Rating: 
Summary: A Rare Find
Review: I found this book enjoyable and interesting. I am thankful that there are those who are willing to be explorers, and I am thankful that there are authors who can write their stories for all of us to enjoy. This is a rare find if you want to read about expedition kayaking. It moves like a whitewater river. It's not all rapids. Sometimes you have to float in an eddy while the author gives you some historicial perspective before the next plunge. Sure it could have been shorter, but then we would never have known these men well enough to appreciate why they did what they did. I don't see this as an extreme sport outing anymore than the Lewis and Clark expedition. These men are modern day explorers in an uncharted world who met with tragedy. This is their story.
Rating: 
Summary: Why compare kayaking to climbing?
Review: I have read this book recently, and couldn't stop wondering about the fact that Todd Balf keeps writing about climbing. His book is about kayaking! Athough he gives a lot of information about the preperations of the trip and the characters of the people who joined, I just missed extensive descriptions on the actual kayaking on the river. As a kayaker, it's always interesting to read about kayaking, but I expected more.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written and not worth the time....
Review: I have to agree with the previous reviews that gave this book low marks. From the very beginning, Todd Balf rubbed me the wrong way. The whole build up is disgustingly sycophantic and so much of it is irrelevant and boring--in reality maybe it wasn't, but it's presented that way--that it's hard to even make it to where the actual boating occurs (2/3s into the book). Balf's incessant fawning is just nauseating. They're just people Todd, they really aren't gods. Being a kayaker myself--admittedly not even close to the same league as the book's characters--I found Balf's handling of the story to be very poor. I may be wrong, but I just don't think he has a clue to what it's all about. My impression of Balf is that he's a wannabe that couldn't be, so he took to writing about his fantasies he couldn't fulfill. I know that sounds harsh, but if you read the book, you might just see what I'm talking about. But don't waste your money. Check it out at the library is you're really curious.
Rating:
Summary: Tradegy and awe of river running
Review: I immediately loved the book from the beginning. The first pages will pull you into a kayak of your own with the expedition group. The only negative feedback would be that I already knew who was to die only a few chapters into the book. It is must-read for anyone that loves whitewater and BIG WATER!
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Summary: Writing doesn't flow in this "Into Thin Air" wannabe
Review: I picked up this book based on the intriguing cover, and the back cover description likening it to Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, only with kayaks.The author insists on comparing this kayak expedition down the Tsangpo river to Everest, to the point of becoming repetitive and annoying. He takes a cookie-cutter approach to an adventure/survival non-fiction work, with history, character sketches, logistical work, a flashback, and then the actual attempt. The historical part of the book is boring and not very well fleshed out, and is extremely American/Anglo-centric. An Indian explorer who spent 5 years trying to penetrate the area, including being sold into slavery, is treated as a bungling incompetent. During the present-day part of the book, a Chinese team is trying to run the river, but they are ignored almost completely. Parts of this book are extremely trite - "legendary Valley Mill outdoors camp"? And the references to one character's previous military/CIA experience are just plain fawning. I think this book would have been written much better by one of the river team who was actually there, so I look forward to reading Wick's book on the subject. The story is there, but the author couldn't capture it.
Rating:
Summary: the last river
Review: i realy enjoyed this book. i am a whitewater kayaker myself, and i was very interested in the planning and dynamics of the expedition. it seemed like real life to me. the only thing i wish is that there were some photos or maps...
Rating:
Summary: Shagri La where are you?
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed The Last River as I have always had a fascination with the idea of Shangri-La. The book was an exhilirating read, just like running a rapid. I am no expert on whitewater adventure, but I was caught up in the expedition's challenge to run an unrunnable river and finished the book in about two nights worth of reading!! This book brought out the daydreamer in me who would love to find Shangri-La and experience the thrills that go along with it. Since that won't happen, I lived vicariously through this book and came away feeling very satisfied. If one is looking for light-reading on an adventure most of us will never experience, then The Last River may just fill that spot inside of you.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, personally insightful - do I need more?
