TOUCHING THE VOID

Joe Simpson

ISBN 10: 0224025457 / ISBN 13: 9780224025454

Published by JONATHAN CAPE, 1988

About this Item

Signed by Joe Simpson to the title page. Near fine protected wrapper is unclipped (£10.95) and near fine book in equally excellent condition. True first edition complete with the corrective sticker over the incorrect ISBN.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1762600157474

Bibliographic Details

• Title: TOUCHING THE VOID
• Publisher: JONATHAN CAPE
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0224025457
• ISBN 13: 9780224025454
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Dimensions: 1.9W x 15.8H x 24D centimeters 1.9 centimeters width by 15.8 centimeters height by 24 centimeters depth
• Weight: 450 grams
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Signed by the author without dedication, 2010 reprint. Shipped from the UK in recyclable card packaging.

Review

Concise and yet packed with detail, Touching the Void, Joe Simpson's harrowing account of near-death in the Peruvian Andes, is a compact tour de force that wrestles with issues of bravery, friendship, physical endurance, the code of the mountains, and the will to live. Simpson dedicates the book to his climbing partner, Simon Yates, and to "those friends who have gone to the mountains and have not returned." What is it that compels certain individuals to willingly seek out the most inhospitable climate on earth? To risk their lives in an attempt to leave footprints where few or none have gone before? Simpson's vivid narrative of a dangerous climbing expedition will convince even the most die-hard couch potato that such pursuits fall within the realm of the sane. As the author struggles ever higher, readers learn of the mountain's awesome power, the beautiful--and sometimes deadly--sheets of blue glacial ice, and the accomplishment of a successful ascent. And then catastrophe: the second half of Touching the Void sees Simpson at his darkest moment. With a smashed, useless leg, he and his partner must struggle down a near-vertical face--and that's only the beginning of their troubles.