Rating: 
Summary: Great story. Unbearable writting.
Review: This has to be one of the greatest mountaineering survival story of all time. But, it is poorely written. I had trouble finnishing the book. If only John Krakauer would have written it, we would have gotten a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Touching the Void
Review: If you like adventure, danger and the great outdoors this is the book for you. Touching The Void is a very compelling story about mans determination and will to survive no matter what Mother Nature dishes out. Joe Simpson gives an excellent narrative that grabs the reader and gets them asking for more. Touching The Void takes place high in the Andes Mountains. Joe Simpson and his climbing partner Simon Yates just reached the top of a 21,000-foot summit when disaster strikes. Everything was going great for the two climbers. They were both overjoyed with their accomplishment when all of a sudden their world fell apart both literally and figuratively. This was a good book
definitely worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, bad reader for tape edition
Review: I don't know whose idea it was to pick this reader for the book-on-tape edition, but he was very hard to listen to. He does have an accent but I could have gotten used to that, the main problem is his flat tone of voice. This is an exciting story but he reads it like he is reading his grocery list. My mind kept drifting while I listened to him. I recommend getting the book instead of the cassette.
Rating:
Summary: Read this one
Review: Can you imagine trying to descend from the top of a twenty-one thousand foot peak in the Andes, with a broken leg? Touching The Void, a book written by Joe Simpson, is a harrowing first person account of one man's miraculous survival.
Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, finally reached the top of a twenty-one thousand foot peak when Simpson plunged off a vertical ice edge and broke his leg.
Touching the void has constant, breathtaking events as you are walked through Joe Simpson's journey. Each chapter is filled with obstacles that Simpson and his climbing partner must overcome.
I recommend buying this book and finding out what happens; it's worth the money. Touching the void will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you're into action and suspense, this is a book for you.
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Experience
Review: Joe Simpson's Touching the Void is a compelling first person narrative of one mans miraculous survival. Joe and Simon are looking to become the first known people to climb the west face of the Suila Grande. They ascend their way to the peak, but a storm moves in, catching them off guard. The two continue with their journey down tied together by a rope. A cornice breaks off of the mountain sending Joe down with it, but the safety rope stops his fall. Reunited, the two continue their trek until the come to a huge gap in the snow and ice. Joe searches for a way around the detour and while peering over the edge loses his footing and breaks his knee on the wall. Joe wants Simon to go on without him, but Simon notices a ledge not far down and begins lowering Joe and himself. You'll never guess what happens next. If you like adventure and surprises, this is a book for you. Simpson puts you on the edge of your seat guessing what's going to happen next.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll read it in one evening.
Review: I disagree with some of the book reviews. It doesn't make me want to climb, nor make me think that mountain climbers are sane -- not in the least.But this is a true-adventure yarn of such compelling interest that even couch potatoes and non-readers should love it. It is unbelievable, an unbelievable tale of survival, and it is a first -hand account (he wrote his own story!). What this book is really about is the human spirit, body, and mind for SURVIVAL. It is a fantastic read.
Rating:
Summary: a voice, a watch and patterns
Review: "In seconds my whole outlook changed. The weary frightened hours of night were forgotten...I could do something positive. I could crawl and climb and keep on doing so until I had escaped from this grave...helplessness had been my worst enemy. Now I had a plan. The change in me was astonishing. I felt invigorated full of energy and optimism. I could see possible dangers, very real risks that could destroy my hopes, but somehow I knew I could overcome them." (p113) TOUCHING THE VOID is an inspiring book to me. In it Mr. Joe Simpson writes of his tramatic experience that brings him beyond his physical abilities to rely on a spiritual connection. As he courageously descends a mountain in the Peruvian Andes with a broken leg, his iron will propels him to survive while literally crawling across snow, ice, and rocks. I am deeply indebted to Mr Simpson that he recorded his thoughts, feelings and the tools that assisted his survival. I feel that I have learned how to better address challenges in my own life. Mr Simpson identifies three tools: a "voice", a watch, and patterns. He writes that, "the 'voice' and the watch, urged me into motion whenver the heat from the glacier halted me in a drowsy exhausted daze." The battered climber would use his watch to pace himself and also to ground himself when he would become distracted by the pain, confusion, and dehydration. A consistent 'voice' would dispasionately drive him forward saying, "Get moving ... don't lie ... stop dozing ... move!" But it is Mr Simpson's use of patterns that is most enlightening, "a pattern of movements developed after my initial wobbly hops and I meticulously repeated the pattern. Each pattern made up one step across the slope and I began to feel detached from everything I thought of nothing but the patterns." (p68). I have applied the principle of patterns to my own challenges. It has been successful for me because it helps me to focus my energy. This diary from Mr Simpson has inspired me and provided me with tools that help me to maintain my spiritual connection.
