Author tries iconoclaism for its own sake. A valuable and largely accurate perspective on Unsoeld. Book is disasterously edited. Work is in what should have been only an early-stage draft. Leamer couldn't even be bothered with checking minor details and getting the spelling right. Leamer was on the right track, gunning for a big guy...but could've used another year to finish the job. Still, Unsoeld remains mysterious, extraordinary and respectable, despite all. Somebody else will have to do a more credible job...

Legendary mountaineer, Willi Unsoeld, led an extraordinary life. A self styled guru of mountaineering, he was selfish, egotistical, and narcissistic. He was a modern day Peter Pan who just never grew up, with tragic consequences for some who crossed his path.

The author is a devoted admirer of Willi Unsoeld and does not question some of those moments in Willi's life which should be questioned or reflected upon. This is the one criticism of what is otherwise a very interesting, compelling book about a flawed individual who made mountaineering history. His amazing ascent up the West Ridge of Everest to the summit and his subsequent traverse and descent on the South face will live on forever in the annals of mountaineering lore.

Willi Unsoeld was a passionate man for whom mountaineering was life itself. He was positively joyous when atop his beloved mountains. It is something which is to be admired. Yet, Willi had a darker side, as well. It is this apparent dichotomy in Willi's life that makes the book such an interesting read.

One of the most tragic episodes in Willi's life involved his beautiful daughter, Nanda Devi, named after the mountain of the same name. She was taken by her father on an ill-fated expedition to that same mountain. It was there that she tragically died and was consigned to the mountain. The cause of her death is not made clear by the book, but what is clear to any discerning reader is that Willi bore some responsibility. He acted as no father or responsible expedition leader would have under the circumstances.

What made Nanda Devi's death more appalling is that Willi would later romanticize her death in innumerable lectures, exploiting what should have remained private. How he could bring himself to do this is beyond belief. It is no wonder that his wife blamed him for their daughter's death and that this tragedy caused a rift in their marriage.

This self-styled guru needed the constant worship of acolytes in order to thrive. As he aged, he sought the adoration of college students, spouting his parboiled life philosphy on the subject of risk taking. It was this self styled, sophomoric philosophy that drove him to take a group of students up Mount Ranier in the dead of winter, when other, more level heads, argued against it. Would that he had listened. He and the student who died in an avalanche with him might today be alive. Alas, it was not to be. Peter Pan finally went to Never-Never Land.

The Sea Devils is a comprehensive look at sahuagin physiology, psychology, history and society. Each subject is covered in just the right amount of detail with plenty of useful tidbits and interesting facts that ought to be useful in any campaign based in a coastal area and especially those that revolve around maritime pursuits. Rules for sahuagin weaponry and combat are included as is a sample sahuagin village. Although there are several references to information given in the "Of Ships and the Sea" supplement, The Sea Devils appears to be capable of standing alone and does have a section that gives handy rules for underwater campaigning. The book includes a poster that shows the relative appearances and sizes of various members of the sahuagin race and other creatures of the sea.

The material itself rates four stars, at least. The text could use with slightly better organization, some of the details are scattered through the text rather than being collected under a single heading and way too much space is spent on fake NPC sages mysteriously commenting on various sahuagin theories and facts rather than just presenting the material in a more straightforward manner.

The biggest drawback to this product, however, is that it is terribly overpriced for the volume of information it contains. After reading through the first dozen pages or so, one realizes that there is a terrific number of really big illustrations, sidebars full of pseudo-NPC drivel, redundant information and filler like "sahuagin often use poison in combat, but that will be covered in chapter 7". The margins are wide, the type is large and there is a disconcerting amount of just plain blank space, sometimes right in the middle of the page. The format resembles something you might expect from someone assigned to write a 20-page essay, but stuck with only 12 pages of material. The supplement checks in at 96 pages, but any competent editor could reduce the page count by a half, if not more.

The Sea Devils contains very useful gaming material, but nobody should be paying full price for a half-empty book. It is highly recommended, but only if you can get it at a discount.

This is the greatest source you can find from TSR about under water campaings! Every little detail required for an underwater adventure. I can recommend this book if you are going deep!

