Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 29, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor Morley Walker / 697-7307 a bib la sunday free press n email Winnipeg june 29, 1997 do lives wasted for tainted goal into thin air by Jon Krakauer random House 293 pages $34 reviewed by Ruth Teichroeb free press reporter the headlines screamed seven climbers feared dead on Everest last month As Jon Krakauer a first person account of High Altitude tragedy soared on bestseller lists. Last months death toll Only made Krakauer a chronicle of losing eight climbers during a single storm on Everest in May 1996 seem All the More haunting. Into thin air is a fascinating read for both outdoor adventurers and those who will never climb higher than a few flights of stairs. The Book offers an insiders look at the elite world of mountaineering where endurance skill and obsession Rule the Day. Its also a gripping Story of How the commercialization of Everest has not Only tarnished the experience of scaling the worlds highest Peak but is contributing to the loss of lives. Krakauer a Seattle author and journalist begins by describing his arrival at the top of Everest. Anxious about his oxygen Supply he starts his descent almost immediately and encounters a traffic Jam just below the Summit. Frantic he wastes precious minutes waiting for other climbers to ascend All the while wondering Why expedition leaders Are allowing them to press on Given the lateness of the hour. He then backtracks recounting both the history of climbers attempts to scale the 29,028-foot Mountain and his own longtime dream of tackling the Peak. When Krakauer an experienced climber is asked by outside Magazine to cover an Everest expedition led by a new zealand company he can to believe his Good Luck. On assignment to Krakauer inset hauntingly details the result of a deadly trek up Everest. Assess the Impact of commercialization he accompanies a group of paying clients a each of whom shelled out $65,000 us to participate a led by respected High Altitude guide Rob Hall. As Krakauer painstakingly documents their slow trek up the Mountain to base Camp the weeks of acclimatization to the High Altitude and the final Summit push he also analyses the motivations driving members of his group. He worries about the technical abilities and strength of some of his fellow climbers. And he shatters illusions of a Pristine wilderness with his descriptions of congested garbage strewn base Camps. In and of themselves the errors made on Summit Day in May 1996 would not be considered to be life threatening delaying the turnaround time even though some clients were at their physical limits failing to have guides go ahead to attach guide ropes to the final stretch before the Summit allowing a guide to Short rope or drag a wealthy client who had lagged behind and letting another guide descend leaving clients stranded. But when a fierce storm hits unexpectedly the mistakes become fatal. Six members of the expedition including Hall Are trapped on the Mountain overnight As Well As members of other teams. In a heartbreaking radio transmission from a Perch just below the Summit a dying Hall tells his pregnant wife to a sleep Well and not to worry. Krakauer is clearly racked by guilt and shame As he recounts the unsuccessful attempts to save the stranded climbers. Oxygen deprivation due to Altitude a called hypoxia a leaves Krakauer so confused that he mistakenly reports seeing one of his friends stumble safely Back to base Camp. That message is passed on to worried relatives who Are devastated to find out the next Day that the Man has actually perished in the storm. What happens in the Wake of the storm to individual climbers will haunt readers As Well. In the end this is not a tale of inspiration and courage in the face of adversity but a Story about the waste of lives for a tainted goal. Timely cautionary tales of investment crime greed by Deborah Thompson Viking 250 pages $30 reviewed by ted Wakefield a Winnipeg writer and editor As the Brex scandal sends chills through baby Boomers testing the Waters of serious investment this first Book by Toronto business journalist Deborah Thompson could hardly be More timely. Subtitled investment fraud in Canada and around the Globe it is a collection of cautionary tales about Well known and More obscure investment crimes. Thompson a former vice president at the Royal Bank provides just enough financial detail and explanation about each Case to keep her fluid prose accessible to general readers. At the same time she explores the people behind each fraud seeking clues to their motivation. As the title suggests pure avarice is often a main ingredient. But her interviews with police and fraud investigators Point to other factors from fear and hubris to the gambling instinct. And its Clear Thompson feels the moral ambiguity that pervades securities markets plays an underlying role. Fraud is about personal betrayal As much As Money. One poignant Story involves Chris Horne a trusted Friend and former colleague of Thompsons at the Royal Bank. Before he was caught he redirected Over $7 million of his own clients investments into