Book reviews

With over a hundred mountaineering books on my shelves you could be forgiven for thinking my nose is in a book whenever it isn't sampling mountain air.

Come and join me in a review of mountain literature - some of the books you may own already and I hope this prompts you to dust them off for a re-reading, others I am sure will be new.

To make things a bit different from the usual reviews found elsewhere on the web I will break the collection down into sub-genres and compare and contrast various authors.

To give you the idea, I'll start next week with a review of the 1996 Everest disaster, perhaps the most written about mountaineering event since the first ascent in 1953. (or was it 1924? - more on that another time)

On May 10th 1996 twenty three men and women were caught in a desperate struggle for their lives as they battled against a ferocious storm high on Everest - and eight of them would lose that battle.

In all we will review seven books covering the events of that day and the recriminations that followed. We'll hear from a man left for dead and from the doctor who later treated him at base camp. We'll hear from a journalist, a woman climber, a couple of film makers and a high altitude guide - all were present and give their own perspective on this extraordinary event.