The writter forgot that this was a book about a mountaineer. This could have been an exciting, inspiring book about a great climber and instead its a book about someone's ramblings since other more interesting books were apparently already written

Roper's mixture of first-rate journalism and top-notch story telling make this thrilling and tragic biography of mountaineer Willi Unsoeld unfold with page-turning immediacy. The use of the present tense and the beauty of the descriptive writing make the reader feel as though he is on each expedition. As one life-and-death scenario after another unfolds, the story never becomes sensationalized, and the medical and technical information is always handled clearly. This is a fascinating look at a subculture rife with egos, infighting and betrayals, in which Unsoeld emerges as a true hero for our time. As Roper explores what, exactly, mountaineers are after and what, if anything, they owe the rest of us, Unsoeld's life ultimately serves as a microcosm for the history of mountaineering, and for man's place on the planet. But this isn't just a guy's guy book; it also explores and celebrates the role of women mountaineers, such as Unsoeld's beautiful and spirited daughter, Devi, who's remarkable relationship with her father and heartbreaking demise make this an unforgettable read.

Robert Roper has written a gripping account of one of mountain climbing's most charismastic figures, Willi Unsoeld. "Fatal Mountaineer" will appeal both to mountaineering and adventure enthusiasts and to any serious reader looking for a wrenching drama set in an exquisite landscape.

Framed by the story of Unsoeld's eventual demise in an avalanche on Mt Rainier, the centerpiece of the book is the detailed narrative of a fateful ascent of Nanda Devi, India's tallest mountain, by a group of elite climbers. Roper carefully dissects the tensions that emerge from Day One of the expediton between the hard-charging, summit-oriented alpha males of the pack and those sympathetic to the transcendental, growth-oriented perspective of Unsoeld. Included among this latter contingent is Devi Unsoeld, who was named after this mythopoetic mountain, and tragically becomes, or merges with, its resident goddess.

Roper's writing is crisp and nuanced, and he is able to bring an immediacy to events he has reconstructed from multiple and often contradictory or sanitized versions of events. Within the first chapters, I felt as though I were in the tent debating whether an ill member of the team, and thus potentially the weakest link (it does not help that this particular climber is also a woman)should make the trek or head back to base camp.

Roper tells not only the outward bound story of a mountain-climbing expedition but also draws us within the psyches of the characters, explicating the motives behind this most enigmatic of human undertakings.

I would urge readers to go out any buy this book before the Spring thaw.

This is a catalog of WSB's shotgun paintings and non-shotgun paintings, with Timothy Leary writing text. WSB wrights a small piece, and Tim Leary writes some essay about... well, his usual upbeat-but-not-quite-coherent stuff. It's rather bad writing, I have to say. Tim Leary was suffering Alzheimers, and this was probably written right before his death, so you shouldn't expect any master pieces, but even with that low expectation, it's still bad.

The designer must have understood that, and tries to save the book by overdesigning Leary's text. A huge font here, totally covering the page, and then just some in the corner... Good try. However, you can't shake the impression that it's cheaply made.

So if you are a huge fan of WSB or Leary or Weissman (you must be, if you are even READING this at all!), you might want to have it. But otherwise, no big deal.

This book is a reprint of Francis Fry's excellent and still indispensable book on the various editions of William Tyndales's translation of the New Testament (from the 1525 unfinished Cologne edition, through the Antwerp editions up to the London editions of the 1550's and 1560's). Fry gives very detailed bibliographical data on each book with plenty of examples drawn from them. He meticulously compares the translation, the notes, and the marginalia of the various prints. His original work was printed in 1878 and is still unique on the subject. Furthermore, it is very difficult to get hold of, so I was extremely happy to see the reprint by Greyden Press. So much greater was my disappointment when I received and opened the book. It is a reprint of only the first xxiii + 83 pages out of the original xxiii + 196 pages + 73 plates. Funnily enough it gives you the entire table of contents of the original work (pp. v-viii), despite the fact that almost two third of it is not contained in the book! It is a very mean deception by the publisher. Do not waste your money on it.

This book is a republication of what appears to be "modern" methods of the 1950s. By the data, illustrations, tools and materials described in this book I conclude that the republication was not updated to the methods of the 1990s. For example, data quoted is from 1957 through 1960, the term "vinyl" is not used and the material is not described, and all tacking is literally done with tacks and not staples. If you are looking for a book to understand the methods of the past, then this is it. But don't expect to learn about truly modern methods and materials.