I enjoyed MG Edwards’ account of climbing Africa’s highest mountain. The trekking seemed long and grueling, the resulting pain and abuse to his body was frightening, and from his excellent descriptions, the views were astounding. As a climbing book, it was a good one. I’ve enjoyed reading other books in this genre, such as “Into Thin Air,” “K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain,” and “Touching the Void,” and I found his story to be exciting – perfect for armchair mountain climbers!

I’m not sure how equating a successful summit to his resolve to leave an unfulfilling job made sense – he already knew that he wanted to do this, and I’m sure that whether he made it to the summit or not, the decision to leave his job would have been the same. It seemed to be a bit contrived. I also thought that the quasi-guidebook in the final three chapters was unnecessary. Though it didn’t detract from the main part of the story, it would have been just as good to have included a few links at the end for further reading.

There were several clumsy sentences, contradictions and grammatical errors that were a bit distracting – though in all honesty, he obviously did make an effort to write well.

Finally, the author’s faith in God was obviously important to him, but it wasn’t clear in the book description that there would be so many references to his faith and prayer. If you don’t like that sort of thing, you might want to reconsider purchasing this book.

I was amazed to learn that 35,000 people a year climb Mt. Kilimanjaro! The trudge to the top – shuffling along in a long line of hopeful climbers – really took away the fantasy that most climbers enjoy – that they’ve done something few others have managed to do. As mentioned earlier in my review, despite the shortcomings, this was a good climbing story and an enjoyable read. I’d give it 3.5 stars. ( )

I received an ebook copy - thorougly enjoyed it. The writer wrote clearly and it is easily readable. He shares openly about all of his experiences climbing the mountain. The photos are an added bonus. Well done. Elizabeth. ( )

I received an eBook copy of this book and just finished reading it. I think it is a very good book for anyone who is planning to climb Kilimanjaro. If gives pointers of things to concentrate on or avoid. As an armchair climber I liked it. The photos, like all e Books are much harder to see clearly and for that reason I think hard copies are much more desirable.