Above All Else: The Everest Dream

by Alan Hobson, Jamie Clarke

Motivational Mountaineering

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

Reviews

[James Knowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have the older edition ("The Power of Passion: Achieve Your Own Everests") that came out after two failed Everest expeditions. They succeeded on their third attempt. I've had occasion to meet Jamie Clarke, and hear him speak. A powerful, down-to-earth man. I've had this book for at eleven years, and recently re-read it.

This is one of the few books that strike a deep, highly emotional chord in me. The material is not some startling breakthrough in personal development insights, but a story of struggles, victories, sorrows, life, death... all wrapped around success principles.

[Mehrad Karamlou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sherpas are amazing people!

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is meant to be an inspirational, self-help type of book, and I actually got it from my mom, whose company used it as a team morale booster.
It started out as a bathroom read: something to skim through as you attend to more important business. But, having opened it at random somewhere in the middle of the book, I found myself enjoying the story and decided to read it from the beginning.
The "motivational speaker" aspect of this book was fine, but surprisingly, the story was actually really good. It details the true story of a team who travels to Mt. Everest and the difficulties they face while trying to make it to the summit.
This book is fairly short, so it won't take much to get through it. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes a good real-life adventure story. It would also be a great book to take on a flight, or any other moving vehicle to kill some time, as the story is easy to follow and the print is large enough not to cause motion sickness.
This book accomplishes what it sets out to do. I came away from it feeling positive and inspired.

[Rajah Heetai]

Amazing read! This is the first book that I have ever read regarding the puruit of summiting Everest. The authors do a wonderful job of describing what they went through in preparing for and summiting this beast. It really does lay out in no uncertain terms how our passions in live drive our actions. Read it!

[Marja Verschoor-Meijers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great motivational read! Although I have never been higher than 18.000 feet in the Himalaya's, I recognized some of the agony the climbers went through, struggling on their way to the top of Mount Everest. Many great life lessons to learn on a mountain, all applicable to our daily life.
As Sir Edmond Hillary said: it is not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking on many levels.