The beginning biographical stuff is boring (Biographical early childhood stuff about a person you've never heard of before? What's the point?) but once it gets to essays about climbing and climbers it becomes interesting.

I can't agree with him about his attitude to safety-concerned modern climbing though. One would think he especially would be all for it, considering how many friends he's lost to unsafe climbing practises, but somehow, he still thinks they're a good idea without ever really explaining how on earth that could ever be justifiable.

It's one thing to climb K2 with the knowledge that there are risks involved; there's no other way to do it. It's a completely different thing climbing a route unsafely when you can just as well climb it safely: the word we're looking for here is "braindead stupid".