Review of "The Everest Mystery"

 Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb offer a clear, well‑researched account of Sandy Irvine’s life, the 1924 Everest expedition, and the evidence uncovered in the decades since. While the mystery remains unsolved, the book provides a compelling look at why the question of Mallory and Irvine’s fate still fascinates climbers and readers alike.

Title/Author:

“The Everest Mystery: Sandy Irvine, George Mallory and the Truth Still Buried on Mt. Everest” by Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: 

One of the greatest mysteries in mountaineering is now more than a century old: did George Mallory and Sandy Irvine reach the summit of Mt. Everest in 1924, twenty‑nine years before the first recorded ascent by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? The Everest Mystery doesn’t claim to answer that question, but it offers an excellent account of Sandy Irvine’s life and the subsequent expeditions that uncovered Mallory’s body, Irvine’s shoe and foot, and other equipment belonging to both men. Julie Summers, Irvine’s great‑niece, and Jochen Hemmleb combine their research and expertise to create a clear, engaging narrative.

Despite what the title might suggest, the authors don’t present a definitive view on whether Mallory and Irvine reached the top. Instead, they draw from Irvine’s letters and diaries, historical records, and Hemmleb’s mountaineering knowledge to craft a book that is part biography, part chronicle of the 1924 expedition, and part investigation into the evidence found since the climbers disappeared.

Irvine was unusually young for the typical English explorer of the era, but he was chosen for his engineering skill, his ability to fix nearly anything, and his willingness to take on whatever tasks were needed — including cooking and porter work. Because Mallory was considering the use of supplemental oxygen for the summit push, Irvine’s technical abilities were especially valuable. Sadly, the pair never returned.

The book’s strongest sections describe the later expeditions that uncovered Mallory’s remains and Irvine’s shoe and foot, along with other clues that have only deepened the mystery. A 1960 Chinese expedition allegedly removed Irvine’s body, according to some accounts, to protect their claim of being the first to reach the summit via the North Col — the same route Mallory and Irvine climbed. To their credit, Summers and Hemmleb avoid sensational accusations and instead present the factual information available about that expedition and others. They also note that the 2024 discovery of Irvine’s boot and foot doesn’t resolve the question of whether the pair reached the summit, though it adds another intriguing piece to the puzzle.

More than a century later, the fate of Mallory and Irvine remains one of mountaineering’s most compelling mysteries. This book offers a thoughtful, well‑researched look at why the question endures.

I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a review copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: The Everest Mystery: Sandy Irvine, George Mallory, and the Truth Still Buried on Everest eBook : Summers, Julie, Hemmleb, Jochen: Kindle Store

 

Review of "The Climb:

After reading Into Thin Air, I wanted to hear another viewpoint on the 1996 Everest tragedy, and The Climb delivered exactly that. Boukreev’s detailed, unembellished account of the storm and his rescue efforts felt more accurate and more compelling. It’s a different lens on the same event, and one that ultimately spoke louder to me.

Title/Author:

“The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest” by G. Weston DeWalt and Anatoli Boukreev, narrated by Nelson Runger and Richard M. Davidson

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: 

This is the second book I’ve read about the May 1996 disaster on Mount Everest, the storm that killed eight climbers, including the well‑respected Scott Fischer. Like many readers drawn to this event or to mountaineering literature in general, I first read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Now I’ve experienced another perspective on the tragedy — or more accurately, listened to it, through the audio version of The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt.

While Boukerr is often regarded as a hero of that night, Krakauer’s account was far less generous, assigning Boukreev a share of blame for the deaths. Fischer was a guide on Boukreev’s Mountain Madness commercial team, while the Adventure Consultants expedition led by Rob Hall suffered four fatalities — Hall, Andy Harris, Doug Hansen, and Yasuko Namba. Three members of the Indo‑Tibetan Border Police also died on the mountain. With so much loss, it’s understandable that Krakauer sought explanations and accountability.

Listening to The Climb gave me a very different sense of the events leading up to that storm. Boukreev’s account felt more descriptive and more objective. He questioned decisions made by both Hall and Fischer, and he didn’t shy away from criticizing the business of commercial guiding — even though he was part of it. But in this book, he comes across primarily as someone trying to provide an accurate, unembellished description of the conditions on the mountain: the weather, the physical state of the climbers, and the chaos of the storm itself. For me, it offered a clearer, more grounded picture of what happened than Krakauer’s version.

