Alone on the Wall: Alex Honnold and the Ultimate Limits of Adventure

Product Information

With many great places to climb within the scope of northern California, Honnold couldn’t see the prospects of an engineering degree from Cal outweighing the chance to spend limitless time pursuing climbing, so he dropped out of one of the most-respected of American universities and set off on the road in a old van which would become his home and base of operations as he encountered climbing routes which challenged even the most experienced and hardy of veteran climbers. I found myself skipping many sections in the book because I already know exactly what was going to happen. I did not find Alex at all arrogant as many would suggest, I would expect any genius in any field to be confident and in fact I find him quite genuine.

Our aim is to provide a comprehensive reading list that reflects Alex Honnold's literary influences, interests, and recommendations, though not every book on the list may be an explicit endorsement. And what does such a person think about while holding to dear life via a hand firm to the scrappy side of a sheer wall of rock? career, vocation, whatever we wish to say of someone who became the most famous person in his sport but simply dropped out of school to head for the hills and climb to his heart’s content sees himself and his journey. This book started out really well- lots of explanations about the origin and development of free climbing, and about the personalities and rivalries in the sport. While we primarily focus on books directly mentioned by Alex Honnold, we welcome suggestions from our readers.Unfortunately, The Impossible Climb is more about the author, his climbing experience, and the history of climbing in general. Yes, definitely, but Mark labours mightily to tell his story in a way that gives most of the players a voice, even when some of those voices would likely disagree with his interpetations.

Of course, the book's description of Honnhold's truly unique accomplishment will likely give you vertigo. Mark is also clearly trying to weigh his candid and balanced recollections against his obvious affection and deep respect for Alex Honnold. Indeed, there's a very brief point where the story gets weird, and one reviewer has fixated on that strange passage, reading the rest of the book in light of the gendered elements of this fleeting moment in the narrative.Honnold via the sketches of his climbs and his wholehearted efforts to answer the question he has admitted he’s quite tired of being ask— do you fear falling and dying while free soloing? The book is quite technical, including a lot of jargon and technical terms about climbing: anchors, belay, transitions, hitch, carabiner, sling, crux, crimps, pitch, open book, horizontal flake, anchor point, full ape index, mini-tracking, ascenders, crux clab pitches, redpointing, beta, death zone, flow state, tension traverse, etc. Our Non-Fiction Range includes: Academic, Photography, Audio books, Business, Cook Books, Craft Books, Health and Fitness Books, Mind, Body, Spirit (Tarot).