127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Movie Tie- In)

By: Aron Ralston

Narrated by: Aron Ralston

Aron Ralston, an experienced 27-year-old outdoorsman, was on a days solitary hike through a remote and narrow Utah canyon when he dislodged an 800-pound boulder that crushed his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. Emerging from the searing pain, Aron found himself completely stuck. No one knew where he was; no one was coming to rescue him. With scant water and food, and a cheap pocketknife his only tool, he eliminated his options one by one. On the fifth night, wracked by delirium and uncontrollable shivers, Aron scratched his epitaph into the rock wall, certain he would not see daylight.

Yet with the new morning came an epiphany: if he could use the rocks vise-like hold to break his arm bones, his blunted pocketknife could serve as a surgeons blade....

©2010 Simon & Schuster Audio; 2010 Aron Ralston

Fantastic Survival Story

Ever since the pandemic started I've been listening to survival stories. They make me feel so much better about my life and give me perspective. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book so much as I'm kind of averse to gore but it was really well done.

Pros: Incredible story, well told in chronological order, I even got a bit choked up towards the end which I was not expecting at all.

Cons: Because there's not a whole lot to tell there's a lot of filler stories of his childhood which I skipped through. The story is already only 5 hours and I'd say about an hour of that is filled with extras.

In conclusion I'd highly recommend the book. It's also better than the movie.

Wow

Wow met the guy before ii knew his story. Super friendly happy guy. At least on the floor dancing.

Better than the movie

If you could sum up 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Movie Tie- In) in three words, what would they be?

I saw the film and heard some snippets of Ralston's interviews online. This made me wonder why he said he wouldn't avoid this accident if he were to do it over again. This book helped to explain what the experience has done to enrich the author's life. Although the book would do a service to readers by adding some advice on avoiding similar incidents, it's a great story from a standpoint of overcoming adversity, facing fears, "growing" spiritually/intellectually, etc. The book does not, however, provide much advice in terms of "lessons learned." I enjoyed that it was ready by Aron Ralston himself. I always like audio books that are read by their own authors; you can be pretty sure that all the voice inflections are correct interpretations of the author's tone.

Very well told

Any additional comments?

Aron told this story in a way that it was very easy to follow and it was very entertaining and interesting. A book like this could have easily turned into a huge bore but I finished this one in like a day and a half. Great job!

Amazing testimony of perseverance

Aron is an amazing writer and captures his experience in such detail you feel as though you have come out a different person by the end. He takes you through his agonizing 6 days with such visualization that you emerge determined and amazed with a value on life that is more powerful than ever.

awesome story

Gruesome, gory, and detailed. I can tell he is incredibly intelligent by his writing. You can also tell he was an engineer with how he explains things. He goes into such vast detail that I can clearly picture the scene as it happens. I also love that he narrates his own book, it really puts the cherry on this already amazing book. I hate that he had to go through all of it, but it certainly makes for some interesting dinner party conversation I'm sure.

Absolutely incredible

I remember when the story first came out, I was still a young man. I followed it very well, and oddly enough, it is one of the things that got me into backcountry adventuring. I’m so glad I finally got around to actually reading the book, having seen the movie seven, maybe eight years ago. Ralston is not just an expert Mountaineer/survivalist…turns out he’s a pretty damn good writer to. And a good narrator, I must say.

Way better than the movie...

im glad the movie introduced me to the story, but im baffled by the choices they made. Im a big movie guy, I know all about adaptations and why they make changes, but this story is way better and they could have easily adapated it much more closely.

teach lessons

The story teaches many good lessons at many different levels. One needs to only listen and read lesson in order to gain them all.

Great book

The movie left out so much. I'm glad he didn't promote anyone to not try to accomplish his goals. I admired him for never giving up and to continue to push the limits. His hobby is dangerous but it was one hell of a rush.