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Summary: Perhaps the best story to come off of Everest!
Review: Amazing, riveting, a real page turner...all descriptions of many Everest adventures ( I have read more than my share). This one may top them all. Why? Because while most of us cannot actually go climb the highest peaks in the world like Beck Weathers, most of us can identify with the complex challenges of emotions and day-to-day life that he faces. Though thankfully, without the depths of his depression.This riveting account of how one man would be more willing to face the "death zone" of Everest than confront the death zone of marriage, fatherhood, his profession etc. is amazing. The best part is Weathers, who literally rose from the dead on Everest, comes back and with the intention of raising his marriage and the rest of his life from near death as well. One could come to the conclusion it is THE reason he did so. Beck Weathers has to be one of the funniest men alive. There were many times I actually was laughing out loud reading this book on the airplane (especially as he describes living conditions under the dictatorship of Muffin the cat). There were also times I was glad to be alone as my eyes were brimming with the emotion of this man and his family's journey. The book is written in a wonderful structure, with his wife and children's perspectives juxtaposed coincidently against his own. It is amazing to see two or more people view the same events from diametrically opposite perspectives. As a reader of more than 100 books a year I can easily say this is the best read I've had in years. My heartfelt congratulations to Beck Weathers, his wife Peach and their children. As with any expedition through major challenges in life, we never know if we will make it or not. And while their expedition continues, I openly admire their efforts. Simply a must read
Rating: 
Summary: And you thought you had read it all
Review: Having read just about all the books that are out regarding the 1996 Everest expedition I didn't have much hope that Dr. Weathers would have anything much to add. But I was wrong, I was surprized by his openness and surprised too to hear the rest of his story. It's an amazing story in more ways than one. Dr. Weathers has a way of writing that is very personal, almost like you could hear him speaking. I enjoyed his droll sense of humor, dotted though out the book and learing how his mountaineering career got started, the training that he did. I liked the comments from his wife and kids I though they added another dimension to the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother.
Review: It may seem unkind to trash a book written by someone who survived the terrible ordeal that Mr. Weathers did. However, I really think this is a dreadful book. It reads like a religious tract: man becomes separated from his family due to his obsession with (insert alcohol, gambling, work or mountaineering here), barely survives through miraculous intervention, and is a changed man from that day onward. There's almost no description of climbing here. The Everest expedition is over within the first few chapters! Instead, most of the book is a long history of Weathers' childhood and family life; why this should interest anyone is unclear. If you're looking for a book about climbing, adventure or the beauties of nature, avoid this.
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Summary: climbing testimonial
Review: Beck Weathers' account of the tragedy on Everest offers something that the others do not: a picture of the dedication and self(ish) sacrifice demanded by the "big" climbs. The value of this account is the hardship that Everest claims on the families of climbers before, during and after the expeditions. I would recommend this book to climbers and their families as a tale from a man who had it all, and didn't discover it until he was left for dead.
Rating:
Summary: Too Tabloid
Review: As an avid traveler and collector of books about travel, guide books, etc., my opinion of this book about a tragic yet fascinating time and topic, is very low. The book by Jon Krauker (sp?) is an example of tasteful telling of the tragic year. This book is more gore and bore.
Rating: 
Summary: Left for Dead should be Left Unread
Review: It is inevitable that Beck Weather's remarkable surival on Everest would prompt a book, but this is a book that offers inadequate descriptions of his mountaineering (although plenty about dung and bodily elimination). The comments provided by his long-suffering wife Peach and a few friends, personal trainer, and kids.... are sophomoric and boring. Weathers, a self obsessed man with a smart-alec attitude, is never likeable or particularly empathetic. To the question of whether he would do it again, his answer is "Yes, Eveni if I knew exactly everything that was going to happen to me on Mt. Everest, I would do it again." Fortunately most people don't need to lose their hands to appreciate their families. The unfortunate emphasis in this book is a simplistic look at a dysfunctional marital and family relationship, and who cares. The narrative is poor, leaving the reader clammoring for better descriptions of the Everest climb from Weathers, more about the colleagues who saved his life, more details of the time on the mountain before and after the return from the dead, and its aftermath within the climbing community and the relationships then and now with those well respected and competent colleagues who helped him down,including Breashers and Ed Viesturs. Weather has no ability to bring the mountains, let alone the climbing, to life and he is always anxious to move on to demonstrate his own familial inadequacies. The few black and white illustrations are primarily uninteresting family photos. Readers are much better off reading Tom Hornheim (outstanding prose and a real ability to vividly portray the challenge of climbing, Arlene Blum (who writes with insight as well as solid descriptive narrative)Rick Ridgeway, Jim Wickwire, and of course, Breashears and Krakauer. Wish I could return this one.
