Edmund Hillary - A Biography
The Extraordinary Life of the Beekeeper Who Climbed Everest
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Edmund Hillary - A Biography
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Narrated by:
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Bruce Hopkins
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By:
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Michael Gill
About this listen
Edmund Hillary - A Biography is the story of the New Zealand beekeeper who climbed Mount Everest. A man who, against expedition orders, drove his tractor to the South Pole; a man honored around the world for his pioneering climbs, yet who collapsed on more than one occasion on a mountain, and a man who gave so much to Nepal yet lost his family to its mountains.
The author Michael Gill was a close friend of Hillary for nearly 50 years, accompanying him on many expeditions and becoming heavily involved in Hillary’s aid work, building schools and hospitals in the Himalayan region. Gill was granted access to a large archive of private papers and photos that were deposited in the Auckland museum after Hillary’s death in 2008. Building on this unpublished material, as well as his extensive personal experience, Michael Gill profiles a man whose life was shaped by both triumph and tragedy.
Gill describes the uncertainties of the first 33 years of Hillary’s life, during which time he served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War, as well as the background to the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, when Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit - a feat that brought the pair instant worldwide fame. He reveals the loving relationship Hillary had with his wife, Louise, in part, through their touching letters to each other. Her importance to him during their 22 years of marriage only underlines the horror of her death, along with that of their youngest daughter, Belinda, in a plane crash in 1975. Hillary eventually pulled out of his subsequent depression to continue his life’s work in the Himalayas.
Affectionate, but scrupulously fair, Michael Gill has gone further than anyone before to reveal the humanity of this remarkable man in Edmund Hillary - A Biography.
©2017 Michael Gill (P)2019 Audiobooks NZListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
In The Last of His Kind, renowned adventure writer David Roberts gives readers a spellbinding history of mountain climbing in the twentieth century as told through the biography of Brad Washburn, legendary mountaineering pioneer and photographer. Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, has praised David Roberts, saying, “Nobody alive writes better about mountaineering” - and nowhere is that truth more evident than in this breathtaking account of the life and exploits of America’s greatest mountain climber.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great introduction to Washburn & climbing elites
- By Geoffrey on 04-27-22
By: David Roberts
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The Moth and the Mountain
- A True Story of Love, War, and Everest
- By: Ed Caesar
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Mount Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceives his own crazy, beautiful plan: He will fly a plane from England to Everest, crash-land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit — completely alone.
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1 out of 5 stars
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this is very misleading as most of it is wwone
- By steve on 12-01-20
By: Ed Caesar
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The Third Pole
- Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest
- By: Mark Synnott
- Narrated by: Steve Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 476
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 407
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 409
A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke”. What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul - and your life - if you let it.
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3 out of 5 stars
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This is not a book about the search for Sandy Irvine
- By erik on 09-15-21
By: Mark Synnott
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Conquistadors of the Useless
- From the Alps to Annapurna
- By: Lionel Terray, David Roberts - foreword
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story5 out of 5 stars 68
Frenchman Lionel Terray is one of mountaineering history's greatest alpinists, and his autobiography, Conquistadors of the Useless, stands among the "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time", according to National Geographic Adventure magazine. Following World War II, when France desperately needed successes to heal its wounds, Terray emerged as a national hero, conquering summits atop the planet's highest mountains.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Conquistadors of the Useless
- By Stephen on 05-23-21
By: Lionel Terray, and others
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Ghosts of K2
- By: Mick Conefrey
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 122
At 28,251 feet, K2 might be almost 800 feet shorter than Everest, but it’s a far harder climb. It will kill you on the way up and the way down. Mick Conefrey guides us through the early story of the legendary mountain and the extraordinary attempts that led up to its first ascent in 1954 - these are tales of riveting drama and unimaginable tragedy.