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. OK,so I live in Isrel and the though of a huge river pulsating with white water waves is already a bit dreamlike, but then I am reading to be entertained which I certainly was. I felt that the book gave meaningful insights into the thought processes and personalities of a group of people who came together to do something that seems positively insane to me. I was enthralled by the descriptions of the river and the kayaking, attracted to the dilemmas of middle aged guys doing something that doesn't jive with middle of the road expectations and had my appetite whetted for understanding more about Tibet. Could any of us ask for more in a book? This is a good adventure book that makes you think, imagine and grimace. The story flows, the chacters are real and while the river came alive I am happy to say that my living room stayed dry all the way through. Get out and enjoy the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair to middling
Review: If you're hoping for a whitewater Into Thin Air, forget it. Last River never overcomes its "as-told-to" narrative style that distances the author from his subjects and setting. The characters are cardboard cutouts (what's with the team member with "ties to the Pentagon"? A good reporter gives us more than a calculated line like that); the local people and landscape are curiously indistinct; and the big picture stuff is rushed at the end and hardly satisfying. As for the reader from CT below, you're missing the point. No one disputes that the Chinese occupation of Tibet is a travesty, but what about our own smaller-scale incursions? You'll be hard-pressed to find a sophisticated commentary from Balf, much less a consideration of adventure travel's impact on such places. The chapter on past explorations of the Tsangpo is okay, but aren't more recent expeditions just another form of the same old cultural imperialism? "Save Tibet" stickers on Volvos aside, what happens when the Americans go home at the end of the day after bagging their peaks and rivers? Maybe it's global trade in action--or a millennial retrofitting of the old saying from Vietnam: We paid them to save them. More than a few of the interactions between the paddling team and the locals turned sour, after all, so communication isn't carrying the day. Could it be that the author didn't have time for such an "off-point" discussion because the "official account" from a team member was nipping at his oars? That said, the Potomac chapter is a gem, and overall Last River makes serviceable airport reading.
Rating:
Summary: Last River or Diamond Sow?? It's a toss up.
Review: My comments come after finishing the books "The Last River" and "Courting the Diamond Sow", both of which I read over the last 2 weeks, and was provoked to write by a couple of factors. Reading the existing reviews for "The Last River" particularly, I was struck by the number of people who felt it necessary to slam the book. First, after reading these books I have a better appreciation for the writing skill needed to write a book that is entirely engaging, brings the personalities to life, allows the reader to become part of the adventure, all the while being true to its subject. Second, I appreciate that the writers made the story available so that we could learn about this trip and I don't mean to suggest that either effort was a waste of time and that the writers should hang up their quills. Sadly, in my opinion neither of the books written about the same 1998 Tsangpo journey is terribly engaging. Last River is an easier read while I found the first half, particularly, of Sow a literary slog. Not sure if it was bogged down in description or what; I just found it slow going. Neither book had much of an ebb and flow in the narrative. Even as the tragic events of Doug Gordon's death neared, there was nothing to indicate that one's blood should be heating up and that now was not the time to put the book down. They were very flat in that regard. I differentiate between sensationalism and a literary tidal cycle; perhaps the authors were extremely cognizant of avoiding the former. The Last River spends a greater percentage of ink relating the experiences of the 4 paddlers on the river and off while Sow balances more equally the stories of both paddlers and support team. Also, Wickliffe Walker in Sow deals with the 'fallout' from Gordon's death much more comprehensively than does Todd Balf; Walker spends several pages relating the effort needed to battle rumours and judgments that were circulating at home half-way around the world. While the actual journey and the salient events I expect to remember, these books I expect to forget quickly (but then, I forgot Into Thin Air fairly quickly also). If there are poignant moments from the tale and thoughts to come away with, the one I recall most easily is the second-guessing of Gordon's paddling buddies as described most clearly in The Last Rivers account of Roger Zbel's "What if" self-flagellation. As a paddler, I pray that I am never faced with that.
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It was disappointing that The Last River did not have any photos at all of the area and only a minimalist map. On the other hand, Sow's small collection of photos was hardly comprehensive though the satellite photo was helpful in placing the story. Nether book rates more than a 2.5 - 3, in my mind, nor does one stand head and shoulders above the other. My context: Canadian class IV kayaker; 3 Himalayan river trips in Nepal (in fact and unbeknownst, I was on the Tamur River at exactly the time this group was on the Tsangpo); read years ago the American Whitewater article of the Gordon/McEwan trip down the Homothko in BC.
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