According to Karen-Marie Yust, professor of Christian Education at my seminary, Christian Theological Seminary, the book 'How to Use Camping Experiences in Religious Education: Transformation through Christian Camping' by Steven Venable and Donald Joy is about the only book available on the topic of Church Camping. It is a very brief book, some 120 small pages, and only briefly touches on many practical issues related to church camp planning, leadership, and implementation. Yet, as Yust says, it is about the only book available. True, more general guides on Christian education and youth ministry will talk about camping experiences as part of their text, but not in the systematic way that Venable and Joy provide here, and not with such focus.

In twelve brief chapters, Venable and Joy trace history, theory, and practice of church camp experience in a very practical way. This is designed to aid the current or potential camp leader or counselor, as well as give insight to church school and Christian educators who are interested and concerned about church camp experiences, and how they might fit into an overall programme of education and formation.

'How to Use Camping Experiences in Religious Education is designed to get you up and running as quickly as possible. Chapters 3-11 constitute the 'handbook' tools, each offering information on a specific aspect of religious camping. Each chapter ends with an annotated bibliography that points the way to other resources.'

This points to two primary strengths of this book. First, the chapters are brief, to-the-point expositions of specific aspects of church camps. How does bible study fit in? How does worship work at a campground? What makes a good camp counselor? These considerations form the core of the handbook text, which addresses the following topics:

oGetting started
oSmall groups
oCamp bible study
oWorship at camp
oCamp counselors
oRites of passage
oCreative programming
oChoices and strategies
oDeveloping a leadership team
oBackpacking

The last chapter is a special love of Donald Joy's, so he details the advantages and considerations of holding a backpacking experience camp. This chapter also shows the details one must consider when getting further involves in any kind of specialty camp.

A second strength is the bibliographic material at the end of each chapter, which gives a current guide to outside resources - knowing that this book doesn't provide all there is that needs to be known, it assists the reader in locating useful resources to build upon the broad principles provided in this text. The references are varied and useful on different levels; for instance, the bibliographic references for small groups includes three books of practical suggestions, but also includes an autobiography (of E. Stanley Jones) that helps illustrate through the life of a person the importance of small groups, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 'Life Together', a book that shows the overwhelming importance of small groups in the face of overwhelming obstacles and life struggles.

It is the combination of these features that gives this book real power. The suggestions are direct and easy to understand, but they are also open-ended in theory and practice, so that the reader will be encouraged to use these guidelines and ideas as a starting point, and not as an end or a set curriculum.

Through the book, the importance of community is highlighted. The formation of camp communities small and large, the importance of community spirit and feeling in and outside of camp, and the power that community can play in the education and formation of campers permeates all the suggestions and narratives.

'Community is not something to be taken lightly. During the time set apart for camp, campers and counselors alike are searching for meaning and significance, and they often find it in the unique bonds that they form with one another. The experience of community at camp is magnified when the homes, communities, and churches we come from fail to reflect and make use of this strength.'

Tying the theory and practice of church camping back to the example of Jesus in his wilderness reflections and wandering ministry, Venable and Joy show a biblical basis to the practice of camping. The authors show their enthusiasm most strongly in the conclusion, where they state they will continued camping ministry 'so long as we have breath'. Their final statement, 'Blessed camping!', is in fact what this book is to camping. A blessing indeed.

This is one of the best "small in size", yet "great in content" books that I have read on the subject of summer camping in my lifetime! It is filled with ideas, theology, and practical suggestions. The authors provide tips for the effective training of staff and counsellors, discuss the importance of small groups, deal with worship and Bible study in the outdoor context, and speak imaginatively and creatively to camping programs as part of life journeys. They include important sections on rites of passage, schedule planning, and backpacking. Each chapter ends with a solid list of resources. You could plan an entire camping program with the use only of this book.

I enjoyed this book, and read it in one day, pouring through the various chapters and one tragedy to the next. My only complaint is that many of the chapters were excerpts from other books, and the stories sometimes felt unfinished. Those excerpts would cover the hit (or near miss) of the summit, then cover some sort of trial to the participating climbers. The climbers may or may not survive the trial, and then that would be the end of it. I actually craved a little bit more of the post-expedition soul-searching.

Like everybody else, I read "Into Thin Air" and bought more mountaineering books, this being one. Luckily, climbers tend to be a pretty literary lot, because the basic theme of all these books is : Damn, we're out of food/its cold/ I can't feel my feet/hands/nose/my brain is swelling up/I lost my way/tent/sleeping bag/gloves/I almost (or you DID) fall off this cliff. All this is followed by the endless anticlimax of the summit if reached and, worst of all, endless navel contemplation about the meaning of it all. I don't know why this stuff is so compelling, but there it is. I read this book in four sittings when I had a lot of more important stuff to do. Then I went out and bought Everest: The West Ridge by Tom Hornbein. And I live in Florida , have never been higher than 5,000 feet and have never climbed anything higher than the roof of my house. Go figure. I will say that these mountaineering books have a significant collateral benefit - they scare the hell out of the wife.

