The Trip Was To Be An Odyssey

Mr. Franz, I Think Careers Are A 20th Century Invention And I Don't Want One.

I Read Somewhere... How Important It Is In Life Not Necessarily To Be Strong, But To Feel Strong... To Measure Yourself At Least Once.

When Alex Left For Alaska," Franz Remembers, "i Prayed. I Asked God To Keep His Finger On The Shoulder Of That One; I Told Him That Boy Was Special. But He Let Alex Die. So On December 26, When I Learned What Happened, I Renounced The Lord. I Withdrew My Church Membership And Became An Atheist. I Decided I Couldn't Believe In A God Who Would Let Something That Terrible Happen To A Boy Like Alex.

The Long Walk Is A Raw, Wrenching, Blood-soaked Chronicle Of The Human Cost Of War. Brian Castner, The Leader Of A Military Bomb Disposal Team, Recounts His Deployment To Iraq With Unflinching Candor, And In The Process Exposes Crucial Truths Not Only About This Particular Conflict, But Also About War Throughout History. Castner's Memoir Brings To Mind Erich Maria Remarque's Masterpiece, All Quiet On The Western Front.

Above The Comforts Of Base Camp, The Expedition In Fact Became An Almost Calvinistic Undertaking. The Ratio Of Misery To Pleasure Was Greater By An Order Of Magnitude Than Any Mountain I'd Been On; I Quickly Came To Understand That Climbing Everest Was Primarily About Enduring Pain. And In Subjecting Ourselves To Week After Week Of Toil, Tedium And Suffering, It Struck Me That Most Of Us Were Probably Seeking Above All Else, Something Like A State Of Grace.