Rating: 
Summary: The 1996 Everest Disaster through the eyes of Beck Weathers.
Review: Unbelievable. That's all I can say. There isn't a soul on this planet that could even begin to comprehend what Beck Weathers went through high in "The Death Zone". This man literally defied death, having been left for dead 3 times and surviving by sheer force of will and his love for his family. This side of the 1996 tragedy hasn't been told until now. Several books have been written about that fateful climb, but Weathers' account delves much deeper than that deadly storm. He gives us all a look into what drives many of us to reach for such lofty and deadly goals.
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Summary: Beck Weathers' story is gripping, loving, amazing.
Review: This morning, I picked up a copy of "Left for Dead" at (a well-known book store), sat down in a stuffed chair, and read for over an hour. It was very difficult to stop. The heartfelt story of Beck's astonishing walk to Mount Everest's Camp Three; his rescue by an helicopter; his recovery; and his family. . . It was hard to keep from crying on occasion. A great story!
Rating:
Summary: "Every time water hit my forehead, my nose would itch"
Review: Dr. Weathers who is quoted in the title of this review is many things. His ability to joke about the damage he sustained is unusual. Perhaps surviving such an ordeal grants perspectives to those who live through them, whether the experience was begun by choice with terrible results, or an equally terrible random accident. Ever since the events of 1996 I have become almost preoccupied by the stories of that expedition as well as others. I have read all the books, and probably have more volumes than a non-climber would be expected to have. This book is unique, as the author does not point fingers or make judgments about what happened or the individuals that were involved. There is one exception but that is my opinion only. Dr. Weathers does a better job than others of paying tribute to those who survived and those who did not. He often would make a comment on how an individual should be remembered by using positive memories as opposed to apportioning blame as previous books have. One "professional review" described this expedition as a "fiasco". Dr. Weathers would probably let this affront to those who survived, those who died, and the families left behind, as a comment made by a writer in need of a dictionary. Anyone who has the courage to climb one of these mountains is many things, but they are not planners or participants in fiascoes, or as Oxford states "a ludicrous event". They are adults who make they own decisions and attempt what few ever have or will do. This does not make them better, but it certainly does not open them to ridicule that oozes from ignorant writers of insipid book jacket reviews. This is a very very personal account of what Dr. Weathers and his Family and friends went through. This is not a moment-by-moment recounting of the Everest trip, rather a reflective look on his life that is painfully candid, together with equally personal comments from his family. This is completely different from previous books; it extends way beyond the confines of one author's attempt at spin control, to include the extended group of people that wait thousands of miles away during these assault attempts. It includes the hellish weeks for families and friends, and the type of relationships that can survive this extreme sport. These people choose to go where they climb, and they take the associated risks. Is every decision on every assault perfect, no more than any other day in any other life. The real climbers are of the same "right stuff" that can be found in other high-risk professions. The fact that for most climbing is not a career, does not mean their judgement is questionable. As I have read all of these books, my fundamental respect for these people as a group has grown. Are they perfect, who is? Before anyone throws out a word like fiasco, let him or her attempt that which is almost impossible. Until they do maintain your ignorance in silence, it looks pathetic when published. Great read, amazing men and women climbers, and the families and friends who support them.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible
Review: This could have been the greatest story of willpower and physical determination, yet Beck Weathers is so full of himself, does not put any responsibility on his own actions and he wants to belong to the selective group of the best mountaineers on the planet so badly, sorry Beck after reading your book you are not. He is condescending of the villages, cultures and people in the climbing regions and his jokes are misplaced. He is looking for excuses for his own mistakes. If the book was meant to describe an emotionally disturbed person with low self esteem trying to be somebody, it would have been a great success, yet everything points to the fact that Beck wants to be liked and appreciated for what he has done in the mountains and the person he has become. He survived an amazing thing, nobody has ever stood up from the death and could talk about it, why not write about that experience? The family story? Sorry no interest and bad book filling. The power of books in this genre is often the understatement and the matter of fact story telling, like: `Endurance, Shackelton's incredible voyage', or `In the land of White Death', or `the Climb'. Do yourself a favour do not waste your time, energy and money on this book, and remember Beck Weathers for the extraordinary accomplishment of determination by walking of Mount Everest alive, against all odds.
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