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Summary: What a surprise. This guy writes like McPhee.
Review: I just picked up the new paperback version, with the author's tribute to don osman written after his tragic fall. Todhunter explains complexities of climbing, making things as clear to a know-nothing flatlander as John McPhee might. But when he gets into feelings, especially fear and the emotional cost of risk taking and the kind of life that leads to it, the details of Osman's past life(and some of his own), the story moves like a tense short novel.
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Summary: Too much focus on author, but still interesting
Review: I read this book about 6 weeks ago, lured in by the cover blurb that promised an adventure story like Into Thin Air or The Perfect Storm. It disappointed me in comparison to those excellent works, but I still found it fairly interesting. I could have done with way less of the author's ruminations. I was prompted to write my review today because I JUST learned (very belatedly) of Dan Osman's tragic death last November. I am so sorry to hear the news.
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Summary: Marvelous
Review: If you are expecting a biography of Dan Osman, this really isn't it. Although the author gives details of Osman's life, the book is really about the author's own journey; balancing his risk-taking activities with family responsibilities and his relationship with Dan Osman. The Phantom Lord is a metaphor the author uses for one's own fear; ie the book is about the author and Osman dealing with their fears. Therefore, the book is half about Osman and half about the author. For what it delivers, the book is very well written. In retrospect to Osman's subsequent death, it is very interesting. If you are uninterested in the author's journey, as I was, the sections where he talks about himself are easily skipped. The parts, about Osman, that I found interesting are fairly short and I'd recommend climbers to borrow it. He spends quite a number of pages explaining various climbing terms; therefore, I'd also recommend it to the general reader for its excellent writing.
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Summary: Dan Osman is not the Phantom Lord
Review: If you are expecting a biography of Dan Osman, this really isn't it. Although the author gives details of Osman's life, the book is really about the author's own journey; balancing his risk-taking activities with family responsibilities and his relationship with Dan Osman. The Phantom Lord is a metaphor the author uses for one's own fear; ie the book is about the author and Osman dealing with their fears. Therefore, the book is half about Osman and half about the author. For what it delivers, the book is very well written. In retrospect to Osman's subsequent death, it is very interesting. If you are uninterested in the author's journey, as I was, the sections where he talks about himself are easily skipped. The parts, about Osman, that I found interesting are fairly short and I'd recommend climbers to borrow it. He spends quite a number of pages explaining various climbing terms; therefore, I'd also recommend it to the general reader for its excellent writing.
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Summary: Synopsis:
Review: In the tradition of the now wildly popular man-versus-nature genre that has recently launched several bestsellers, Andrew Todhunter follows the lives of world-class climber Dan Osman and his coterie of friends as he explores the extremes of risk on the unyielding surface of the rock. In many ways, technical rock climbing up sheer rock faces and thousand-foot-high overhangs is more of a religion than a sport, demanding dedication, patience, mental and physical strength, grace, and a kind of obsession with detail that is crucial just to survive. Its artists are modern-day ascetics who often sacrifice nine-to-five jobs, material goods, and the safety of everyday life to pit themselves and their moral resoluteness, as well as the cleverness of fingers and feet, against an utterly unforgiving opponent. In the course of the two years chronicled in Fall of the Phantom Lord, the author also undertakes, to his surprise, a journey of his own, as he begins to weigh the relative value of extreme sports and the risk of sudden death. By the end of the book, as he ponders joining Osman on a dangerous fall from a high bridge to feel the kind of rush Osman experiences, Todhunter comes to a new understanding of risk taking and the role it has in his own life, and the lives of these men. Beautifully written and utterly fascinating, Fall of the Phantom Lord looks at a world few people have experienced. It will surely take its place alongside Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm as a classic of adventure literature.
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Summary: Great Insite into the mind of an extreme sports enthusiast.
Review: Sadly, I received the book as a gift from my son after Dan passed away. My son is the Jason mentioned. Until I read Andrew's details I guess I chose not to think about what they were doing. My son along with Dan's other climbing friends are taking his death badly. Dan left a 12 year old daughter, Emma. Jason and Dan's friends held a raffle just before Christmas to try and help with Emma's upcoming education. They plan to have another shortly. My son's comment to me upon telling me of Dan's death was that Dan was "the expert" and he would never think of doing the free falling, or base jumping without Dan's expertise. Thank you Andrew Todhunter for your book and for enlightening me on exactly what my son has been doing. I can only pray that the deaths stop with Dan.
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Summary: The Toddhunter story?
Review: That's what I got from the authors take on Dan Osman. The title leads you to believe it's about Dan. That's wrong most of the time. I felt the author's main goal was to write an autobiography but believing no one would read it used Dan Osman to suck us in. The author fails to see Dan as an artist and that's a large flaw. His description of climbing is good reading. Pictures of climbing gear in an appendix would have been a nice touch for the non-climber. I did enjoy my time with Dan in this book and about the first 2 or 3 times with the author.
Rating:
Summary: The Toddhunter story?
Review: That's what I got from the authors take on Dan Osman. The title leads you to believe it's about Dan. That's wrong most of the time. I felt the author's main goal was to write an autobiography but believing no one would read it used Dan Osman to suck us in. The author fails to see Dan as an artist and that's a large flaw. His description of climbing is good reading. Pictures of climbing gear in an appendix would have been a nice touch for the non-climber. I did enjoy my time with Dan in this book and about the first 2 or 3 times with the author.
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Summary: ANY STORY ABOUT DANO SHOULD BE IN ANYONE'S LIBRARY
Review: THE LIFE OF DAN OSMAN, IS A LIFE AS EXCITING AS IT GETS. A GREAT BOOK ABOUT A MODERN DAY PIONEER, WHO WAS AS GREAT OF A PERSON AS YOU COULD FIND. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. IT HELPS YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING TO SET A GOAL YOU ONCE THOUGHT UNATTAINABLE. I LOVED IT!
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Summary: Thanksgiving Day - November 26, 1998
Review: The title of this book "Fall of the Phantom Lord" is sadly prophetic. Dan Osman fell about 1,200 feet to his death earlier this week while attempting a controlled free-fall from Leaning Tower, Yosemite National Park. My understanding is he was attempting to break his own 1000-foot record set the day before. I know Dan's father. No doubt this book's tribute to his son's skill and daring means a great deal to him. Dan died where he wanted to be, doing what he loved to do. He celebrated life to the fullest and put his own unique value upon it. In the years to come without him, I hope his family will find some comfort in this knowledge.
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