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3 out of 5 stars
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First Review? It was an "okay" book
- By Matthew on 10-20-15
By: Mick Conefrey
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Life Lived Wild
- Adventures at the Edge of the Map (Patagonia)
- By: Rick Ridgeway
- Narrated by: Rick Ridgeway
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 327
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 295
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Story5 out of 5 stars 293
At the beginning of his memoir Life Lived Wild: Adventures at the Edge of the Map, Rick Ridgeway tells us that if you add up all his many expeditions, he’s spent over five years of his life sleeping in tents: “And most of that in small tents pitched in the world’s most remote regions.” It’s not a boast so much as an explanation. Whether at elevation or raising a family back at sea level, those years taught him, he writes, “to distinguish matters of consequence from matters of inconsequence.” He leaves it to his listeners to do the final sort of which is which.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The hypocrisy and boasting ego. Blood boiling.
- By Amazon Customer on 12-30-21
By: Rick Ridgeway
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On the Ridge Between Life and Death
- A Climbing Life Reexamined
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 24
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
What compels mountain climbers to take the risks that they do? Is it the thrill in the physical accomplishment, in managing to defy the odds, or both - and why do they continue to do what they do in the face of such great danger? In On the Ridge Between Life and Death, David Roberts confronts these questions head-on as he recounts the exhilarating highs and desperate lows of his climbing career.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The same book as Deborah and Mountain of My Fears
- By joe on 02-16-22
By: David Roberts
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The Ice at the End of the World
- An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future
- By: Jon Gertner
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders, Jon Gertner
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 132
In The Ice at the End of the World, Jon Gertner explains how Greenland has evolved from one of earth’s last frontiers to its largest scientific laboratory. The history of Greenland’s ice begins with the explorers who arrived here at the turn of the 20th century. Their original goal was to conquer Greenland’s seemingly infinite interior. Yet their efforts eventually gave way to scientists who built lonely encampments out on the ice and began drilling - one mile, two miles down.Their aim was to pull up ice cores that could reveal the deepest mysteries of earth’s past.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Adventure, Science, Advocacy
- By EM Goodkind on 09-08-19
By: Jon Gertner
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An Unsung Hero
- Tom Crean – Antarctic Survivor
- By: Michael Smith
- Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story5 out of 5 stars 46
Tom Crean was the farmer’s son from Kerry who sailed on three major expeditions to the unknown Antarctic over a century ago. He served with both Captain Robert Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, spent longer on the ice than either and outlived them both. But Tom Crean returned to Ireland and never spoke about his exploits, taking his incredible story to the grave - until the publication of An Unsung Hero, which unearthed his story and saw him rightfully placed amongst the annals of the great explorers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!
- By Laura Louise Bernadette on 04-05-24
By: Michael Smith
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To the Edges of the Earth
- 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration
- By: Edward J. Larson
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
As 1909 dawned, the greatest jewels of exploration - set at the world's frozen extremes - lay unclaimed: the North and South Poles and the so-called "Third Pole", the pole of altitude, located in unexplored heights of the Himalaya. Before the calendar turned, three expeditions had faced death, mutiny, and the harshest conditions on the planet to plant flags at the furthest edges of the Earth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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brutally honest accounts unbelievable stories
- By Troy Hamilton on 07-17-18
By: Edward J. Larson
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Into the Silence
- The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest
- By: Wade Davis
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 28 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 465
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 402
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 402
In this magisterial work of history and adventure, based on more than a decade of prodigious research in British, Canadian, and European archives, and months in the field in Nepal and Tibet, Wade Davis vividly re-creates British climbers’ epic attempts to scale Mount Everest in the early 1920s. With new access to letters and diaries, Davis recounts the heroic efforts of George Mallory and his fellow climbers to conquer the mountain in the face of treacherous terrain and furious weather.
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4 out of 5 stars
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He wrote exquisite Eel-agies?
