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The White Spider | 
 enlarge | Author: Heinrich Harrer
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £6.99
You Save: £3.00 (30%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 2514
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0007197845
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780007197842
ASIN: 0007197845
Publication Date: January 17, 2005
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
Justifiably a classic August 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Harrer has researched the history of the seminal attempts on this vertical mile of rock in meticulous detail and as a result this book gives a rich picture of the physical and spiritual strength required to achieve this most famous of summits. His account of their own first ascent is gripping yet prosaic; I found this style perfectly conveyed the necessary drama without tipping into self-indulgence, which is also mostly absent from his descriptions of later attempts. What struck me very much was the capriciousness of fate when attempting the North Face; the difference between the heroic first successful summit and the many failed attempts surrounding it is a stone falling here, or a snow slide there. Perhaps to say luck plays a part is not correct, but the catalogue of experienced, respected names to have perished there, often without making any obvious errors, highlights the fine line between getting up and down alive or not.
On the negative side, and the reason for four stars instead of five, is Harrer's over-egging the difference between climbers and non-climbers; something I find Joe Simpson guilty of too. It becomes grating to read every few pages that all climbers are salt-of-the-earth good eggs, uninterested in fame, and how every non-climber cannot possibly understand what drives climbers to do what they do. I don't believe that humility and kindness are the preserve of climbers alone and I do believe that non-climbers are perfectly capable of appreciating outstanding feats of human endeavour. (Luckily I was forewarned about the condescension with which Harrer describes the first women climbers attempting the North Face.) The brotherhood in climbing circles was self-evident in the number of guides and volunteers ready to respond to a cry for help immediately and from long distances. The oft-repeated image of colleagues waiting on the summit, having climbed one of the less demanding routes to the top, to welcome the successful party off the North Face, spoke more about camaraderie than relentlessly hitting readers over the head with descriptions of the unique spirit of fellowship enjoyed by climbers.
In spite of this Harrer is to be commended on describing every climb in detail without becoming too technical or melodramatic. His undisguised admiration for those he describes is authentic and touching, and in spite of having much to blow his own trumpet about, he modestly relegates himself to merely another actor in the ongoing drama of the North Face. This is not a book for those looking for a story of great adventure, it is a thorough monument to all those brave spirits, who made it back or not, who could not resist the call of the mountains.
 This book is an excellent read for "armchair climbers" and true believers alike. April 8, 2008
Allowing for he odd translation nuance, Harrer writes extremely well and has clearly carefully researched the story of the face and the attempts to climb it - not just his team's first successful attempt and then tells the story as it was. Self-efacing, when he could have been superior given the achievement, Harrer weaves a spellbinding tale capturing the beauty and majesty, the trials and woes of what is the best face in the world. I really couldn't put this down. This book is an excellent read for "armchair climbers" and true believers alike.
Drama and Death on the Eiger March 5, 2008
Superb description of the first successful climb of the North Face of the Eiger in 1936. Possibly the most dramatic description of a climb I have ever read. This book really inspired me to get into climbing and to visit the Eiger (though not to climb it). Harrer does not touch on the political background to the first successful climb though, which many people feels detracts from the story.
 Great subject - clumsy book January 5, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a classic climbing book and fascinating for anyone with a bit of basic climbing knowledge and a love of the mountains.
Like others, I read the part of the story about Toni Kurz dying on the face when I was a teenager and it had a profound impression on me.
All the basic stories and the mountain face are gripping but the writing style is appalling. When it gets to the tale of Longhi and Corti it becomes almost unreadably disjointed and as smooth as a bag of spanners.
A classic to read if you must - but if you want a great read on the same subject then spend your money on Joe Simpson's "The Beckoning Silence" - an infinitely better written book.
(By the way, Harrer's "seven years in Tibet" is a lot better).
Absolutely Amazing Book! November 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great book by one of the first ascentists of the North Face of the Eiger, one of the last major challenges in the Alps to be climbed. It reviews the history of the attempts on the North Face in an exciting and very readable way. It gets the reader hooked! Heinrich Harrer was a unique person who led an amazing life. He also later spent Seven Years in Tibet and was tutor to the Dalai Lama. I would also recomend his autobiography Beyond Seven Years in Tibet, My life before, during and after, which has just come out and is an amazing read!
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