Rating:
Summary: Award winning account of this infamous mountain epic
Review: The slim, tight account of young British mountaineer Joe Simpson's epic crawl to eventual safety after the horrendous (yet strangely sensible) abandonment by his climbing partner. The story is extraordinary and the book was well written (apparently Simpson has an English degree) -- a combination that won the author the coveted Boardman-Tasker award for mountain literature (20,000 pound prize?). I was a very active climber in the UK when this came out and relate closely to the first hand account. A friend mixed with some of those involved in Sheffield, England. It reminds of Earnest Shackleton's story and also the unbelievably tragic story of the first south-north crossing of Australia documented in Alan Moorehead's classic "Cooper's Creek". Apparently Tom Cruise currently owns the film rights for the story. Tom would be excellent in the part but climbing films rarely make big money - although with such a great combination of talent, perhaps this could be the exception. A great read for anybody and a must read for anybody who loves mountains or adventure. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Adventure
Review: So there you are, having climbed a wall of ice and rock and having celebrated on the top. On the way down an accident occcurs and your friend hurts himself. No problem, you can get him down on ropes. However, your friend starts to slip and pull you off the wall- and your hand reaches for the knife to cut the rope.... This, gentle reader, is what touching the void is about. Its an absolutly compelling true story of survival in the Andes, and about a "routine" expedition that went horribly wrong. The story itself is riviting, and the book has some incredible photos. (the one of Simpson after the events described is amazing). The book itself is short and pithy, most readers will finish it in less than a week. This is more from the compelling nature of the story, not from any thing else. Simpsons style of writing is short and direct, and refreshingly honest. Recommended. Grade: A-
Rating:
Summary: EXTREME ADVENTURE IN THE PERUVIAN ANDES...
Review: This book recounts an amazing tale of courage, fortitude, and the will to live, despite dire circumstances. The author, Joe Simpson, and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, attempted to ascend a perilous section of the Peruvian Andes. Near the summit, tragedy struck when Joe, up over 19,000 feet, fell and hit a slope at the base of a cliff, breaking his right leg, rupturing his right knee, and shattering his right heel. Beneath him was a seemingly endless fall to the bottom. When Simon reached him, they both knew that the chances for getting Joe off the mountain were virtually non-existent. Yet, they fashioned a daring plan to to do just that. For the next few hours, they worked in tandem through a snow storm, and managed a risky, yet effective way of trying to lower Joe down the mountain. About three thousand feet down, Joe, who was still roped to Simon, dropped off an edge and found himself now free hanging in space six feet away from an ice wall, unable to reach it with his axe. The edge was over hung about fifteen feet above him. The dark outline of a crevasse lay about a hundred feet directly below him. Joe could not get up, and Simon could not get down. In fact, Joe's weight began to pull Simon off the mountain. So, Simon was finally forced to do the only thing he could do under the circumstances. He cut the rope, believing that he was consigning his friend to certain death. Therein lies the tale. What happens next is sure to make one believe in miracles. This is an absorbing read and one of the great stories in mountaineering literature.
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