An Eye at the Top of the World: The Terrifying Legacy of the Cold War's Most Daring C.I.A. Operation (Hardcover)

by Pete Takeda (Author)
Key Phrases: tent fabric, avalanche debris, ice screw, Nanda Devi, Nanda Kot, Jonathan Copp (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In 1965, a CIA-recruited team of elite American and Indian mountaineers planted a sensor atop a Himalayan peak in India to eavesdrop on nuclear bomb and missile tests in western China, then unreachable by spy planes and satellites. But one sensor-powered by highly poisonous, radioactive plutonium-disappeared in an avalanche and remains lost to this day. Compelled by the mix of Cold War intrigue and his climbing jones, veteran mountaineer and writer Takeda (Climb!) organized a 2005 expedition to retrace that mission's steps. In this audacious account, Takeda describes the miseries of his team's grueling, near-fatal trek. An avalanche covered their camp, forcing them to dig for their lives. They retreated, then turned back again from a second summit when a storm intervened. After returning to the U.S., several members of the team underwent treatment for post-traumatic stress. Except for reviving the story, Taneka's book adds little to the history of the CIA operation, but it contains a good deal of lively, often hair-raising writing. Some armchair adventure travelers may roll their eyes at the positively masochistic suffering the expedition endured as it struggled up icy and increasingly dangerous slopes through deteriorating weather, but aficionados of the disastrous climbing trek genre will have few complaints.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
From the seasoned climber and outdoor journalist comes this incredible but true story of international espionage and derring-do. Four decades ago, the CIA planted a nuclear-powered spy camera at the top of a Himalayan mountain. Although it stopped functioning a long time ago, the device has never been recovered. Four pounds of plutonium, enough to kill every person on the planet, could be moving inexorably toward the Ganges River. Takeda tells two stories simultaneously: the original expedition to put the device on top of the world, and the contemporary efforts to solve the mystery of what happened to it. Part mystery, part high-flying adventure, the book is a must-read for extreme-sports aficionados and for fans of real-life spy tales. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (September 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560258454
• ISBN-13: 978-1560258452
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #787,450 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Eye At The Top Of The World wins 2007 HIMALAYAN LITERATURE AWARD., October 23, 2006

By	Mountain Girl "Mountain Girl" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

An Eye At The Top Of The World has jointly received the first prize from the 2007 Kekoo Naoroji Memorial Himalayan Literature Award.

The Himalayan Club, based in New Delhi, awards the Kekoo Naoroji Award in association with Naoroji family and Godrej Industries for the best book on mountains of Himalaya published during a year.

JURY VERDICT:
"Well written with crisp authority on both scientific and mountaineering matters Peter Takeda`s AN EYE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD is a survey of secret climbing expeditions to Uttarakhand in the 1960`s crafted with considerable skill. It combines in an expedition narrative the details of earlier clandestine climbs where American and Indian operatives placed and lost on Nanda Devi a nuclear powered spying device and replaced it with another (later recovered) on Nanda Kot. Radical in its concept, Takeda tracks down convincingly the planning and execution of this startling CIA operation, and has written a mountaineering thriller into the bargain. For years rumours have floated around the mountaineering fraternity and it is fascinating to have a good many of them confirmed though their sequence may have been mixed up. Despite being written for a lay American readership and from an American point of view, this a sensitive enquiry and the author`s feelings for the Nanda Devi region come across as both intimate and real. Bound to be controversial, the book`s sober tone guarantees its uncomfortable disclosures and their presumed fallout on the environment will find a lasting audience. The jury is unanimous in according joint first place to this compelling story."

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping Read; Chilling Historical Event; Modern Day Adventure, December 20, 2006

By	B. Kiernan - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a rare breed--a story that blends the recounting of a gripping and alarmingly serious historical event with a fascinating 1st person story of personal discovery and adventure. For anyone from history buffs to armchair mountaineers to concerned citizens, this book has something to offer. If anything, I'm surprised that the book hasn't garnered more attention, especially considering that the environmental crisis that may result from the botched CIA mission in the 1960s could become a chillingly deadly and vicious situation for one of the world's most populous nations.

Read the book, you won't be disappointed!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Let down, January 25, 2008

By	Daniel B. Taylor - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: An Eye at the Top of the World (Paperback)

Don't expect to learn much about the CIA operation reading this book. This is a poorly written book about Pete Takeda (the author) climbing the same mountain. Very boring and hard to follow, don't waste your time. This is not a book about the CIA mission!