This is an inspirational story of courage, fortitude and persistence in a noble cause. Few of us can say that we leave the Earth a better place than we entered it but Mortenson can. What a pity then that he has made such an error of judgment in choosing his collaborator. To say that the prose is pedestrian would be a kindness; it is simply appalling. Good writing has few adjectives; in this book they are scattered like snowflakes in a storm.

Mortenson would have been better served by a competent biographer than by a hack.