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Well written multidisciplinary overview

5 von 5 Punkten
This book gives an interesting multidisciplinary overview of the food / environmental / wealth problems we're facing which will probably only exacerbate, and possible solutions -- including a proponent of GenMod crops. No, this book isn't some extremist book stating "let's all become vegetarian!" (as the title may suggest), nor does it seriously draw on "sentimental" arguments. I feel this book makes us reflect on the whole issue, leaving us to decide ourselves. Recommended for anyone interested in "why it is necessary to reduce meat consumption" and a good overview anyway for the current state of affairs in this field.

A "must have" reference text for the serious student.

5 von 5 Punkten
This text is essential for the upcoming plant scientist and should be in the book case of every graduate student involved in the study of plant nutrition. Marshner provides the in-depth look into the mineral nutrition of plants that serious students have been looking for. Topics are supported by an endless array of citations and the book is an excellent source of information for those writing literature reviews and journal articles. Marshners depth of understanding on the subject will amaze you! Recommended for graduate level students, or serious undergraduates. The depth may prove to be frustrating for the beginner.

Amazon.co.uk

Why just climb Everest when you can climb it without supplemental oxygen? Why just climb it without oxygen when you can climb it alone? And why fly to Nepal to climb Everest when you can bicycle all the way there? Apparently questions such as these occurred to Göran Kropp, a Swede with a taste for adventure and a desire for the Ultimate High. In October 1995 Kropp set out from Sweden with a bicycle, trailer and more than 200 pounds of equipment. Over the next four months he cycled some 7,000 miles across Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal. By the time he arrived in Kathmandu, Kropp had been shot at, pelted with rocks and offered the madam's daughter--free of charge--in a Hungarian brothel.
After carrying his own equipment up to Everest Base Camp, Kropp found himself surrounded by other climbers, all waiting for a break in the weather so they could attempt the summit. Many books have been written about that disastrous season on Everest, notably Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb. Kroop adds little of substance to the story, engaging mainly in camp gossip about who was sleeping with whom and "outing" climbers who lied about reaching summits. Even Kropp's account of his own climb is somewhat suspenseless--though some readers will be relieved that he doesn't go into too much detail about his physical breakdown. More tiresome is Kropp's clear disdain for climbers who use supplemental oxygen ("Mount Everest is not 29,028 feet tall if the mountain is scaled by a climber wearing an oxygen mask"). Climbers who "see Everest and other high peaks reduced to trophies kept in a china cabinet" are also despised--though his "Ultimate Mountain List" (he's already climbed 16 of the 22) seems a bit like a trophy room itself.
After he finally reached the summit--on his third attempt in less than a month--Kropp spent a few weeks recouperating in Kathmandu and then hopped on his bike for the long and rugged ride home. Not satisfied, Kropp is already planning and training for his next adventure, to take place in 2004: sailing from Sweden to Antarctica, then skiing to the South Pole and returning--all solo. That he is only just learning to sail doesn't dissuade him--"I like to jump headfirst into new projects." Ultimate High is proof that he's determined-- and crazy--enough to complete them. --Sunny Delaney

Amazon.com

Why just climb Everest when you can climb it without supplemental oxygen? Why just climb it without oxygen when you can climb it alone? And why fly to Nepal to climb Everest when you can bicycle all the way there? Apparently, questions such as these occurred to Göran Kropp, a Swede with a taste for adventure and a desire for the Ultimate High. In October 1995, Kropp set out from Sweden with a bicycle, a trailer, and over 200 pounds of equipment. Over the next four months, he cycled some 7,000 miles across Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. By the time he arrived in Kathmandu, Kropp had been shot at, pelted with rocks, and offered the madam's daughter--free of charge--in a Hungarian brothel.
After carrying his own equipment up to Everest Base Camp, Kropp found himself surrounded by other climbers, all waiting for a break in the weather so they could attempt the summit. Many books have been written about that disastrous season on Everest, notably Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb. Kroop adds little of substance to the story, engaging mainly in camp gossip about who was sleeping with whom and "outing" climbers who lied about reaching summits. Even Kropp's account of his own climb is somewhat suspenseless--though some readers will be relieved that he doesn't go into too much detail about his physical breakdown. More tiresome is Kropp's clear disdain for climbers who use supplemental oxygen. ("Mount Everest is not 29,028 feet tall if the mountain is scaled by a climber wearing an oxygen mask.") He also despises climbers who "see Everest and other high peaks reduced to trophies kept in a china cabinet"--though his "Ultimate Mountain List" (he's already climbed 16 of the 22) seems a bit like a trophy room itself.
After he finally reached the summit--on his third attempt in under a month--Kropp spent a few weeks recuperating in Kathmandu and then hopped on his bike for the long and rugged ride home. Not satisfied, Kropp is already planning and training for his next adventure, to take place in 2004: sailing from Sweden to Antarctica, skiing to the South Pole, and returning--all solo. That he is only just learning to sail doesn't dissuade him--"I like to jump headfirst into new projects." Ultimate High is proof that he's determined--and crazy--enough to complete them. --Sunny Delaney

