A graphic history of war, Mountaineering and human endeavours. A view of politics and pomposity in the Royal Geographic Society as it affected attempts to climb Mount Everest and self interest of those involved combined with rank bad management and heroic activities of the climbers.

3.5 stars, this was just too long. Absolutely fascinating, but exhaustive in scope. The last 100 pages or so are the best, giving an excellent feel for being on the mountain with relatively primitive equipment. After reading Into Thin Air, this one just can't live up. ( )

It took me a while to get through this book, but I am glad I persisted.

Davis tells the story of the British expeditions to Everest in 1921, 1922 and 1924, but crucially also provides a great deal of political, social and historical background. This includes, obviously, WWI; Davis recounts the war experiences of many of the major figures and shows how the Great War shaped personalities and events. More importantly, some of the relevant history of Tibet and India is also covered, giving some necessary context to the expeditions - before, during, and afterward. Davis does not shy away from revealing a less-than-heroic side to many of the men involved, and it is clear that most had attitudes ranging from obliviousness to disrespect to callous disregard for the lives of the Tibetans and other non-white people they encountered (and exploited).

It is obvious that an enormous amount of time, effort, and persistence was needed to write this book. The annotated bibliography reveals a mind-boggling amount of archival research, trawling through personal correspondence and British army records. It's apparent that Davis is dedicated to his subject. Indeed, I found the recounting of the 1921 expedition hard going, with (what seemed to me to be) an inordinate amount of detail about every aspect of the journey across Tibet. It may be that other readers will be fascinated to learn what sort of flowers were to be found in every single valley traversed by the British, or that Bullock decided to leave his pink umbrella behind when setting out from a camp for a particular climb. To me, it seemed as though Davis was determined to reflect every single bit of knowledge he'd obtained. Fortunately the later expeditions do not get this over-detailed treatment, and I found most of the book quite riveting.

The other difficulty I had was in keeping track of all of the main players. I suppose that this might not be such an issue for those who are already more familiar with the subject matter; however I found that there were too many names and back-stories to keep straight and sometimes had to backtrack. (Not the author's fault at all, but this isn't easy in ebook format!). A 'dramatis personae' might have been useful.

Even more useful, however, would have been some maps! Only two fairly rudimentary maps of Everest are provided, showing camps and routes climbed. With so much detail on the travels needed to get to Everest - and with the focus on efforts to conduct cartographical and geographical studies - some good maps of Tibet and of the approaches to Everest would have helped immensely. I spent a great deal of time zooming around in Google Earth to try to get a feel for the landscape and the distances involved. ( )

Few would argue that the Dictionary isn't a good book, informative, everything you need to know. The same is true for the Encyclopedia - it contains everything you ever wanted to know about any subject. But while they're very informative, and excellent resources, that doesn't make them a great read. And that's my feeling about "Into the Silence". As the subtitle shows, it's about The Great War, it's about Mallory, and it's about the Conquest of Everest. Well, that's a lot to cover, and I would have preferred if Davis had selected one topic, and had written about that. This is clearly a well researched book, and I'm sure it meets all the requirements to be considered a wonderful book, but it just got too long, and often too bogged down in minutia to be enjoyed by me. The professional book critics and reviews seemed to love it, but I'd like to believe a well written story can still be told in something less than 700 pages. Davis explores the British team first conquering Mt. Everest, going back to the individuals experiences in WW I. He also provides extensive descriptions of life in Tibet. Davis appears to have had access to the diaries of several of the explorers, which provides interesting source material, but I prefer a book which can weed out the unnecessary elements from those diaries and weave a story from the most interesting portions. Personally, I found Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster" a much more interesting and much more readable book on a similar subject.
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“...caught on the barbed wire, drowned in mud, choked by the oily slime of gas, reduced to a spray of red mist quartered limbs hanging from shattered branches of burnt trees, bodies swollen and blackened with flies, skulls gnawed by rats, corpses stuck in the sides of trenches that aged with each day into the colours of the dead”............”This was not war he wrote; it was the monstrous inversion of civilization. To call it war was to imply that something of the sun remained, when in fact all that existed was a bruised sky in a bitter night of cobalt rain”......”Not a village had been taken, nor a single major objective achieved. Machine guns cut the men down like scythes slicing through grass”....

And so starts this epic novel of human endurance and human spirit told against the backdrop of the senseless slaughter of WW1 and the cold unforgiving heights of a treacherous Mt Everest. Before George Mallory embarked on his third, and what was to tragically prove his final attempt at ascending this great mountain, he was asked what was the purpose of conquering such a merciless foe he simply replied….because it is there. Yet such a simple response hides the enormity of the task that faced Mallory and Irvine as they set about vanquishing all their fears and summit this frozen mountainous landscape, many years removed from the mud and blood of never to be forgotten names...Ypres, Verdun, Somme (the Somme in particular accounting for more than a million men from all sides killed wounded or captured, British casualties on the first day alone amounting to over 57,000) It is perhaps of little wonder that the men who had survived the battle fields embraced with such passion a need to climb, a need to cleanse their souls, find some meaning in wasted lives, sacrifice, and perhaps by reaching out they might touch the hand of God…

Into the silence is a large novel that requires some perseverance and dedicated reading time to fully appreciate what is being described to the reader. I felt that the earlier part of the book with its gory WW1 imagery was some of the most disturbing I have ever encountered. The preparation for and the 3 ascensions of Everest were a little too detailed giving at times overlong historical and geographical descriptions as various permissions were sought and the lower reaches of Everest constantly surveyed in an attempt to select the best and most practical route for a successful ascent. This however is a minor criticism and for the most part I was enthralled by this boy's own adventure unfolding before me, where amongst other noteworthy facts oxygen was used for the first time. If we also appreciate how simplistic the standard of equipment was compared to the present then the achievements of these earlier innovators is outstanding. Many years were to pass before the ultimate fate of Mallory and Irvine was known, it had always been hoped that they had reached the summit and that speculation still remains today even though Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999 it gives little clue as to his final moments…

An important read not only for its historical significance but a wonderful study of the essence of man and his ability to rise above all adversity in the search of a dream…..”from that day it was certain that he had found in snow mountains the perfect medium for the expression of his physical and spiritual being”......”His great desire she wrote very simply was for the spirit of man to exercise itself freely and fearlessly and joyously as a climber on a hill”.......
Highly Recommended ( )