This book contains the greatest short stories about climbing that I have ever read. Each story is unique and as entertaining as the other.

"Alone at the Summit" is an enjoyable read. The first 1/3 is a little slow, but I was totally drawn in as Venables and his team mates move up the mountain. Venables includes a history of Himalayan climbing at the back. The history is interesting and provides good perspective for understanding both the philosophy behind this 1988 expedition and its historical context.

If you like to read climbing expedition books, I recommend that you read "Alone at the Summit."

"Alone at the Summit" is a fantastic book about a team of four climbers on the tallest mountain in the world. Against all odds, this team pioneered a route that was one of the last "frontiers" of mountaineering. Much has been said and written about the author's actions and the way he describes the events on Everest. First of all, read the book and you will be pleased to find that Venables WAS NOT rescued at the summit of Everest-the ending has not been spoiled. Second, he and the other members of his team overcame a great deal of adversity on this climb-including Venables' bivouac that has kiled a great number of people on Everest. Lastly, everyone involved in mountaineering (climbers, rescuers, etc.) is aware of the great risk involved in the activity. Individuals make a concsious decision to strap on their crampons and head up the mountain. There is no excuse for adding unneccesary risk in this sport, nor is there much room for hubris. "Alone at the Summit" fulfills these requirements. Venables has the right mix of self-responsibility, humor and frustration to make this a balanced book. This one of a few books I recommend for dealing with the power of determination in overcoming adversity.

Many of the reviews of this book berate it because the author got injured and had to be rescued from the base of the mountain. Well, I assume many of these people havn't done much mountain climbing.

The whole lure of mountain climbing is the risk involved. If nothing could ever go wrong when climbing a mountain, then what's the point of doing it? It's the thrill of danger and the challenge of staying a live that makes it so attractive. Stephen Venables met this challenge head on. He had to fight through injuries, exhaustion and the elements to get down the mountain alive and so did his friends. That's nothing to put down, that is what happens when mountaineering. And this was down the East face, the hardest part of Everest to climb.

I thought this was a great book. The author really shows what pushing yourself to the limits in life threatening conditions feels like. This book will go on the shelf with my other top adventure books.

I must add that the author was not rescued at the top of the mountain as people seem to be saying. He was rescued at the base of the mountain in the valley, after climbing down the mountain himself. There's a big big difference there.

I used to be a fan of this writer, until I realized that almost all of his climbing stories follow exactly the same theme: He climbs; he messes up; he relies on others to get him down; he then rags on the ones who saved him. I guess it was funny first time around, when he was rescued on Everest. After round three, having put so many of his recuers at needless risk and then being so ungracious towards them, I kind of thought he had lost his right to climb (not to mention his right to be rescued). Unfortunately, he drones on in this book, a kind of "worst of" compilation of his previous writings. Nothing new here, unfortunately. I'm waiting for the "Stephen Venables Grows Up" story. That said, there are still good, though negative lessons in this book, and given the short chapters, less chance for him to navle-gaze too much, which was a major weakness in his previous books.

The first half of this book was more interesting for me -- the expedition to Kishtware Shivling was self-contained and the author was able to convey more of a sense of place and spirit. The second half settles down to more of slow, plodding pace. There are no great revelations; it is almost as if the famed British 'reserve' seems to come into play. The writing itself doesn't have the same spirit or liveliness that other writers bring to the genre of mountaineering books; that is, less of the climbers' actual personalities are conveyed than in other books. Unlike some of the best books, there are few spots in this book where the tension and pressures of climbing become self-evident in the writing and the expressed drama between the climbers. That said, there were parts of the book that were very rewarding and enjoyable to read such as the elaborate details given on the hike into the mountains gave me a better perspective on the geography rather than just observation of details. In short, this not a bad book by any stretch of the definition -- it's just not a great one.

The first part of this book focuses on Venables' and Dick Renshaw's summit of Kishtwar-Shivling, a then unclimbed 6000 meter peak in the Himalaya. Venables is a capable author and conveys a sense of adventure that books of this type often lack. He understates the danger they faced on the mountain, particularly after their summit climb. The second half of the book deals with the Alpine Club's climbing in the Eastern Karakoram. Venables did make a mistake and he certainly expressed his sense of embarrassment at his blunder (I don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't read it). Venables does not "rag on the ones who saved him." This book is a nice change of pace, as it focuses on basically unknown mountains.

This is a coffee-table book for climber wannabe's who might want to pretend they're going to climb some of the great ridges of the Himalaya. Most of the photos are pretty good, but the maps are sloppily drawn, and the writing style is about as bone dry as you can get--it's hard to make routes on the overwhelming ridges and cols of the high Himalayas look and sound dull, but by God, the authors really managed to do it. Then again, the authors haven't had much success on these climbs themselves--[...]--clinical studies of passionate endeavors untainted by personal expertise. I am dumbfounded that a couple of reviewers claimed to love this book, but then again, some people also claim to love year-old fruit cake.