Don't bother

1 von 5 Punkten
One of the more recent entries to the Everest Disaster of '96 Publishing Industry, this book is one to avoid.
The premise sound promising: he decided that everyone who was climbing Everest was cheating, and he was going to do it himself, the right way. He put all his climbing gear (and food) onto a bike and bicycled from Sweden to Nepal, climbed Everest without bottled oxygen, avoiding fixed ropes and prepared trails, and bicycled home again. He happened to do this in 1996, so he was there in the middle of the debacle so well documented by Jon Krakauer and others.
Now, I'm a cyclist, and a climber, so that sounds like the sort of story I'd really get into. But it isn't nearly as interesting or rewarding as it sounds.
I was put off, first, by the claim on the book jacket that he was only the 2nd person to climb K2 without bottled oxygen, which is garbage. Almost no one climbs K2 with bottled oxygen, and hasn't since the 70's. Secondly, I was put off by his defensive, self-righteous tone, his constant litany that everyone's cheating but him, and no one believes in him, everyone's trying to take advantage of him.
I don't have a lot of patience for the "fair means" discussion in the first place. Is it right or wrong to use bottled oxygen? Is it fair or not to use fixed ropes put up by others? Is it fair to wear clothing that you didn't weave yourself? If bottled oxygen is wrong, is caffeine okay? He hauled all his food from Sweden, but did he freeze-dry it himself? Did he plant the wheat and grind the flour and bake the bread? Crampons used to be considered 'not sporting' but Kropp apparently gives them his benison. He agonizes over having to take a ferry, and whether that constitutes "cheating" but doesn't consider that the roads and bridges he rides on are as much the work of others as the fixed ropes on Everest are.
The fact that you're relying on others' experience and knowledge of the mountain means that you're not doing it yourself. No one can approach Everest (or Rainier or the Matterhorn or any other documented peak) today in the same way that they were first climbed. Read 'Annapurna' by Maurice Herzog for a real hero's quest: these folks set out to climb one of two mountains, depending on which one they could get to. They didn't have accurate maps, they knew nothing about the approach, or possible routes, or the conditions. THAT'S fair means, Goran! This isn't to deny that Kropp didn't accomplish a feat: anyone who makes it up Everest, by whatever means, has done something physically far harder than I'll ever do in my life. But to put up the pretence that he's the only one who really does it right and honestly, is rot.
There are a couple of bits of juicy gossip in there - Boukreev is the one who was sleeping with a female sherpa, angering the gods, and Carlos Carsolio, who claims to be the first Mexican to climb the 14 8000m peaks, didn't actually summit on K2 'I was there and I know.' Benoit Chamooux didn't actually summit on Shisha Pangma, either, he turned around 30 vertical feet below the summit. Everyone knows that.
Everyone's a liar and a cheat, it seems, except him.

Nice but..........

3 von 5 Punkten
...yes Goran has done a great adventure journey, but unfortuanetly his boook failed to describe or convey the true accomplishment. One whole chapter at the end deals with his future plans... this space should have been used to tell us more about his current trip, as I had the feeling he "rushed" the desription of cycling to Nepal, which in itself is a daring trip. It still is a intresting and worthwhile read.

Interesting story, but too much rehash

3 von 5 Punkten
Kropp's attempt to reach Everest under his own power, carrying all his own gear, was wildly idealistic, and to forge his own path through the Icefall and, to some extent, remain independent on the upper mountain was admirable. It's too bad that so little of the book concerns his actual climbing. Instead, we get rehashed bits from the bloated "Everest 1996" oeuvre, interspersed with historical factoids which either needed chapters of their own or to be edited out entirely. I suspect the latter are the work of the co-author. Kropp sounds like an interesting person, a true "lily of the field"-type climbing bum, but we hear too little about him. I'd still recommend this book, but readers may find themselves skimming parts of it.

Great book.!

5 von 5 Punkten
Well... I'm from Sweden (same country as Göran). And when I read the book I got the feeling that Mr.Kropp is insane :). I mean...Do you guys out there know that he tried to ski to The North Pole? And soon he will sail to the South Pole. Well..about the book.....Mr.Lagerqrantz does a really good job when he describes the trip from Sweden to Nepal. And the way up to the top..
GREAT BOOK!... I will buy Into Thin Air now :)