That difference may simply reflect the different objectives each author had. But as a reader and listener, I felt Boukreev delivered a more precise account of what he endured while rescuing Charlotte Fox, Sandy Pittman, and Tim Madsen from certain death — without supplemental oxygen, at over 27,000 feet, in hurricane‑force winds. This review isn’t meant to discredit Krakauer; Into Thin Air is a bestselling and influential book. I just preferred this version, where the details of that rescue come directly from the climber who carried it out.

I also want to highlight the excellent narration. The two narrators brought the story vividly to life. At times it felt as though I were on the mountain myself — resting at Base Camp, fighting the brutal cold, or struggling through the thin air with limited gear and limited strength. Their performance added another layer to the experience and was a major reason I preferred this version as someone who enjoys reading about adventures in the Himalayas.

Link:  The Climb Audiobook by G. Weston DeWalt, Anatoli Boukreev

 

Review of "Fallen"

 Mick Conefrey’s account of George Mallory’s life and final Everest expedition blends strong research with gripping storytelling. Even with the outcome known, the 1924 climb and the discoveries that followed make for compelling, memorable reading.

Title/Author:

“Fallen: George Mallory and the Tragic 1924 Everest Expedition” by Mick Conefrey

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: 

The first recorded and acknowledged successful climb of Mt. Everest came in 1953, when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit. Yet for more than a century, questions have lingered about whether George Mallory and Sandy Irvine may have stood on top of the world nearly three decades earlier. Mick Conefrey’s book offers an excellent account of Mallory’s life, ambitions, the fateful 1924 expedition, and the discoveries that continue to fuel debate over whether he and Irvine were truly the first to reach the summit.

Through research and interviews, Conefrey paints a vivid portrait of Mallory—adventurous, determined, and wholly committed to the mountain. The 1924 expedition was his third attempt, and while his long absences strained family life, he is portrayed as a devoted husband to Ruth and father to Clare and George. Conefrey also captures Mallory’s unconventional livelihood, earning money through lectures to support both his household and his expeditions. These sections are detailed, engaging, and easy to follow.

The book’s strongest writing comes in its account of the 1924 climb. The descriptions of the camps, the weather, and the daily dangers Mallory and Irvine faced are compelling even when the outcome is already known. Conefrey’s narrative holds the reader’s attention with the urgency of a story unfolding in real time. The later chapters—covering the discovery of the climbers’ bodies and the theories sparked by those findings—are equally absorbing. While the all‑important camera Mallory carried was never found, what was discovered has led many to believe he may have reached the summit long before Hillary and Norgay.

Link: Fallen: George Mallory and the Tragic 1924 Everest Expedition: Conefrey, Mick: 9781639366354: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "Season of Shattered Dreams"

Eric Vickrey’s Season of Shattered Dreams brings new life to one of baseball’s most devastating and least‑remembered moments. It's a book I've been looking into for a long time and finally got the chance to read it.  Here is my review.

Title/Author:

“Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, The Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything” by Eric Vickrey

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: 

One of the most tragic dates in baseball history is June 24, 1946. On that day, a bus carrying 16 members of the Spokane Indians of the Western International League crashed on a mountain road in the Cascades. Nine team members were killed. A city, a team, and an entire league were left in shock. In Season of Shattered Dreams, Eric Vickrey tells the stories of the players who survived, the ones who didn’t, and the many people whose lives were permanently altered by the deadliest day to that point in professional baseball history. It was a finalist for the prestigious Casey Award in 2024, and after reading it, the recognition makes perfect sense.

While Vickrey devotes a chapter to the crash itself and the immediate aftermath, the strongest parts of the book are his portraits of the players and manager who made up the 1946 Indians. The pre‑crash chapters are especially compelling, particularly those on Jack Lohrke, Ben Geraghty, and Vic Picetti. After the crash, Vickrey follows Geraghty’s long, determined, and ultimately unsuccessful quest to become a major‑league manager, a journey that ended at the AAA Louisville Colonels despite his widely respected baseball mind.

The book captures everything a reader might want from baseball history of that era: the impact of World War II on rosters, the unique structure of baseball west of the Mississippi before MLB expanded, the near‑major‑league quality of the Pacific Coast League, and vivid profiles of the players themselves.

Vickrey also excels in widening the lens. He includes the stories of players who were not on the bus — Lohrke being the most famous example — and shows that their experiences were just as dramatic and meaningful as those who survived the crash. He brings in voices beyond the roster as well: wives and girlfriends, the bus driver, and even the search for the mysterious car that nearly collided head‑on with the team bus before swerving away and sending the vehicle down the ravine. These shorter narratives add depth and texture without ever feeling like digressions.

As Vickrey does in the book, it feels right to name the nine players who died, ensuring their memory endures nearly eighty years later: Freddie Martinez, Chris Hartje, George Risk, Bob James, Mel Cole, Bob Kinnaman, George Lyden, Bob Patterson, and Vic Picetti.

