Everest, Inc.: The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 127 ratings

Price: 17.05

Last update: 08-01-2024


Top reviews from the United States

Frederick C
5.0 out of 5 stars Great history of Mount Everest as a business.
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024
Great history of the climbing industry.
Read this on a recommendation by a friend. I'm not a climber, so I was sceptical. But it's not a book about climbing, it's a book about how climbing Everest went from an elite event to a possibility for anyone with enough money. It's also how the Sherpas reclaimed their mountain. An easy, interesting read; the characters who travel in the climbing world are fascinating.
Tardigrade
4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh and thought provoking
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2024
A very interesting addition to the vast Everest library. I am a fan of this genre and have read many books about the Himalayas, two of my favorites being (perhaps predictably) Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Wade Davis’ Into the Silence. Most of these works focus on a particular event (like the disastrous 1996 season) or person (like George Mallory). Everest Inc. takes a different and fresh approach, following the rise of the guiding industry on the world's highest peak, from its unlikely beginnings, when the very idea seemed preposterous, to the current reclaiming of the place by the long-overlooked Sherpa people.

There are many marvelous stories here, and many fascinating characters - sometimes to a fault, as in some instances I got lost in the parade of names. Nevertheless, it is a compelling story that gives a broader perspective to many facts that you may already know, but will now see in a different way. The author deconstructs some of the myths surrounding the business of helping beginners climb and crowded routes. You don't have to agree with his diagnosis, but it is certainly thought-provoking.

Thanks to the publisher, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
Book Lover
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Everest book !
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2024
I usually love Everest books and this is no exception.

This is such an informative book. I really enjoyed the background and the personal stories within story.

Really enjoyed it !
Tough Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Is all of this Everest access a good thing?
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024
“As the author of a book about the guides and the guiding industry that brought this change, Cockrell doesn’t have much choice in answering; for him it’s a hard yes. It’s still the world’s highest mountain, after all, with all that entails — danger, effort, a profound experience (no matter how reduced) that takes weeks, a killer view. Why shouldn’t anyone get to experience that? But it’s hard not to look at those pictures of clients stacked on the side of the mountain in long lines, clutching their handrails and not think, Gross. That something fundamental to exploration and adventure and the human experience of it has been lost, is lost; that the thing they’ve purchased is a thing so vastly different from its very idea as to render it meaningless. “Everest, Inc.” feels too rah-rah in support of the industry, sometimes, and it would have been a better book if Cockrell had slowed down and plumbed those philosophical questions more deeply. There are also too many names — I counted 39 on one page alone — and it’s odd that he never delves into the dramatic expansion of helicopters that abets both rescuing clients and logistics.” –Excerpt from a Washington Post book review by Carl Hoffman
judy l-k
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2024
Absolutely riveting!

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