Roberts - On the Ridge Between Life and Death

In a remarkable reexamination of more than 40 years of groundbreaking ascents, Roberts reflects on the lives lostand offers a brutally candid assessment of an avocation that has given him his most piercing moments of joy. His is a fine achievement in adventure writing: Looming over the sweaty-palms-inducing accounts of high-altitude elan is the sober tone of someone who understands all too well the bitter cost of an often deadly pursuit.

Wook Kim, Entertainment Weekly

Nobody alive writes better about mountaineering and its peculiar adherents than David Roberts, my mentor and friend of thirty-some years, and this is Professor Robertss magnum opus. Told with wrenching candor, On the Ridge Between Life and Death may disturb you, or even make you angry, but you will not be able to put it aside.

Jon Krakauer, author of Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith and Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

More than a few readers will think of Jon Krakauers Into Thin Air as they delve into this bracing work.[the] balance of joy and terror is what makes Robertss book such an exhilarating read and an intense appraisal of a life spent on the edge.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

(Critics Choice, * * * *): This is an addiction memoir like no other. Without climbing, would [Roberts] have been a better husband, a better son? It takes another kind of courage just to ask the question.

Pope Brock, People

A climber since his teens, [Roberts] argued that despite the deaths he had witnessed, climbing was worth the risks. Now in his sixties, he sets out to reexamine the tradeoffs. That he does not reach a satisfying conclusion is less important than his searing honesty in exploring this slippery metaphysical slope.

Jill Fredston, The Washington Post Book World

A book of incredible self-examination and penitence that will captivate readersclimbers and nonclimbers alike.

Booklist

David Roberts has crafted a work of staggering introspection, taking responsibility for his passion of bleeding-edge mountaineering. His probing honesty and penitent perspective have caused me to re-evaluate the risk-reward balance of my own passion.

Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place

On the Ridge Between Life and Death presents the challenges, risks, and rewards of climbing in an honest and balanced light. In a brutally honest voice, Roberts seeks to answer the question of why we choose dangerous adventures.

Conrad Anker, coauthor of The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest

The most extraordinary climbing memoir I have read. The eternally damnable questionwhy climb, and is it worth the risk?is at the forefront of Robertss personal investigation. His answers may trouble, and inform, all climbers.

Greg Child, author of Over the Edge: The True Story of Four American Climbers Kidnap and Escape in the Mountains of Central Asia

David Roberts has been an inspiration to at least two generations of mountaineers. In this candid and insightful memoir, Roberts recounts his climbing career and ponders if the perils were worth the risks.

Larry Cox, Tucson Citizen

[A] vivid and suspense-filled reexamination of [David Robertss] climbing life. well-written and moving.

Karen Algeo Krizman, Rocky Mountain News

Robertss book is a compelling read and one that begs the larger question for each of us: What makes life worth living?

Staci Matlock, Santa Fe New Mexican

If you climb or are close to someone who does, you will find some striking familiar behaviors detailed as Roberts reveals the frequently messy interior of his heart. Be prepared to dig into your own locked emotional closet as you contemplate his reconciliation of elation and pain brought on by his purest love: the mountains.

Chris Kalous, Climbing