“An extraordinary life.”—The New York Times Book Review “A fitting homage to one of the great outdoor extremists.”—Kirkus Reviews Legendary climber Scott Fischer found in Mount Everest a perfect landscape for his fearless spirit. Scaling the world’s highest peak tested his skills, his courage, and his endurance. His legendary final expedition—and its tragic outcome—are portrayed in Everest, the 3-D movie adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer. Robert Birkby, one of Scott’s close friends, captures in this intimate and stirring portrait who Scott Fischer really was and what led him to climb to the top of the world—before he left it altogether. “A personal, uncritical biography that rounds out the portrait of Fischer sketched in Krakauer’s best-seller Into Thin Air.”—The New York Times Book Review “A much fuller picture of a climber widely critiqued in the high-profile coverage after the Everest tragedy.”—Seattle Post Intelligencer “A vivid portrait of a superb athlete whose love of mountain climbing drove everything he did.”—Ed Viesturs, author of No Shortcuts to the Top “Birkby succeeds in illuminating the power mountains can exert over the human soul.—Publishers Weekly Updated with a New Introduction and Epilogue Plus new photos exclusive to the digital edition!
EverestRobert BirkbyOd himálajských událostí roku 1996, smutně proslulých jako tragédie na Mount Everestu, uběhlo užmnoho let. Dvě komerční expedice tehdy vsadily na předpověď hezkého počasí a vyrazily směremk nejvyššímu vrcholu světa. Jedna z nich postupovala pod vedením Scotta Fischera, majiteleseattleské agentury Mountain Madness, který zde zahynul. V následujících letech přesáhl příběhobou tragických expedic dalece samotná fakta a přesunul se spíše do kategorie legend. Bylo napsánomnoho knih, vysvětlujících motivace a jednání průvodců i jednotlivých členů výprav.Everest však není příběh o tom, jak Scott Fischer zemřel, ale jak žil. Je to strhující vyprávění a oslavaživota prožitého ve výškách, bez hranic či omezení, života charismatického člověka překypujícíhoentuziasmem a téměř nadlidskou vytrvalostí. Everest je popis Scottova výstupu z beztvárné krajinyNew Jersey až k nejznámějším štítům planety, je svěží a energickou připomínkou toho, že je potřebastále posouvat hranice a limity, a zároveň poklonou muži, jehož vášeň pro dobrodružství se ukázalabýt nakažlivou snad pro každého, koho v životě potkal.***Robert C. Birkby je americký dobrodruh, průvodce, spisovatel, fotograf, motivační mluvčí a designérturistických cest. Po vysoké škole nastoupil jako učitel angličtiny na Missourské univerzitě, práci alenásledně opustil, aby mohl přejít tři a půl tisíce kilometrů dlouhou Apalačskou stezku. Později se živiljako spisovatel a novinář a spolupracoval také s organizací pro ochranu přírody, pro kterou řídilstavbu turistických tras po celých Spojených státech.Scotta Fischera poznal v roce 1982, kdy ho Scott přesvědčil, aby s ním zlezl Mount Olympus. Následněpracoval pro Fischerovu agenturu Mountain Madness jako autor reklamních textů a průvodce, vedldobrodružné výpravy v Kaskádovém pohoří, na Aljašce, Kilimandžáru, Elbrusu i v Nepálu. Birkby jetaké autorem mnoha knih se skautskou tematikou.***Příběh Fischerovy poslední expedice je ztvárněn ve 3D filmu Everest s Jakem Gyllenhaalem a KeirouKnightley v hlavních rolích.***„Birkby láskyplně posbíral střípky ze života Scotta Fischera a vytvořil tak barvitý portrét špičkovéhosportovce, jehož veškeré životní cesty řídila láska k horolezectví. Šest let, po které jsem se Scottemkamarádil, patří k nejpamátnějším chvílím mého života. Svět bez něj je smutnějším místem. Ale díkyBirkbyho působivému životopisu mohou čtenáři Scotta docenit, a to úžasně osobním způsobem.“Ed Viesturs, autor knihy Na vrchol žádné zkratky nevedou„Everest je velice osobní životopis, dokreslující Fischerův portrét, jen hrubě nastíněný v Krakauerověbestselleru Peklo blízko nebe.