Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits

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Read with eyes wide open!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 13, 2013

Although I have respect for and interest in hearing the story of anyone who succeeds in attaining the Seven Summits (by any accepted definition) Parfet's book is basically a thinly disguised promo for his scholarship funding proposals and follow-up visits to distant climbing spots.

Yes, it's interesting at times especially his misadventures in the beginning and the Carstenz Pyramid section but it's the same three themes over and over: 1) work for awhile/go to grad school and 2) propose grants which allow travel/climbing and 3) get credit for more travel/climbing.

Even with his dyslexia, he was doing well in grad school yet he couldn't spend any time using the internet to research for 1 hour on how to prepare for hiking at altitude? How to dress in layers? What fluids to drink?

All I will give him an A+ for is choosing his co-writer and publicist whatever because if you read the whole dust-jacket including the parts I left out above, you would think Bo Parfet is practically the next Mallory. This book is a quick read, and for the 'non-mountaineer oriented' it may be very enjoyable. For me, "Die Trying" was almost fiction.

Excerpts from the dust-jacket:

“At the age of 26, Bo Parfet seemed like just another ordinary guy working as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan when he arranged his first major mountain climb—of Mt.Kilimanjaro. He was no professional climber, nor was he in any kind of shape to be tackling any major peak. To the trained mountaineer, Parfet would have seemed foolhardy. But in just four years, he managed to successfully complete his quest to scale all Seven Summits, including Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson Massif, Elbrus, Carstenz Pyramid, Kosciusko, and Everest.

We share the terror of his confrontations with corrupt army officials, cannibalistic tribesmen, and local militia groups, and we follow this ultimate everyman blessed with the opportunity to undertake an extraordinary journey of exploration and self-discovery as he survives on a diet of fried bats and rats in New Guinea and nearly dies after falling into a crevasse when the ground beneath him gave way on Mt. Cook.

Bo Parfet was a postgraduate research fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and an investment banking analyst for J.P. Morgan. He established the Seven Summits Awards Program as a specialized research grant for The Explorers Club’s Youth Activities Grant Program funded by both his personal contributions and various capital campaigns.”

3 people found this helpful

Spartacus

Very Enjoyable!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

For anyone interested in how a non-professional can go about climbing the seven summits, this book is great. Yes, the author was born wealthy, so if that bothers you, don't buy it. Bo has clearly worked incredibly hard, not just at school and at his job, but at climbing as well. I found it refreshing that he openly admits his mistakes and his faults. You feel like you understand how he went from an out of shape beginner to an accomplished mountaineer, all while juggling an intense 100 hour a week investment banking job and then as an MBA student at Northwestern. There is one year in which he climbs an amazing number of significant mountains. I found it a thrilling book I couldn't put down.

Bonus is that I was able to buy used in 'like new' condition for 4 cents thanks to all the negative reviews! Not bad for a book given 5 stars by the majority of people reviewing it.

D. Stoltz

Not for mountaineers.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 1, 2012

Verified Purchase

The story was lacking most of what I would look for in a mountaineering book. There was no depth or thoughtfulness that went into his "adventures" and often times the story rambled into irrelevant areas of the author's life or redundancy (you can only talk about defecating so much). The writing itself was fairly simplistic and that rich, deep description of the mountains and the revelations that climbing brings was entirely absent. The author vaguely hints at some sort of epiphany or spiritual discovery, but by the end of the book he doesn't seem to have changed at all.

As a mountaineer, I was mostly offended. The point of climbing isn't to just bag the seven summits, or just get to the top, or even to go to the top and come back. The author clearly loses the entire point of encountering a mountain, and in doing so disrespects the entire history and culture of the climbing community. It wasn't just that the author had the financial ability to pay someone to drag him to the top or to hop on a jet and take only the classics (or get TWO shots at Everest), it was that he did and that was all that he bothered to write about. Discovery, adventure, and growth occurs in your backyard, not just when you are pondering going to the bathroom in Antarctica.

The author also is very indifferent to the native communities in which the mountains are embedded. His naive and thoughtless comments about the peoples (as if he is going to the zoo), or his attempt at descriptive writing by referring to himself as a "budding Che Guevara" simply because he has on fatigues, leave the reader thinking that the protagonist is a bumbling good-ol-boy and no matter how far he climbs, he will never find enlightenment.

7 people found this helpful

Mr. I. Roberts

A necessary book for anyone attempting the Seven Summits

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 24, 2010

Verified Purchase

Bo comes from a wealthy background and experienced and overcame problems in childhood that is not uncommon. The key difference here is that the wealthy background allowed him to push through those obstacles as they provided a guiding and protective frame for his adventures; good or bad. Someone from a poor background would have had a high chance of developing a career of crime and jail. So, the wealth issue that is played down in the book has certainly provided him with the chance to drive for such challenges as the Seven Summits. Unfortunately, like or not, his background does not allow him to face the "real world" decisions that most of us have faced in real life; i.e. will I be unemployed? how will I feed my family etc etc. Sorry, but not many "investment bankers" are in the real world when it comes to money - I know too many of them!

I don't want to downgrade anything that he has achieved but put it into perspective. The fact is that wealthy or not, Bo has used the available resources around him to live a dream and, as a fellow mountaineer, it is a true statement that once on the mountain, mountaineering levels most individuals and unifies individuals from all backgrounds and status. The enlightment journey that Bo has travelled is both very interesting and a pleasure to read. He could have turned out a completey different individual but he made a choice and stuck with it. Along the way he matured and found humality and that is something that most of us have yet to discover.

The story is really good and I read this within a week during a business trip from the UK to Singapore. Most of the 14 hour flight to and from Singapore was spent reading this book and that is because it is such a good and interesting read. The journey is both spiritual and rewarding - it is great to see someone with a dream push out the boundaries and achieve it. It is even a better story to read that the same individual has gained something spiritually from it. Bo is very honest within his book but that is what makes it such a great read and to do so demands respect. It is a book from the heart written by a guy with the same good and bad traits as the rest of us. It appears within the book that he sometimes beats himself up over them but at the end of the day he is human and being a human is not about perfection. It did make me reflect on similar situations and smile with a knowing self realising awareness.

Great book - buy it.

4 people found this helpful

Jim

Die Trying

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a great story and a very easy read. The book moves very well and leaves the reader wanting to know what will happen next. Bo gives you a great insight to what it is like to climb the seven summits, but he also gives you great insight into his personality. His discription of his actions shows the reader why he succeeds at climbing, but also informs them of areas where he struggles and why. I was given the book to read by a friend and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to add it to my collection.

One person found this helpful

Richard Wiese

Die Try:One man's quest to conquerthe seven summits

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 7, 2009

Verified Purchase

What impressed me most about Die trying were not the amazing accomplishments by Bo Parfet but his willingness to share his frailties and flaws. This is what sets Die trying apart from typical mountaineering stories of risk and self reliance.

This swiftly moving first-class adventure story is full of courage, humor, and exquisite detail.
It is a must read for anyone who has been told they can't but know that they can and isn't afraid to die trying.
Richard Wiese
Author "Born to Explore"

3 people found this helpful

game review

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 16, 2015

Verified Purchase

Good easy read.

Tim Hirst

Cheers Bo !

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 17, 2013

Verified Purchase

Excellent ........I know the author having climbed with him in Argentina so the book is ...........a great reminder of good times !!!

Brian Lam

Motivating and Thought Provoking

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

I found Bo's book immensely enjoyable.

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

He's my cousin

One person found this helpful

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Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits

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