- By Florence on 11-29-12
By: Wade Davis
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Denali's Howl
- The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America's Wildest Peak
- By: Andy Hall
- Narrated by: Jim Manchester
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,029
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 900
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 896
In 1967, 12 young men attempted to climb Alaska's Mount McKinley—known to the locals as Denali—one of the most popular and deadly mountaineering destinations in the world. Only five survived. Journalist Andy Hall, son of the park superintendent at the time, investigates the tragedy. He spent years tracking down survivors, lost documents, and recordings of radio communications. In Denali's Howl, Hall reveals the full story.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By David Shear on 07-07-14
By: Andy Hall
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Wanderlust
- An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age
- By: Reid Mitenbuler
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 173
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Story5 out of 5 stars 173
Deep in the Arctic wilderness, Peter Freuchen awoke to find himself buried alive under the snow. During a sudden blizzard the night before, he had taken shelter underneath his dogsled and become trapped there while he slept. Now, as feeling drained from his body, he managed to claw a hole through the ice only to find himself in even greater danger: his beard, wet with condensation from his struggling breath, had frozen to his sled runners and lashed his head in place, exposing it to icy winds that needed only a few minutes to kill him. If Freuchen could escape that, he could escape anything.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazingly in-depth look at an amazing person.
- By Dave on 06-18-23
By: Reid Mitenbuler
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The Last Viking
- The Life of Roald Amundsen
- By: Stephen R. Bown
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 468
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 413
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 411
The Last Viking unravels the life of the man who stands head and shoulders above all those who raced to map the last corners of the world. In 1900, the four great geographical mysteries - the Northwest Passage, the Northeast Passage, the South Pole, and the North Pole - remained blank spots on the globe. Within twenty years Roald Amundsen would claim all four prizes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding.
- By Leon Miller on 12-01-15
By: Stephen R. Bown
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Master of Thin Air
- Life and Death on the World's Highest Peaks
- By: Andrew Lock
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Master of Thin Air opens with a fall that the author very nearly could not stop down an almost vertical rock ramp leading to a 3,000-foot drop. The qualities that saved him then on K2 - in addition to his mountaineering know-how and sheer good luck - drove his 16-year journey to summit all of the world's 8,000ers, the 14 peaks that exceed 8,000 meters (26,000-plus feet) and take climbers into the death zone. Incredibly, he accomplished that feat without the aid of bottled oxygen for every mountain but one.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Tedious, redundant
- By Mike Milward on 11-06-16
By: Andrew Lock
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Both Feet on the Ground
- Reflections From the Outside
- By: Marshall Ulrich
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 20
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 17
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Story5 out of 5 stars 17
You’re stressed, tired of answering the beeps on your phone and computer. Your kids get too much screen time. You don’t know where your next meal was grown or raised. One of the best forms of therapy is simple: Get out and stay out - as often and for as long as you can. In Both Feet on the Ground, Marshall Ulrich champions “disconnecting to reconnect”, urging you to spend time unplugged, eat food whose origins you understand, and push yourself to try something bold and personally compelling.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!
- By Sandy on 06-16-20
By: Marshall Ulrich
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Mud, Sweat, and Tears
- The Autobiography
- By: Bear Grylls
- Narrated by: Tom Patrick Stephens
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 821
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 732
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 728
Already a number-one London Sunday Times best seller, Mud, Sweat, and Tears is the adrenaline-fueled autobiography of the mega-popular star of the hit survival series Man vs. Wild, adventurer Bear Grylls. A former British Special Forces commando, a man who has always sought the ultimate in dangerous challenges, Bear's true story reads like an outdoors action-and-adventure novel. But Bear's story is true - full of breathtaking escapes and remarkable exploits that would make any Jack London or H. Ryder Haggard hero proud.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love this book
- By Aaron on 04-07-13
By: Bear Grylls
What listeners say about Edmund Hillary - A Biography
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rockox1
- 10-09-19
Great Book
Very fascinating! I enjoyed it immensely! I would recommend it to all my friends! Learned so much.
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