“The New York Times Book Review„Birkby velmi úspěšně popisuje sílu, jakou dokáží hory opanovat lidskou duši. Jeho vyprávěnímprostupuje i Fischerovo charisma, kouzlo osobnosti a neskrývaná žízeň po dobrodružství. Birkbyhovřelá vzpomínka zahraje silně na strunu nejen horolezcům, ale každému, kdo někdy předčasně ztratilněkoho blízkého.“Publishers Weekly„Horolezci světového formátu a horskému vůdci vzdal posmrtně hold truchlící, oddaný přítel alezecký parťák... Birkby přináší nejen detaily z Fischerova života, ale i příběhy o setkáních s medvědy,přechodech zamrzlé aljašské krajiny, dobrodružném výstupu na Kilimandžáro nebo nebezpečnýchvýzvách v okolí Annapurny. Zasloužená pocta jednomu z největších extrémních dobrodruhů.“Kirkus Reviews„Scott šel z dobrodružství do dobrodružství. Každému z nás se občas nějaké velké dobrodružstvípřihodí, ale ne taková nepřetržitá série. Kdo takhle žije? Nikdo. Většina z nás je na to příliškonzervativní. A to Scott nebyl.“Stacy Allisonová, první Američanka na vrcholu Mount Everestu a autorka knihy Beyond the Limits: AWoman's Triumph on Everest„Divoká jízda, s jakou Scott Fischer proletěl svým životem, vyvrcholila sérií rozhodnutí a okolností,vedoucí k tragédii na Mount Everestu v roce 1996. Kniha Roberta Birkbyho nabízí čtenáři podmanivýpohled na tohoto člověka a na zážitky, které vedly k jeho osudnému dni.“Phil Powers, výkonný ředitel Amerického horolezeckého svazu a vlastník agentury Jackson HoleMountain Guides„Everest je svěží a energickou připomínkou toho, že je potřeba posouvat hranice a limity, a zároveňpoklona muži, jehož vášeň pro dobrodružství se ukázala být nakažlivou snad pro každého, kohopotkal.“Wally Berg, Berg Adventures International
In 1949, Iowa farm wife Evelyn Birkby began to write a weekly column entitled “Up a Country Lane” for the Shenandoah Evening Sentinel, now called the Valley News. Sixty-three years, one Royal typewriter, and five computers later, she is still creating a weekly record of the lives and interests of her family, friends, and neighbors. Her perceptive, closely observed columns provide a multigenerational biography of rural and small-town life in the Midwest over decades of change. Now she has sifted through thousands of columns to give us her favorites, guaranteed to delight her many longtime and newfound fans. Evelyn begins with her very first column, whose focus on the Christmas box prepared by a companionable group of farm wives, the constant hard work of farming, and an encounter with an elderly stranger over a yard of red gingham sets the tone for future columns. Optimistic even in the wake of sorrow, generous-spirited but not smug, humorous but not folksy, wise but not preachy, Evelyn welcomes the adventures and connections that each new day brings, and she masterfully shares them with her readers. Tales of separating cream on the back porch at Cottonwood Farm, raising a teddy bear of a puppy in addition to a menagerie of other animals, surviving an endless procession of Cub and Boy Scouts, appreciating a little boy’s need to take his toy tractor to church, blowing out eggs to make an Easter egg tree, shopping for bargains on the day before Christmas, camping in a converted Model T “house car,” and adjusting to the fact of one’s tenth decade of existence all merge to form a world composed of kindness and wisdom with just enough humor to keep it grounded. Recipes for such fare as Evelyn’s signature Hay Hand Rolls prove that the young woman who was daunted by her editor’s advice to “put in a recipe every week” became a talented cook. Each of the more than eighty columns in this warmhearted collection celebrates not a bygone era tinged with sentimentality but a continuing tradition of neighborliness, Midwest-nice and Midwest-sensible.
