Goto Chockstone Home

  Guide
  Gallery
  Tech Tips
  Articles
  Reviews
  Dictionary
  Links
  Forum
  Search
  About

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

  Shop
    For All Your Climbing Gear!

Mad Rock: Mad Rock "Bottle Nose" Quick Draw. This is one nice looking quick-draw. Top Straight gate is BLACK body/yellow gate. Bottom Bent gate is YELLOW body/black gate. Both karabiners are 24 9 9 kN. 150cm (6") black NYLON dog bone (22kN). Set of Qty 10 Q/D's.  $225.00
25% Off





Climbing Media Reviewed
[ Books | Movies | Screen Shots | Best Stuff | Aussie Titles | Latest Reviews | Reviewed Only | All ]

Virgin on Insanity
Coming of age on the world's toughest mountains

Format Book Category Non-Fiction
Title Virgin on Insanity  Pages 256 
Author Steve Bell  RRP $15.00 AUD 
Publisher Vertebrate  Reviews
Edition Hardback/eBook  Ave Rating **** (4.00 of 5)

Reviews  

User Comments

ajfclark
7/3/2016
****
I've recently finished Steve's book and I found it quite enjoyable to read.

A collection of very interesting stories, some chapters were quite a rollercoaster
from beautiful, to awkward and amusing or harrowing and back. At quite a few
points I remember thinking "But why Steve?" and then continuing to read, looking for
the answer. The story manages to sustain this level of interest for large sections, so
it only took 5 or 6 evening sessions to make in through the 256 pages. There were a
couple of quite late nights reading enough to see how a given adventure panned out.

I think it's well written and very easy to read, and the use of the occasional
photograph reduces the need for over long, flowery, poetic descriptions that never
quite convey things as effectively. There's enough description of the technical side
of climbing to make it accessible to non-climbers (I read several chapters to my
wife) without it interrupting the flow of the prose for those more familiar with
climbing.

Stylistically, my only gripe is that occasionally the story will flashback to an earlier
time and it isn't always clear this had happened for a few lines, requiring some
rereading. This only happened in a couple of places so it was perhaps due to my
eReader missing some formatting (or maybe it was because I should've put the
book down earlier and gone to sleep!). It really was only a minor interruption to my
reading.

The story felt incredibly honest and upfront, and it certainly explores some of the
less comfortable and less discussed regions of the human condition - Steve's
descriptions of awkward teenage angst made me squirm. It's quite well paced,
never slow or dull but at the same time not so fast paced it's exhausting or forced.
Likewise the language is rarely overly complex or simple, like Goldilocks' bed (and
unlike Steve's on many occasions) it was just right.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and was slightly disappointed when I reached the
end: 4/5 stars

amazon
kobo 

 

Home | Guide | Gallery | Tech Tips | Articles | Reviews | Dictionary | Forum | Links | About | Search
Chockstone Photography | Landscape Photography Australia | Australian Landscape Photography

Please read the full disclaimer before using any information contained on these pages.
All text, images and video on this site are copyright. Unauthorised use is strictly prohibited.