In High Places

Rating:
Summary: A superb yet modest summary of a brilliant climbing career.
Review: A sequence of breathtaking adventures from childhood onwards in which Dougal surpasses the achievements of most world class climbers of his day.

Rating:
Summary: A chill, laconic voice
Review: characterizes Haston's retelling of his brief, stellar climbing career. A good antidote to the flowery romanticism of some other mountaineering autobiographies, this excellent book belongs on all climbers' shelves.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but short
Review: This was a very interesting account of some big time climbs by one of the premier climbers of his day. His style is very direct, without the need to be overly critical of other climbers (a la Krakauer). He also manages to get into the discussion of climbing ethics with an elegantly simple statement of what it means to him, unlike some other climber/writers who use ethics to throw around blame for accident under the guise of ethics. The only thing I was disappointed in with this book was that it just seemed to stop out of the blue, almost as if he paused before he finished it, and then forgot to get back to it. All in all, though, a very good read.