So you think your family is 'different'? Dr. Arthur Birkby has taken the advice of many friends and written an outlandish tale of humor, love, and life in general. Dig Up My Gold, but I Won't Say Where It's Buried is a believably poignant look at this author's life through the '20s, '30s, and '40s, as his day-to-day existence alternated between glorious fulfillment and demoralizing humiliation. Even the most apparently insignificant episodes in life have often been indelibly etched on one's mind and can be beneficial when viewed in proper perspective. Dig Up My Gold, but I Won't Say Where It's Buried will keep you wanting the next treasure and the next story! How is it possible for one man to have assembled so many members of his family who are the most unusual, iconoclastic, idiosyncratic, and diversified characters imaginable? The author has done it brilliantly and made each of his readers an extended part of his family as he introduces Grampop, Uncle Bert, Cousin Robert, and my favorite, Uncle Alfred. Birkby tells his story in a smooth-flowing manner, and this is a book that one does not want to put down until the action is complete. The story is about the maturing of the author as he leaves his disciplined childhood and serves in the infantry in World War II. Having known the author since our teenage years 60 years ago and having served with him in his army regiment, I can vouch for the clear, precise details of his army experience. Wry humor is a Birkby trait, and he uses it brilliantly in his recollections of a New Jersey boy and his growing into manhood, sharing with his readers his many life experiences. I recommend it for all ages. Sydney Wexler, J.D.
A handbook to help Scout leaders, parents, agency personnel, and others who realize the importance of involving young people in the care of the world around them. Contains many addresses and contacts.
From the leading conservation organization--the trail building and maintenance bible, now updated and expanded to meet new techniques and new realities of the 21st century. New chapters on arid lands restoration and involving conservation volunteers. The latest in effective management of work crews of all ages.
What can Evelyn Birkby possibly do to follow up the success ofa"Neighboring on the Air: Cooking with the KMA Radio Homemakers"? She can do what she has done in writinga"Up a Country Lane Cookbook."aFor forty-three years she has written a column entitled Up a Country Lane for thea"Shenandoah Evening Sentinel."aNow she has chosen the best recipes from her column and interspersed them with a wealth of stories of rural life in the 1940s and 1950s, supplemented by a generous offering of vintage photographs. She has created a book that encompasses lost time. With chapters on The Garden, Grocery Stores and Lockers, Planting, and Saturday Night in Town, to name a few, a"Up a Country Lane Cookbook"arecalls the noble simplicity of a life that has all but vanished. This is not to say that farm life in the forties and fifties was idyllic. As Birkby writes, Underneath the pastoral exterior were threats of storms, droughts, ruined crops, low prices, sickness, and accidents. Following the Second World War, many soldiers returned to mid-America and a life of farming. From her vantage point as a farm wife living in Mill Creek Valley in southwestern Iowa, Birkby observed the changes that accompanied improved roads, telephone service, and the easy availability of electricity. Her observations have been carefully recorded in her newspaper column, read by thousands of rural Iowans. "Up a Country Lane Cookbook"ais, then, much more than a cookbook. It is an evocation of a time in all its wonder and complexity which should be read by everyone from Evelyn Birkby's nearest neighbor in Mill Creek Valley to the city slicker seeking an education. Cook a meal of Plum-Glazed Baked Chicken, Elegant Peas, Creamed Cabbage, and Seven-Grain Bread, then finish it off with Frosted Ginger Creams with Fluffy Frosting. While the chicken is baking, read Evelyn's stories and think about the world the way it was.
A murder at the hospital draws Sherlock Holmes’s bedridden landlady and Dr. Watson’s wife into another puzzling mystery. Patients are dying in the hospital ward. Surely this isn’t news. But to Mrs. Hudson, ill and dizzy from medication, the deaths—one patient, then another, and all of them women!—seem sinisterly connected. Even if she’s the only person who sees the connection. Mary Watson knows just how she feels, though her focus is less on sick women than on missing boys—the skinny, grubby, poor ones that nobody wanted in the first place. Sherlock Holmes isn’t interested in either issue; he and Dr. Watson have more important puzzles to solve. So once again, it is left to Mary and Mrs. Hudson to help the truly vulnerable, to draw lines between the dying women and the disappearing boys, and to follow those lines to their grim conclusion. “Riveting. . . . A thrilling historical mystery novel about a woman’s work to uncover the twisted nature of humanity’s worst beings.” —Foreword Reviews “[A] solid sequel.” —Publishers Weekly
Behind every detective stands a great woman . . . When Sherlock Holmes turns down the case of persecuted Laura Shirley, Mrs Hudson - the landlady of Baker Street - and Mary Watson - the wife of Dr Watson - resolve to take on the investigation themselves. From the kitchen of 221b, the two women begin their inquiries and enlist the assistance of the Baker Street Irregulars and the infamous Irene Adler. A trail of clues leads them to the darkest corners of Whitechapel, where the fearsome Ripper supposedly still stalks. They soon discover Laura Shirley is not the only woman at risk - the lives of many others are in danger too. As Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson put together the pieces of an increasingly complex puzzle, the investigation becomes bigger than either of them could ever have imagined. Can they solve the case or are they just pawns in a much larger game? It is time for Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson to emerge from the shadows and stand in the spotlight . . .