Yet another coffee-table book on climbing the Himalayas, this time with a purported "Alpine-Style" aesthetic binding it all together. Unfortunately, many of the photos tend to be a bit amaturish, the writing uninteresting, which is saying alot given the fascinating subject matter the authors had to deal with. The gung-ho climbing aesthetic is also questionable, given the authors' own backgrounds. Plenty of other excellent coffee-table books have been written about climbing the pristine parts of the high Himalaya, in terms of photo quality and relevance, this one doesn't really compete.

Unfortunately, recent reviewers have focused more on the achievments of the authors themselves than what has been written in the book.

It is a great book with loads of info on many different great routes done in the only proper style, i.e. alpine style. There are many references to the original articles, if you ever plan to have some expeditions to the area described in the book, as well as more general references to books of the first ascents of the mountains described and it that respect very resourceful.

Also, I think it is one of the virtues that the book is not written in an overpassionate, and boosting manner as most autobiographic books, but rather describes in a very admiring way the great achievments of extreme alpinism in the Himalaya.

If you want to know more about the greatest achievments in Alpine climbing in recent years this book does give you a great overview of some of the most facinating (and craziest) climbs.

I agree that some of the maps are not very good and that there could have been more depth in the description of the climbs, but the references should help someone wanting some more info.

I was looking forward to reading this book, as some of Venable's previous books have been pretty funny. Somewhere along the line, he seems to have lost his sense of humor, and without that, this story of his misadventures up high reads hollow and rather sad. If you're going to mess up while climbing with a team, and need to get rescued all the time (the other reviewers are right;Venables seems to have created a genre for his own "help, save me!" tales on mountains)you better be funny about it. However, this book is far too serious and self-righteous for its own good. In fact it reads more like a teenager's diary than a climbing tale--right down to the nasty things Venables prints about the very people who rescued him! The 300-foot fall in the beginning is the only interesting part in the whole book, and then it's literally, downhill from there. I'm sorry to say that this book reveals the author as more of a poor sport and poor writer than his previous books.

As I read Stephen Venables story of folly in the remote Himalayas I couldn't but help feel a certain contempt, if not sadness at the decline of British mountaineering. From Edward Whymper to Sir Christopher Bonington (a far better climber than Venables who nevertheless gets stabbed in the back by the author after he saved his life) the British climbing establishment was world renowned for good sportsmanship, positive attitude, and grace under pressure. Now, British alpinism seems to have been taken over, like so many other things in British society, by a yob mentality. This book is a case in point: It would not have been too long ago that a similar collection of whiney tales of questionable heroism where one's own mistakes are palmed off on one's teammates would have been met with scorn from the fair-minded British climbing establishment. No longer. This book actually got decent reviews in some UK climbing magazines (though, to be sure, a few "outed" Venable's inconsistencies with the facts). Future climbing historians, when examining how Britain ceded its leadership role in mountaineering, will be tempted to cite Venable's contemptible attempt at self-glorification by denigrating other climbers and celebrating his own mountaineering foibles as a milestone in poor attitude and even poorer taste.

On one level 'A Slender Thread: Escaping Disaster in the Himalayas' is a standard mountain expedition book, with the focus on Steven Venables' own experience. But throughout there is a dark undercurrent of premonition and doubt. Venables has a bad feeling about the expedition from the start : "there was a sense of unease, even doom when I set off for India". There is also a sense of futility, that the golden age of mountain exploration is long past, as he implicitly compares past expeditions to the area (the Panch Chuli group near the border of India and Nepal) with the one he is on. Gone is the conviction of purpose and the "gentlemanly camaraderie" of earlier times. In fact Venables shows himself to be anything but gentlemanly on this trip. Often out of sorts, half-wishing he were back home with his wife and child, Venables indulges in tantrums and verbally attacks Chris Bonington, the team leader, when Bonington suggests retreat..

As for the accident, it is the breaking of the Slender Thread that all mountaineers depend on at many time during a climb. A well-tested anchor pulls out below the top of Panch Chuli V, sending Venables on a steep fall that breaks both his legs and which he is lucky just to survive. This combination of bad and good luck, and his utter dependence on his companions for making it down the mountain, is the real story of this expedition for Venables as he recognizes that in climbing he is gambling with more than just his own life.

This is my least favorite of the three book by Venables I've read, though I did enjoy it. There is little of the excitement and freshness of 'Painted Mountains' or the combination of great accomplishment and fascinating route finding in 'Everest: Alone at the Summit'. However, it raises troubling questions about mountain climbing and faces them directly, and these questions, along with the detailed description of a remote and rarely climbed range, make this a book worth reading.