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Epicurus.com - Fall of the Phantom Lord: Climbing and the Face of Fear
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $13.50
Your Save: $ 1.50 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Anchor
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.5220973
EAN: 9780385486422
ISBN: 0385486421
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 1999-08-17
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: 1999-08-17
Studio: Anchor
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Editorial Reviews:
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In 1989, while attempting a new route on a difficult overhanging rock face, climber Dan Osman fell. Again and again, protected by the rope, he fell. He decided then that it would not be in climbing but in falling that he would embrace his fear--bathe in it, as he says, and move beyond it.
A captivating exploration of the daredevil world of rock climbing, as well as a thoughtful meditation on the role of risk and fear in the author's own life.
In the tradition of the wildly popular man-versus-nature genre that has launched several bestsellers, Andrew Todhunter follows the lives of world-class climber Dan Osman and his coterie of friends as he explores the extremes of risk on the unyielding surface of the rock.
Climbing sheer rock faces of hundreds or thousands of feet is more a religion than a sport, demanding dedication, patience, mental and physical strength, grace, and a kind of obsession with detail that is crucial just to survive. Its artists are modern-day ascetics who often sacrifice nine-to-five jobs, material goods, and the safety of everyday life to pit themselves and their moral resoluteness against an utterly unforgiving opponent.
In the course of the two years chronicled in Fall of the Phantom Lord, the author also undertakes a journey of his own as he begins to weigh the relative value of extreme sports and the risk of sudden death. By the end of the book, as he ponders joining Osman on a dangerous fall from a high bridge to feel what Osman experiences, Todhunter comes to a new understanding of risk taking and the role it has in his life, and in the lives of these climbers.
Beautifully written, Fall of the Phantom Lord offers a fascinating look at a world few people know. It will surely take its place alongside Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm as a classic of adventure literature.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: not entirely about Dan Osman
Comment: The book is easy to follow and is interesting, but it's not entirely about Dan Osman, around half of it is just autobiography of the writer itself. At the begging it makes sense for the author to write about his experience, but after a while it just gets too much!
It wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Toddhunter story?
Comment: That's what I got from the authors take on Dan Osman. The title leads you to believe it's about Dan. That's wrong most of the time. I felt the author's main goal was to write an autobiography but believing no one would read it used Dan Osman to suck us in. The author fails to see Dan as an artist and that's a large flaw. His description of climbing is good reading. Pictures of climbing gear in an appendix would have been a nice touch for the non-climber. I did enjoy my time with Dan in this book and about the first 2 or 3 times with the author.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Marvelous
Comment: This is one of my all-time favortie adventure books, and I've read many, both modern and classic. Todhunter's book is a marvelous excursion into the realm of fear and adrenaline, poignant and poetic, the inside story on what is otherwise external in nature, i.e. risking your life for mysterious reasons. Anyone who has ever taken seemingly foolish risks should rush out and get this book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dan Osman is not the Phantom Lord
Comment: If you are expecting a biography of Dan Osman, this really isn't it. Although the author gives details of Osman's life, the book is really about the author's own journey; balancing his risk-taking activities with family responsibilities and his relationship with Dan Osman. The Phantom Lord is a metaphor the author uses for one's own fear; ie the book is about the author and Osman dealing with their fears. Therefore, the book is half about Osman and half about the author. For what it delivers, the book is very well written. In retrospect to Osman's subsequent death, it is very interesting. If you are uninterested in the author's journey, as I was, the sections where he talks about himself are easily skipped. The parts, about Osman, that I found interesting are fairly short and I'd recommend climbers to borrow it. He spends quite a number of pages explaining various climbing terms; therefore, I'd also recommend it to the general reader for its excellent writing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fascinating, simple man worth reading about
Comment: I became fascinated with mountain climbing after reading about the Everest climbs. This book was even better. Osman is a fascinating individual completely consumed with rock climbing. His feats of free-fall are bizarre and will leave you mezmerized. But if you test fate too much, bad things happen.While rock climbing is the center of this book, Osman was more than a climber. It's interesting to a guy who works at least 8 hours a day to read about a man who works only to support his "rock climbing habit". Osman was also a unique individual and I feel for his daughter having to grow up without this unique individual in her life.
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