Sherlock’s landlady and Dr. Watson’s wife help a blackmailed woman only to find themselves in a murder case in this mystery series debut. The women in Sherlock Holmes’s life have grown tired of toiling in his shadow. Matters come to a head when the Great Man declines to help a desperate young bride, prompting Mrs. Hudson (Holmes’s housekeeper) and Mary Watson (wife to the good Doctor) to set up a sleuthing shop of their own, operating out of the kitchen at 221B Baker Street. Every clue they untangle leads to, yes, the grim slums of Whitechapel, where Jack the Ripper appears still to be busy with his carving knives. With so many women in terrible danger, it seems only appropriate that it’s women who will set things right. “Appealing characters, gruesome homicides, and a detailed period setting in a blend as balanced as a perfect cup of tea. Enjoyable fare for both die-hard Sherlock-ians and newcomers to the canon.” —Kirkus Reviews “Fun. . . . Mrs. Hudson and Mary make an appealing pair, sure to win the hearts of some Holmes fans.” —Publishers Weekly
Behind every great detective, stands a great woman . . . When Sherlock Holmes turns down the case of persecuted Laura Shirley, Mrs Hudson, the landlady of Baker Street, and Mary Watson resolve to take on the investigation themselves. From the kitchen of 221b, the two women begin their inquiries and enlist the assistance of the Baker Street Irregulars and the infamous Irene Adler. A trail of clues leads them to the darkest corners of Whitechapel, where the feared Ripper supposedly still stalks. They discover Laura Shirley is not the only woman at risk as it rapidly becomes apparent that the lives of many others are in danger too. As Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson put together the pieces of an increasingly complicated puzzle, the investigation becomes bigger than either of them could ever have imagined. Can they solve the case or are they just pawns in a much larger game? It is time for Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson to emerge from the shadows and stand in the spotlight. Readers will discover that these two women are resourceful, intelligent and fearless, with a determination to help those in need . . . PRAISE FOR THE HOUSE AT BAKER STREET "This is the perfect post-Sherlock book: warm, compassionate, intelligent, with plot and language crafted in the style of the Master Conan Doyle himself." Manda Scott, author of the Rome and Boudica series
As Sherlock and Watson return from the famous Hound of the Baskervilles case, Mrs Hudson and Mary must face their own Hound, in the swirling fog of Victorian London . . . When Mrs Hudson falls ill, she is taken into a private ward at St Barts hospital. Perhaps it is her over-active imagination, or her penchant for sniffing out secrets, but as she lies in her bed, slowly recovering, she finds herself surrounded by patients who all seem to have some skeletons in their closets. A higher number of deaths than usual seem to occur on this ward. On her very first night, Mrs Hudson believes she witnesses a murder. But was it real, or just smoke and mirrors? Mary Watson meanwhile has heard about young boys disappearing across London, and is determined to find them and reunite them with their families. As the women's investigations collide in unexpected ways, a gruesome discovery in Regent's Park leads them on to a new, terrifying case.