a secret holding company for More than a decade. Horne lived in cultured luxury devoting himself to an impressive Art collection and even had a room named for him at the Art gallery of Ontario. While Thompson herself did no to lose any Money she writes of her bitter feelings after the extent of hornets deception was revealed. A firm built on a boiler room sales of worthless Penny stocks the Cross Border shenanigans of unscrupulous telemarketers preying on seniors and a close look at the prosecution of the infamous Trio of Len Gaudet Tony Chesnutt and Paul Marion Cohen make for compelling real life detective stories. Winnipeg is the locale for one Case As Thompson tells of two commodity traders who by sharing insider information also shared hundreds of thou Sands of dollars in easy and hard to Trace profits. They were caught a like All fraudsters in the Book a but not before they had dealt a body blow to the credibility of the Winnipeg commodity Exchange. Thompson devotes much Effort to understanding fraud artists but reaches Only tentative conclusions. She might have taken a closer look at How greed attracts Many Law abiding players to Canadas Stock markets. Still she reopens a much needed discussion of How authorities in Canada and elsewhere Chase Down investment fraud. While these cases have spawned tighter regulations its Clear longer jail terms More resources devoted to enforcement and a single National securities regulator Are crucial to a lasting solution. Noted on the night table Kimberly Marinelli Winner of the lieutenant governors medal for excellence in teaching at the elementary level a i recently finished night sins a novel by Tami Hoag about a boy abducted in Minnesota and a lawyer who joins the search for him. And i just started Margaret Laurence a Book the Stone Angel. I read mostly fiction and especially like works about court cases and pair of canadians offer hot reads bestsellers based on sales at Mcnally Robinson booksellers As of june 23 hardcovers mass Market 1. The gift of fear Gavin Debecker. Memoir. $30.95 2. Simple abundance Sarah ban breath Nach. Inspiration. $22.95 3. Angelas ashes Frank Mccourt. Biography. $34.50 4. The partner John Grisham. Fiction. $34.95 5. The Bible code Michael Drosnin. Predictions. $34.00 6. The heart of a woman Maya Angelou. Memoir. $27.95 7. The american Century Norman Cantor. History. $29.99 8. The deep end of the Ocean Jacquelyn Mitchard. Fiction. $35.00 9. Into thin air Jon Krakauer. Memoir. $33.95 10. Boom bust and Echo How to profit from the coming demographic shift David foot with Daniel Stoffman. Business. $29.95 1. The fourth estate Jeffrey Archer. Fiction. $9.50 2. Menoch the Devil Anne Rice. Fiction. $9.99 3. Women who run with the wolves Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Women a studies. $9.99 4. Malice Danielle steel. Fiction. $8.99 5. The piano Many a daughter Timothy Findley. Canadian fiction. $8.99 6. The Hobbit . Fantasy. $6.95 7. The rules Ellen fein. Relationships. $6.99 8. Invasion of privacy Perri of Shaugh Nessy. Fiction. $8.99 9. The burning Man Phillip Margolin. Fiction. $8.99 10. Star trek new Frontier Book 1, p. David. Science fiction. $4.99 books for Young people Trade paperback 1. Canoeing Manitoba a Rivers John Buchanan. Outdoors. $14.95 a 2. The broken bowl Patrick Friesen. Poetry. $14.95 a 3. The heart of a woman Maya Angelou. Memoir. $15.95 4. Summer of my amazing Luck Miriam Toews. Canadian fiction. $16.95� 5. She a come undone Wally Lamb. Fiction. $19.00 6. Fugitive pieces Ann Michaels. Canadian fiction. $19.99 7. Rhapsody in a Todd Bruce. Poetry. $17,50 0 8. The English patient Michael Ondatje. Canadian fiction. $15.95 9. A fourth course of Chicken soup for the soul Jack Canfield. Inspiration. $19.99 10. Snow falling on Cedars David Guterson. Fiction. $16.95 1. Of you re not from the Prairie David Bouchard and Henry Ripplinger. Canadian pict rebook. $19.95 2. An morphs 8 the alien a Applegate. Series fiction. Ages 8-11. $4.99 3. Magic treehouse mummies in the morning Mary Pope Osborne. First chapter Book series. $5.50 4. Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown. Pict rebook. $6.75 5. Love you forever Robert Munsch. Canadian pict rebook. $4.95 6. Slinky Matinki Lynley Dodd. Picture Book $5 99 7. Of the places you la go or. Seuss. Pict rebook. $22.00 8. Guess How much i love you Sam Mcbratney. Board Book. $8.99 9. Bun Nicula James Howe. Fiction. Ages 8-11. $4.99 10. Promise song Linda Holeman. Young adult fiction. $8.95� Manitoba authors by Roswitha Dudar a Winnipeg teacher librarian two fast rising Canadian writers Lead this months hot summer Romance reads. Susanna Kearsley a former Ontario museum curator and part time waitress was awarded the Catherine Cook son award for her first Book Mariana in i993. Her second novel the splendour Falls was also successful. With the release of the shadowy horses paperback Bantam Seal Book Kearsley seems to have secured her place in the Romance Field. Verity Grey finds herself in an awkward position. She a thrilled to be invited on an archaeological dig in Scotland but not so sure about its chances for Success. The Leader of the expedition an