a good read - alpinism

Some of my favorites:

The Last Days - Ridgeway
The White Spider - Harrer
Annapurna - Herzog
Mixed Emotions - Child
Thin Air - Child
This Game of Ghosts - Simpson
Free Spirit - Messner

The Bond by Simon McCarthy. Winner of the most recent Boardman Tasker Award. Tells the tale of McArthy and Jack Roberts ascents of Mt Huntington and Denali. Utterly gripping.

Jon Miller on the WS wrote:The Bond by Simon McCarthy. Winner of the most recent Boardman Tasker Award. Tells the tale of McArthy and Jack Roberts ascents of Mt Huntington and Denali. Utterly gripping.

Nick Votto wrote: Starlight and Storm is awesome

Second that, it's a fantastic book! Or you can watch the film on youtube. 

"Addicted to Danger" by Jim Wickwire

"Savage Arena" by Joe Tasker 

Just finished Blanchard's "The Calling" and it really got me psyched.  Easier to take seriously than twight imo. I'd suggest reading about whatever range you'll be traveling to soon for mega stoke and relevant beta. 

CCChanceR Ronemus wrote:

Just finished Blanchard's "The Calling" and it really got me psyched.  Easier to take seriously than twight imo. I'd suggest reading about whatever range you'll be traveling to soon for mega stoke and relevant beta. 

I thought twights book was fantastic but I realize thats only because I relate/sympathize with the punk rock, not so subtle undertones. Just got Blanchards book. Psyched to dive into it.  

Books already mentioned that are on my best-of list:

Solo Faces, by James Salter. He's one of the best American writers, and he (as a non-climber) wrote the best(-written) book about climbing that's ever been.

The Calling, by Bubba. 'Cause he's Barry Blanchard, the Bonatti of the Rockies.

The Mountains of My Life, by Bonatti. 'Cause he's Bonatti.

Savage Arena, by Joe Tasker.

If you're 25 or younger, definitely pick up 'Kiss or Kill.' That book changed my life. I'm an old washed-up has-been never-was now, though, and his writing doesn't hit me as hard as it used to.

Others:

One Day As a Tiger, by John Porter. It's about Alex McIntyre, whose story had not been previously written and who died young, but who left a legacy of bold climbs done in pure style.

Breaking Point, by Glenn Randall. He and Pete Athans and Peter Metcalf put up a vision-quest route on Hunter, really amazing story. Metcalf is in an episode of The Enormocast and talks about the climb a bit.

Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage by Buhl. Just in case, you know, you want to feel like a total candy ass. He was one hard dude.

The Ascent of Rum Doodle, W.E. Bowman. It might take a bit more effort to find than some of the others listed here but is worth it. A mountaineering classic. 

Ain't That Rich wrote:According to one lifecycle analysis of printed books versus e-readers, the energy, water, and raw materials needed to make a single e-reader is equal to that of 40 to 50 books. In terms of the effect on the climate, the emissions created by a single e-reader are equal to roughly 100 books.

I know it still runs into the comprehension issue, but I've enjoyed some reading on a tablet or phone - I just set it to white text on a black background, and turn the brightness (phone and in app) all the way down, and it doesn't keep me from falling asleep (the usual problem with reading on phones).

And I'll second the Rum Doodle suggestion.

Also, get psyched for Bernadette Macdonald's upcoming book about Voytek Kurtyka, "Art of Freedom: The Life and Climbs of Voytek Kurtyka."

PaulMagnusCalabro wrote:

Also, get psyched for Bernadette Macdonald's upcoming book about Voytek Kurtyka, "Art of Freedom: The Life and Climbs of Voytek Kurtyka."

Did you read "Freedom Climbers"? Great book. Really opened my eyes to the incredible climbing that Polish Alpinists did with little of the support that other climbers of their level got. It seems like often when you look at the route maps of mountains that the hardest routes seemed to be named "Polish Route". 

Don't forget "white spider".  

PaulMagnusCalabro wrote:The Mountains of My Life, by Bonatti. 'Cause he's Bonatti.

Great book.  He was way ahead of his time.

Solo Faces - James Salter.  Best climbing book ever written, period.  It's fiction, though.  

Feeding the Rat - A. Alvarez.  Surprised nobody has mentioned this essential yet.  

Also try "Once a Runner," by John L. Parker Jr., which is not about alpinism, yet will take you far.  

Oh, also, some books you SHOULDN'T read, because I don't care about anybody: 

Shitty writing:  Eiger Dreams, The Calling 

Obnoxious chip on shoulder & shitty writing: Mountains of My Life 

Dubious facts & shitty writing: Into Thin Air 

Books you definitely should read, but which aren't as amazing as those other ones I mentioned in my first post: Conquistadors of the Useless, The White Spider, Mountain of My Fear, Touching the Void.  

Generally you can trust @PaulMagnusCalabro's taste, except he's got a blind spot for Bonatti.  

I thought The Calling was pretty good. Mountain of My Fear is also really good. I think David Roberts is really the godfather of modern writing about climbing. I enjoyed The Tower a Great Deal. I felt like Kiss or Kill was interesting, but a bit too much ego stroking for me. 

My all time favorite is Annapurna. I've read that 3 times now. 

I still haven't read Conquistadors of the Useless, but I really want to. 

On the Nose, by Hans Florine was surprisingly compelling. Much better than I was expecting, though it might have been because I read it right after my first trip up The Nose. 

Minus 148 (degrees) was really good. Just reading it made me feel destroyed by the conditions. 

I'm a HUGE sucker for reasonably good writing about climbing. I will read most anything on the topic. However, I REALLY dislike climbing fiction. It seems pointless to make up stories when there are so many true stories that are beyond the imagination. 

On the heights and the great days by Walter Bonatti. They changed my life.

Second to Kelly Cordes The Tower

Just had to burn some Audible.com credits. Only a smattering of alpinism, but Honnold's "Alone on the Wall" was pretty mediocre. Not through it yet, but Tommy Caldwell's "The Push" is excellent so far. And I hear he didn't use a ghostwriter. I'm impressed!