What can Evelyn Birkby possibly do to follow up the success ofa"Neighboring on the Air: Cooking with the KMA Radio Homemakers"? She can do what she has done in writinga"Up a Country Lane Cookbook."aFor forty-three years she has written a column entitled Up a Country Lane for thea"Shenandoah Evening Sentinel."aNow she has chosen the best recipes from her column and interspersed them with a wealth of stories of rural life in the 1940s and 1950s, supplemented by a generous offering of vintage photographs. She has created a book that encompasses lost time. With chapters on The Garden, Grocery Stores and Lockers, Planting, and Saturday Night in Town, to name a few, a"Up a Country Lane Cookbook"arecalls the noble simplicity of a life that has all but vanished. This is not to say that farm life in the forties and fifties was idyllic. As Birkby writes, Underneath the pastoral exterior were threats of storms, droughts, ruined crops, low prices, sickness, and accidents. Following the Second World War, many soldiers returned to mid-America and a life of farming. From her vantage point as a farm wife living in Mill Creek Valley in southwestern Iowa, Birkby observed the changes that accompanied improved roads, telephone service, and the easy availability of electricity. Her observations have been carefully recorded in her newspaper column, read by thousands of rural Iowans. "Up a Country Lane Cookbook"ais, then, much more than a cookbook. It is an evocation of a time in all its wonder and complexity which should be read by everyone from Evelyn Birkby's nearest neighbor in Mill Creek Valley to the city slicker seeking an education. Cook a meal of Plum-Glazed Baked Chicken, Elegant Peas, Creamed Cabbage, and Seven-Grain Bread, then finish it off with Frosted Ginger Creams with Fluffy Frosting. While the chicken is baking, read Evelyn's stories and think about the world the way it was.
In 1949, Iowa farm wife Evelyn Birkby began to write a weekly column entitled “Up a Country Lane” for the Shenandoah Evening Sentinel, now called the Valley News. Sixty-three years, one Royal typewriter, and five computers later, she is still creating a weekly record of the lives and interests of her family, friends, and neighbors. Her perceptive, closely observed columns provide a multigenerational biography of rural and small-town life in the Midwest over decades of change. Now she has sifted through thousands of columns to give us her favorites, guaranteed to delight her many longtime and newfound fans. Evelyn begins with her very first column, whose focus on the Christmas box prepared by a companionable group of farm wives, the constant hard work of farming, and an encounter with an elderly stranger over a yard of red gingham sets the tone for future columns. Optimistic even in the wake of sorrow, generous-spirited but not smug, humorous but not folksy, wise but not preachy, Evelyn welcomes the adventures and connections that each new day brings, and she masterfully shares them with her readers. Tales of separating cream on the back porch at Cottonwood Farm, raising a teddy bear of a puppy in addition to a menagerie of other animals, surviving an endless procession of Cub and Boy Scouts, appreciating a little boy’s need to take his toy tractor to church, blowing out eggs to make an Easter egg tree, shopping for bargains on the day before Christmas, camping in a converted Model T “house car,” and adjusting to the fact of one’s tenth decade of existence all merge to form a world composed of kindness and wisdom with just enough humor to keep it grounded. Recipes for such fare as Evelyn’s signature Hay Hand Rolls prove that the young woman who was daunted by her editor’s advice to “put in a recipe every week” became a talented cook. Each of the more than eighty columns in this warmhearted collection celebrates not a bygone era tinged with sentimentality but a continuing tradition of neighborliness, Midwest-nice and Midwest-sensible.
“An extraordinary life.”—The New York Times Book Review “A fitting homage to one of the great outdoor extremists.”—Kirkus Reviews Legendary climber Scott Fischer found in Mount Everest a perfect landscape for his fearless spirit. Scaling the world’s highest peak tested his skills, his courage, and his endurance. His legendary final expedition—and its tragic outcome—are portrayed in Everest, the 3-D movie adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer. Robert Birkby, one of Scott’s close friends, captures in this intimate and stirring portrait who Scott Fischer really was and what led him to climb to the top of the world—before he left it altogether. “A personal, uncritical biography that rounds out the portrait of Fischer sketched in Krakauer’s best-seller Into Thin Air.”—The New York Times Book Review “A much fuller picture of a climber widely critiqued in the high-profile coverage after the Everest tragedy.”—Seattle Post Intelligencer “A vivid portrait of a superb athlete whose love of mountain climbing drove everything he did.”—Ed Viesturs, author of No Shortcuts to the Top “Birkby succeeds in illuminating the power mountains can exert over the human soul.—Publishers Weekly Updated with a New Introduction and Epilogue Plus new photos exclusive to the digital edition!
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