eccentric curmudgeon is convinced that he has located the missing ninth roman legion. His basis for this optimism rests on the visions of a Young boy who is Able to see a roman Soldier walking the Hills at night. Giving Verity even More pause is her connection with fellow archaeologist David Fortune whose feelings for her remain stubbornly under wraps. Kearsley a skilful writing evokes marvellous pictures of life in Rural Scotland. She combines mystery Romance and historical accuracy to make for an intriguing Book. Her gift for weaving together the past and the present captures the readers imagination and heart. Toronto writer Karyn Monk whose previous books include the rebel and the Redcoat and surrender to a stranger also uses Scotland As a background for once a Warrior paper Back Bantam fanfare. Ariella Mackendrick is a desperate Young woman. It is up to her to choose the new Leader for her clan. He must be Strong enough to fight off any challenges from enemies who Are beginning to gather. When the Black Wolf appears to her in a dream she issues him the invitation to be her husband and Lead her people. Unfortunately the bitter and heavily scarred both physically and emotionally Black Wolf looks nothing like the Leader Ariella had envisioned. Readers who Are fans of medieval life will thoroughly enjoy this Book. Mum novels it is both Well researched and Well written. Monk has a Good command of dialogue and the repartee Between her characters flows smoothly. The hugely successful for the roses by Julie Garwood which was made into a to movie now has its first sequel one Pink Rose softcover pocketbooks. Garwood continues the Story of the Clayborne Brothers settling in Montana. Travis Clayborne the youngest brother is never one to refuse a Challenge. How hard can it be to escort a Young mail order Bride to her future husband obviously harder than Travis imagines. When he meets up with Emily Finnegan Sparks begin to Fly As the two find themselves on a Long journey West. Thankfully one Pink Rose is far less ponderous than the original Clayborne Story. Garwood neatly develops a Short wild West tale Complete with outlaws saloons and lonely bachelors. Look for one White Rose As the next instalment. Shades of Shirley Valentine swirl around other lives hardcover Michael Joseph. British author Sarah Woodhouse takes us Back in time to an intimacy that never quite ended. Lucy Flecker was a Young girl plunked into her fathers expedition of ancient Greece. There she met a Man she would never forget but with whom she could never build a life. Now 45 years later he has left her his House on the greek coast and Lucy plans to return to the scene of their love affair. There a one problem her grown children a lives Are falling apart and they expect her to mend them. Woodhouse uses her wry sense of Humour to portray the Shock Felt by her characters offspring. They Are aghast that their Mother can contemplate this risque move at her age. The author effectively weaves Lucy a memories into the Story. This gives us a moving description of the tenderness Felt by the lovers from years gone by. Heavens Gate cult suicide in san Diego by new York Post staff Harper $6 even in this age of instant books this one was Quick hitting the streets Only a month after the mass suicide of the ufos cultists in California came to Light. There Are no new insights into the tragedy though that May not just be because of the Hasty Assembly of this Pulpy looking paperback. Months and even years of sober thought might not yield an explanation suitable for most of us. Only near the end is there an attempt to offer an analysis or at least some context. But for those who want the whole sad Story Between two compact covers this May do. Canadian press Esau by Philip Kerr Doubleday $22.50 Jack Furness is climbing in the Himalayas Halfway up a Mountain that a been declared holy and therefore off limits when an Avalanche hits. He survives by climbing into a Cave where he finds a Skull that he takes Home to his Pale Anthro apologist Girlfriend As a souvenir. After some study she concludes that it belongs to a mythic Yeti and furthermore she thinks there could be More of the abominable snowmen around a alive. She and Jack mount another expedition a with unbeknownst to them a Little help from the Cia which is concerned about threats of nuclear War Between India and Pakistan a to look for living specimens. Its an interesting premise for a novel especially for anyone who believes secretly or otherwise that evolution could have taken such a hairy turn. Canadian Piess stray dogs by John Ridley Ballantine $28 this is the perfect novel for a Rainy afternoon at the cottage. You can read it in one sitting you wont want to put it Dow escape into the steamy setting and sex scenes to forget the chill outside and be juiced to spend the night watching old videos maybe a double Bill of the 1946 original and 1981 remake of the postman always rings twice. For the plot of this thin 168-Page volume bears a startling resemblance to that James m. Cain classic As it does to some of the other scripts of the �?T30s and �?T40s a the petrified Forest and High Sierra. Canadian Piess ;