Terry's Reviews
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Book Reviews: |
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Between A Rock And A Hard Place By Aron Ralston Atria Books – 2004 |
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| In April 2003, hiker Aron Ralston was
canyoneering in southeast Utah when an 800-pound boulder shifted and pinned his right arm.
Inextricably stuck, he endured five and a half days of hypothermia and dehydration, which
lead to hallucinations and most likely his death. In a last desperate attempt, he severed
his own arm. Then, he rappelled 60 feet and walked eight miles to rescue. This is an amazing story of courage, intelligence and real determination. The truth is Aron Ralston had been taking chances for years. This is a young man who climbed 14,000 feet mountains by himself, one of which he was stalked by a bear. He almost drowned in a river in Arizona, fell into a cactus on another trip and almost fell off a high cliff during one of his solo climbs. I’m not saying he deserved to lose his arm but rather he had been lucky for years and I guess fate finally caught up with him. Make no mistake Aron Ralston knew what he was doing. This guy hiked and climbed with people who where incredibly experienced. He studied the tricks of the trade and even ended up working for a company that supplies equipment for outdoor activities in Colorado. He kept himself in good shape and after reading this book, there is little doubt of his high intelligence. What amazed me the most about Ralston was that in the throes of death how he used his considerable mind to calculate ways to try and lift the rock off his arm. The computations, ideas and mathematic formulas needed to figure out such a maneuver would be difficult for the most well rested adult human being. Ralston had incredible mental & physical endurance and was willing to do what was necessary to make it back to civilization alive. www.simonsays.com |
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