Everest Book – Touching My Father’s Soul

Wow, two full books in a week!

I’ve had a strong interest in Mt. Everest (Chomolungma to the Tibetans or Sagarmatha to the Nepali) for a long time. Some of this was no doubt in part due to the 1996 IMAX film and Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air.

My co-worker and I enjoy watching every television show we can find on Everest and followed the Rest of Everest podcast for some time. Needless to say, I love the new Everest ride at Walt Disney World and have “provide tech support at base camp for an Everest expedition” as one of my lifetime to do items.

Touching My Father’s Soul: A Sherpa’s Journey to the Top of Everest is written by Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay (who with Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to reach the summit in 1953). It’s a quick read for 310 pages and provides a lot of background on the 1953 expedition, as well as the 1996 IMAX expedition (which Jamling accompanied). I also liked the Sherpa and Buddhist perspective that is absent in many Everest stories.

The internet provides additional insight into some of the places and organizations mentioned in the story:

Now I just need to find a place that will sell me a 3-D scale model of the mountain for a reasonable price…

Originally published by DK on November 25, 2007 at 8:06 pm in Reading