excellent book of personal triumph and should serve as an inspiration to all who read it. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Tim Delaney, Canisius Coll., Buffalo
Kirkus Reviews
Another stone added to the growing mountain of Everest adventures. Newcomer Grylls was serving in the British army in 1996 when he suffered a parachuting accident that left him with three broken vertebrae and a badly bruised spinal cord. In the months of physical therapy that followed, this avid climber rekindled a childhood dream to climb the world's tallest peak—a feat that very few mountaineers younger than 30 have ever managed to pull off. "Everest is no place to prove yourself," the author admits. "The likelihood of reaching the summit is so slim that you're inevitably setting yourself up to be disappointed." Even so, he talked his way into a slot on a 1998 British expedition led by a tough-as-nails ex-Marine commando who urged his teammates through the icy, windswept hells that Grylls describes quite effectively. For instance, he tells us that one area of Everest, the Icefalls, is so named because great spears of ice break off the sun-warmed slope in mid-afternoon, sharp and heavy enough to kill anyone standing "deep within the jaws of the overhang"; his account of the party's race across the region is a fine set piece that doesn't compare at all badly to the best Everest narratives. Against all odds, the author endured the Icefalls, the Lhotse Face, and other challenges the mountain threw up along the way, eventually arriving at the aptly named Death Zone, where, hyperventilating, he communed with the body of Rob Hall (whose death stands at the dramatic heart of Jon Krakauer's 1997 account, Into Thin Air) and then took the summit—all at the tender age of 23. Occasionally breathless and clunky, this is a vivid and inspiring read all the same, sure to find a largeaudience among outdoor-adventure and climbing buffs.
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