I wish to thank Mr. Vickrey for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything: Vickrey, Eric: 9781538190722: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "We Will Rise"

One of the more tragic stories in college basketball history was the 1977 plane crash that killed the members of the Evansville basketball team.  This book is a very good recount of that crash and how the team and city was able to carry on afterward. 

Title/Author:

“We Will Rise: A True Story of Tragedy and Resurrection in the American Heartland” by Steve Beaven

Tags:

Basketball, college, history, tragedy

Publish date:

January 1, 2020

Length:

276 pages

Rating:

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

On December 13,1977 a plane crash near Evansville, Indiana killed all on board, including the players, coaches and managers of the Evansville University basketball team. The grieving by the school and city as well as their recovery from this tragedy is the topic of this excellent book by Evansville native Steve Beaven.

He uses his first hand knowledge of the town and the Purple Aces history, along with information from over 150 interviews and many other stories to paint an excellent picture of the basketball program. From legendary coach Arad McCutcheon, who won multiple Division II titles in Evansville to the heartbreaking loss in the 1982 NCAA tourney to Marquette, Beavan's account reads like a history lesson of Evansville University basketball. The most interesting part of this information is the six day coaching stint (no games,.practices, or recruiting) by Jerry Sloan, who abruptly resigned after making his alma mater excited about their most famous player coming to coach. Don't feel.sorry for Sloan...he ended up with a long and successful career coaching in the NBA, most notably for the Utah Jazz more than 20 years.

Of course, in the middle.of all this basketball history is the terrible night of December 13, 1977. Here, Beavan describes the night of the crash with great detail, especially with the delayed takeoff and resulting errors that led to the fatal.crash and the doctor who heard the crash, ran out of his house and tried to help any survivors. The reader will also know something about !many of the young men on the plane, such as prize recruit Mike Hoff and Kevin Kingston. Even the only player not on the plane, David Furr, couldn't escape tragedy as he and his younger brother were killed in a car crash two weeks after David's teammates perished.

But this somber story is not the mood for the book, nor the school or its basketball team. There is great detail in how the Purple Aces, under coach Dock Walters, hired to replace the popular Bobby Watson after the crash, built the team.back to its winning just three years after the crash. While Meagan also is able to write about some of the surviving family members of the players and how they mourned, soles and moved on, their stories are not as.prominent in the book after the crash as the basketball is and that is the only minor flaw, in my opinion, in an otherwise very uplifting book.

Fans of the story of the Marshall football team rebuilding after a plane crash, told in the movie "We Are Marshall", will enjoy this similar tale of tragedy and resurrection after a very dark period. Especially recommended for college basketball fans who recall that tragic day.

    

                                                               

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/We-Will-Rise-Resurrection-Heartland-ebook/dp/B07LF4VRPC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 

Review of "The Pitch That Killed"

This book is one that has been on my radar for several years, but I just never thought about picking it up.  Then in an online baseball book club to which I belong, it was selected as the book for this month.  Decided to read it on the train to and from a baseball game and my only complaint is that I waited so long to read it.  Here is my review of "The Pitch That Killed."

Title/Author:

“The Pitch That Killed: Carl Mays, Ray Chapman and the Pennant Race of 1920” by Mike Sowell

Tags:

Baseball, professional, history, Yankees, Indians, tragedy

Publish date:

September 1, 1989

Length:

330 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Most baseball fans know about Ray Chapman being the only player to die because of an on-the-field incident when he was beaned by Carl Mays. These same fans may also know that he was very popular, not just with the fans of the Cleveland Indians but also is teammates. Then they may also be aware that Mays was not very popular, even before this tragedy, with the players, teammates and opponents alike. 

Just these topics would make a good book, but author Mike Sowell takes these and crafts an even better book by giving readers a complete picture of not only Mays and Chapman and that fateful day of August 16, 1920, but by including so many other key baseball men such as Tris Speaker (the Indians manager), Babe Ruth and Miller Huggins, the reader gets the complete picture of the men involved and the lead-up to that fateful pitch.

Mays was known as a trouble maker before arriving to the Yankees from his days with the Boston Red Sox.  It didn’t affect his pitching as he had success with both teams and was a key member of the Yankees staff as they were involved in a three team pennant race with the Indians and the Chicago White Sox.  His pitching was affected, however by a new rule that was enacted to disallow trick pitches.  Mays’ underhanded delivery was deemed to be this, but he still threw in that manner that was effective and hard for a batter to pick up, as would be horribly on display during an at bat by Ray Chapman.

