Description
Book SynopsisIn
Storms of Silence Joe Simpson recalls the severe snowstorm which put an end to an attempt with four others on Gangchempo and the infection which forced him to abandon the climb on Cho Oyu in tibet. During that expedition he has a disturbing encounter with a party of political refugees and a 4-year-old boy fleeing across the Tibetan border. He becomes obsessed with stories of Chinese brutality in the old world Tibet they overran by force 40 years ago. He also begins to question the ethic of playing rich men''s games in Third World countries, contributing little to the local people who endure a fearful struggle to survive. Oppression abroad makes him see mindless violence in his home town of Sheffield in a new light. The books ends with his first trip to the Andes in Peru since
Touching the Void.Trade ReviewExcellent...Simpson is a born writer * The Times *
'To mix a metaphor, Joe Simpson is a streetwise mountaineer...He takes you close to the nitty-gritty, the nuts and bolts of professional climbing in the 1990's. He is used to dealing with totalitarian policemen. He is passionate and moving on the subject of Tibet and the agonies inflicted on it by the cruel Chinese occupation...Above all, Simpson is a born writer' -- Paul Johnson * The Times *
'The book's major theme is the nature of aggression. A skinhead in a Sheffield bar sets the reader up for the genocide that is modern Tibetan history...What makes Joe Simpson stand out is his belief that there is more to life than a crampon, and his dogged refusal to leave the highest mental peaks unclimbed' -- Sara Wheeler * Daily Telegraph *
'THis immensely accessible book offers a unique re-interpretation of masculinity...In doing so, it offers a ray of hope to an increasingly bleak and vicious society' -- Martin Booth * Independent *
