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Have read Touching the Void and I am now reading The Beckoning Silence. Both are outstanding books in my opinion. But it is the later book that has convinced me of this author's talent. The guy can write... far better than Jon Krakauer's stuff.

Are Joe Simpson's other books as good?

I enjoyed reading This Game of Ghosts.

Gary Schenk wrote:

sampage wrote:I enjoyed reading This Game of Ghosts.

I think that's his best. Forget Siula Grande, the real miracle is that he survived growing up with his sister!

I am in total agreement with you. The biographical stuff is great!

I loved Touching the Void. Anyone who has seen the movie but not read the book is really missing out... especially if you are a climber. The movie didn't develop the relationship between Simon and Joe which as any climber knows is as critical a piece of gear as any hardware so without that, the movie really didn't tell the whole story.

I found This Game of Ghosts a bit much. I mean, I know its all true but if it had been a Hollywood movie you would have thought it was too over the top so the fact that it all really happened left me wondering things like.... Is this guy nuts? just really unlucky? who in their right mind would climb with this guy with his track record? at what point do you say 'u know, i think the universe is trying to tell me something?' I found it all hard to digest and a little self indulgent maybe?

I haven't read The Beckoning Silence but I did see the movie. I was very pleasantly surprised because I thought I was a bit 'Joe Simpsoned out' if you know what I mean but he was the perfect person to tell the story. His personal experiences, relationships, and knowledge allowed the viewer to experience the story from the perfect perspective.

Touching the Void is definitely better in book form, especially for climbers. Non-climbers might not care about the details as much.

Puma concolor wrote:I've read "Touching the Void," "This Game of Ghosts," "Dark Shadows Falling," "The Beckoning Silence," and "Storms of Silence." Like any author, if you like his style, you're likely to enjoy all his work. Each is a little different, but they're all basically good stuff.

Thanks everybody for the feedback. I'll just have to read them all. Nothing like a list of good books I have yet to read! I do like Joe Simpson's writing style. The guy is very talented. I've read many an outdoorsy book, but it has more to do with writing style than content when it comes to a good book. But then again, Joe Simpson's material makes for unusually fascinating content. I must be a climber at heart even if I am a chicken s*#t when it comes to vertical limits.

Books are all great but in real life he used to be one very angry, argumentitive, arrogant, and rude bugger.

Thank god he has mellowed in his latter years.

Just finished This Game of Ghosts. I can't fault Simpson for dull prose; it almost reads like a mountaineer's edition of Final Destination. Maybe he was supposed to die in the trike accident and mother nature keeps missing after all these years at the expesne of practically every climber from Sheffield

Simpson is a great writer!

loved the movie touching the void. need to read his books. need to finish reading On the ridge between life and death by david roberts

He has an art to put something so deep, but in a nutshell. Close experiences must add to an already existing talent. His recreation of the ordeal of Toni Kurz and his Team, was totally spellbinding.

Game of ghosts is definitely his greatest book.... As morbid as it sounds his books first inspired me to start climbing... He lead quite a crazy life in his younger days....
I just came across this amazing video he did on youtube. Its a BBC documentary about the north face of the eiger... Some amazing footage from the mountain and simpson recreates the 1936 epic quite well.
check it out..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmjJBu0xiwc

I have read Touching the Void and Beckoning Silence, and really enjoyed both. I found the ice climbing chapter of Beckoning Silence particularly hilarious, and if you were just skimming through it in a store, I would definitely give it a read to decide if you like the style. You guys have all definitely convinced me read Game of Ghosts.