Chapman, on the other hand, was a young player on the rise with the Indians.  A gifted shortstop, he was becoming a better player and gaining the confidence of his teammates.  Newly married and expecting his first child, the young man seemed to have the world in his hands when he stepped up to the plate during a game against the Yankees. A pitch from Mays was coming in high and tight on Chapman, who never saw it coming.  It hit him in the left temple and he was knocked to the ground bleeding and unconscious.  He was able to make if off the field with help from his teammates, but died the next day in the hospital.

Just this alone would make a good book, but Sowell turns it into fascinating reading by including many details on both Mays and Chapman, such as when Mays told his wife in 1918 that he may have needed to do something “out of the ordinary” to get his name in the papers, or that Chapman may have retired after the 1920 season after promising his father-in-law to consider giving up the game to run their successful family business. Sowell also weaves the tight American League pennant race into the story along with other people that makes story of Chapman’s death even more completing.  Little items such as Speaker getting involved in the decision on where to bury Chapman, a New York writer who tried to implicate Mays in throwing games during the 1921 World Series and the talk of players boycotting any game in which Mays was the pitcher.

All of this and more makes this book one that every baseball fan and historian must read. Even though I had known about this book for many years, I never picked it up until it was selected as a book of the month in an online baseball book club.  My only problem with that is that now I am kicking myself for waiting so long to read it. 

Book Format Read:

Paperback

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Pitch-That-Killed-Chapman-Baseball-ebook/dp/B0162637UU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494721564&sr=8-1&keywords=pitch+that+killed

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pitch-that-killed-mike-sowell/1100469089?ean=2940152385342

Review of "Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos"

When a member and author in the hockey books Facebook group I belong to posted a note about this book on the 30th anniversary of this bus crash on December 30, I knew that I wanted to find out more about this event.  Being an American who is not familiar with the Canadian Junior leagues, I only knew that this bus crash killed four players and the team had many future NHL stars.  Reading about it was an eye-opener - I am grateful for Todd Denault for bringing this book to my attention.

Title/Author:

“Sudden Death: The Incredible Saga of the 1986 Swift Current Broncos” by Leesa Culp with Gregg Drinnan and Bob Wilkie

Tags:

Ice hockey, Juniors, tragedy

Publish date:

September 15, 2012

Length:

216 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

On December 30, 1986, a bus carrying the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos skidded off the Trans-Canadian Highway in a snowstorm, killing four of the team’s players. The Broncos are a Canadian junior team in which the young men are teenagers with dreams of playing in the NHL.  A witness to the crash who also helped injured players, Leesa Culp, wrote this powerful book to tell the story about that night and some of the players who were on that bus. 

There are many reasons that this tragedy is still remembered thirty years later. One is the sheer amount of talent on that team.  Five players were drafted by NHL teams, four of them (Joe Sakic, Peter Soberlak, Ryan McGill and Bob Wilkie) within the first 44 selections.  Another talented player on the team, Sheldon Kennedy, was also profiled in the book as well because the triumph of the team winning the 1989 Memorial Trophy as the best junior team only three years after the tragedy was overshadowed by his revelation that coach Graham James had been sexually abusing Kennedy. 

That sad story is discussed at the end of the book and just like the crash, the story needed to be told. But it did not take away anything from the stories of the crash survivors, one of whom was a co-author of the book, Bob Wilkie. To read about what those young men endured without counseling and how they came back to not only finish the season but to start a championship run two short years later is truly amazing.

The four players killed (Trent Kresse, Scott Kruger, Chris Mantyka and Brent Ruff, younger brother of current Dallas Stars coach Lindsey Ruff) are always on the minds of the players throughout the book and each one has a brief write-up.  Because the book is about the surviving players and also Culp, who was invited to all reunions and events that involved the players on that bus, the stories were all the more moving in their authenticity and genuine emotion. 

One last aspect of the book that I appreciated is that as an American hockey fan who is not familiar with the Canadian junior leagues, the book also was a good introduction to the player’s life in the juniors.  It talked about the billeting families, the travel and the practices.  Because these are young men in their teenage years, seeing it through their eyes as told to Culp was an education and has made me wish to learn more about these leagues.

Anyone interested in the Canadian junior leagues, this team or even just hockey in general will enjoy this book – highly recommended.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying links:

https://www.amazon.com/Sudden-Death-Incredible-Current-Broncos-ebook/dp/B00ADOAFYO/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485102970&sr=8-1&keywords=sudden+death+swift+current+broncos

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sudden-death-leesa-culp/1110840125?ean=9781459705449