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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Excellent read. The criticism the author deviates from Honnold’s story a fair bit to talk about his own adventures is valid, but these are just as interesting and exciting as Honnold’s epic feat.
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
This book was a worthwhile listen and takes the reader on a tour of the author's climbing life, history of climbing in Yosemite and free solo of El Cap by Alex Honnold. Definitely interesting to gain insights into the minds of these athletes and what makes them who they are.
Was surprised and enjoyed to have a chapter or two about Alex Lowe too.
Was surprised and enjoyed to have a chapter or two about Alex Lowe too.
Really fascinating book! The first half introduced a lot of other climbers who accomplished things that at the time seemed “impossible”. I was confused at first why so much of the book, but it was all interesting and puts Honnold’s free solo of El Capitan in perspective of the wider history of climbing.
It’s really interesting how the “impossible” has evolved over time. The bar of what we think are the limits of human capability is constantly changing as people do things that were once thought impossible. It provoked much thought for me about fear and the limits we all set for ourselves, whatever that may be.
I was interested in the many perspectives he offered, including the experience of Jimmy Chin and the film crew, many of whom were friends of Alex’s. Synnott offers some thought-provoking discussion of the ethics around extreme sports like soloing, as well as the trend of the “pics or it didn’t happen” mindset that has become the norm.
The book was engaging and often funny. he explains climbing terminology well for a non-climber without getting lost in explanations.
I also appreciated the authenticity of how Synnott portrayed Alex. He does not shy away from portraying Alex’s flaws (in fact he’s pretty honest about how he can sometimes be cocky and a bit of a jerk, haha). At the same time their friendship, and the friendship between many of the people involved in filming his free solo, and just in the climbing world in general, was a really moving thing to get a glimpse of also.
It’s a good read! I saw Free Solo before reading this book, and I think I liked it in that order, but I think I’ll rewatch the documentary again soon, having read this.
It’s really interesting how the “impossible” has evolved over time. The bar of what we think are the limits of human capability is constantly changing as people do things that were once thought impossible. It provoked much thought for me about fear and the limits we all set for ourselves, whatever that may be.
I was interested in the many perspectives he offered, including the experience of Jimmy Chin and the film crew, many of whom were friends of Alex’s. Synnott offers some thought-provoking discussion of the ethics around extreme sports like soloing, as well as the trend of the “pics or it didn’t happen” mindset that has become the norm.
The book was engaging and often funny. he explains climbing terminology well for a non-climber without getting lost in explanations.
I also appreciated the authenticity of how Synnott portrayed Alex. He does not shy away from portraying Alex’s flaws (in fact he’s pretty honest about how he can sometimes be cocky and a bit of a jerk, haha). At the same time their friendship, and the friendship between many of the people involved in filming his free solo, and just in the climbing world in general, was a really moving thing to get a glimpse of also.
It’s a good read! I saw Free Solo before reading this book, and I think I liked it in that order, but I think I’ll rewatch the documentary again soon, having read this.
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
I tried to read this for 2 years and finally finished the book after taking it out from the library probably at least 15 times. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
---- spoiler alert ----
The book is not really about Alex Honnold. If you want to read the story of Alex Honnold, the famous free soloing rock climber, fast-forward to last 30 pages and boom, you're done. The rest of the book is about the writer himself, the history of rock climbing and climbing altogether. In my opinion, there should be two separate books - the book about Alex Honnold (which would be probably 100 pages max) and the longer book of the climbing history (300 pages). Then the reader could choose what to read instead of trying to read all.
And not to criticize too much, the history part was very interesting as well but it was also kind of boring if you started the book thinking that you will be reading about Alex Honnold. Yes, there were few mentions about him every now and then, but mostly it was something else in total.
I am still proud of myself that I managed to finish this book, even after two years, but I can't really recommend it. Tommy Caldwell's book about his climbing journey was much more interesting because it was about him - and not that much about the climbing in general.
---- spoiler alert ----
The book is not really about Alex Honnold. If you want to read the story of Alex Honnold, the famous free soloing rock climber, fast-forward to last 30 pages and boom, you're done. The rest of the book is about the writer himself, the history of rock climbing and climbing altogether. In my opinion, there should be two separate books - the book about Alex Honnold (which would be probably 100 pages max) and the longer book of the climbing history (300 pages). Then the reader could choose what to read instead of trying to read all.
And not to criticize too much, the history part was very interesting as well but it was also kind of boring if you started the book thinking that you will be reading about Alex Honnold. Yes, there were few mentions about him every now and then, but mostly it was something else in total.
I am still proud of myself that I managed to finish this book, even after two years, but I can't really recommend it. Tommy Caldwell's book about his climbing journey was much more interesting because it was about him - and not that much about the climbing in general.
adventurous
medium-paced
This is definitely not a focused book about Alex Honnold, but more of a meandering journey through the history of big wall climbing and how Honnold fits into the history of climbers that push the envelope. There was a lot more about Mark Synnott in the book than I was expecting, but I actually really enjoyed getting a bigger picture view of elite climbing from someone who has been a part of it for so long, more so than I think I would have enjoyed the biography of Honnold that I was expecting when I picked up this book. This book was a really interesting companion to Free Solo (the movie about Honnold's El Cap climb), and it gave me a lot of the background that I was missing from the movie.