Storms of Silence [Paperback]

Joe Simpson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

THE DON\'T DIE OUT THERE DECK

Editorial Reviews

Review

In Storms Of Silence, Joe Simpson presents a thoughtful, funny, moving account of his maverick life as a mountaineer. But behind the rich tapestry of adventures lies a dark and brooding disquiet. Simpson recalls the terrifying avalanche that nearly wiped out his base camp during an attempt on the unclimbed north face of Gangchmpo in the Himalaya. While climbing on Cho Oyo he meets a band of Khampas, including a four-year-old boy, fleeing over the high Nangpa La pass from the brutality of Chinese oppression in Tibet. Simpson's love of Himalayan life contrasts with the ruthless Chinese destruction of the Tibetan culture and people. A violent brush with a skinhead in his home town of Sheffield is mirrored in his chilling encounter with the Peruvian police. On Huascaran (Peru's highest mountain) he hears unnerving ghostly voices and learns of the earthquake which buried 18,000 people and wiped out the town of Yungay below him. It reminds him of his boyhood visit to the Nazi concentration camp at Belsen. Storms Of Silence ends with the trauma of reliving, in quite unexpected circumstances, the dance with death he had encountered before and recorded in his previous book Touching the Void. Storms Of Silence will be eagerly greeted by anyone who has read Simpson's earlier works such as This Game of Ghosts. He writes with a vivid engagement rarely equaled, and never surpassed in tales of true adventure mountaineering and exploration. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books; 1ST edition (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898865123
• ISBN-13: 978-0898865127
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,021,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great adventures and also disqueting, July 12, 1998

By 

Kristen Greenaway ([e-mail]) ((a Kiwi in) New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storms of Silence (Paperback)

Simpson continues his climbing adventures but delves a little deeper into his own conscience this time, reflecting on his decision to climb Cho Oyu with the brutality of the Chinese in Tibet uppermost on his mind; and from the summit of Peru's Huascaran, looks down on the barrenness of the once bustling 18,000-strong town of Yungay, devastated by the earthquake-induced landslide of May 1970. This is a more hypocrisy-accepting Simpson, and for this and his own new awareness of the plight of Tibet, well worth the read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mountain climber opens his heart, November 21, 2007

By 

ubat (Sao Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Storms of Silence (Paperback)

After I read this book, the first thing I wanted to do was email Simpson and compliment him for his courage. Not the I-climb-mountains-and-fall-off-them kind of courage, but the guts for opening his heart. This book is a lot more than another mountaineering account (if that's what you're looking for, this one is not for you): it is about a person sharing his innermost fears, thoughts and feelings with the reader. Although it's interspersed with mountain climbing in typical Simpson style -- stories well told --, what really shines through are Simpson's views on the Tibetan peoples' plight, something he feels strongly about. I was deeply touched by Storms of Silence, and somewhat surprised by the author's departure from his usual topics. I really liked reading it, and I think it showed a side of Simpson most people never even imagined he had.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tibetan Simpson here, March 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Storms of Silence (Paperback)

This book is less entartaining than his other ones, but in fact it is not intended as a substitute, but as a complement for the other ones. We havefor instance the poetic description of skinhead bully and the clash in the pub, a typical Simpson story, multiplicity of climbing, and the complete study of Simpson's face and the consequences of using his mimics. Apart from these Simpsonites, the book itself is a treatise on Tibet, once a peaceful, free country - the Roof of the World. Read that and understand what you did not want to know. It would be fun to read this book before or after seeing "Seven Years in Tibet".