UKC

Just finished it. Excellent read about the life so far of one of climbing's true giants .. and a nice guy as well.

Thoroughly recommended

In reply to JimR: I started it around Christmas and am halfway through it. I'm not a slow reader just haven't had time. It's well written and captivating and gives a great insight into the climbers who pushed/created the sport in the 70's and 80's

In reply to JimR:

Remind me who wrote it.

In reply to lowersharpnose:
Big Ron and Ed Douglas.

In reply to JimR:

I agree Big Ron is a super nice guy, one of THE greats. I enjoyed the book and found it interesting but I did not think it is well written.

In reply to Christheclimber: Have to echo that, I am all for simple language, but I thought the book was mainly written in a style similar to how you would tell a story to a child. Worth a read to find out what has happened in Ron's life, but very disappointing if you wanted prose to capture the atmosphere of the places, era and characters involved. Strangely if I remember, the first chapter, describing the 100 E1s and the last, featuring the climbing works seem to have more depth, made me wonder if the rest was a rush job, or almost straight transcript of an interview...

In reply to Sankey:

Yes that's what I though. Simple and direct, not flowery. It's an autobiography and a straightforward story of his life.

I don't think he had a particularly poetic life did he?

I feel that the viewpoint that it was not particularly well written (descriptively) but was still a fascinating insight into this great climber is a good summary.

In reply to Rampikino:

Interestingly, I suspect it is well written and is deliberately written in a matter-of-fact way to reflect Ron's character.

In reply to Monk:

That's my take on it. As I said, I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it painted a pretty good pen portrait of the life, times and characters.

In reply to JimR: It won the Boardman Tasker prize.

In reply to Monk:

Neither Ron or Jerry's book are great works of climbing literature - I don't suppose they set out to be - and they're not Learning to Breath, but they're a good read for those who were climbing in those times. I founds Ron's quite touching in a way. Nice guy.

In reply to Bulls Crack:
>

I think I'm going to have to re-read that book. I enjoyed it and thought it was well written but not exceptional. It certainly didn't leave me with the impression that it is the paragon of quality that everyone else seems to think it is.

I'd tend to agree with you about both Ron and Jerry's books - they are informative and a great insight into climbing at the time and most of all, they are accessible. When I pick my climbing literature, I'm not looking for Shakespeare or Hardy (was about to say Dickens, but I don't particularly like Dickens' verbosity!).

In reply to JimR: I thought it was ace, and raced through it... I took the way in which it was written to reflect how Ron talks as many sentances seem to use what I imagine is a structure you would find people in yorkshire use... what a hero

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

His dog sniffed my b*lls once - I thought about getting a t-shirt done!

I loved it. Ron has always been one of my heros. As for teh syle of writing? I wanted to hear Ron's voice in it, and did. What did people expect Mills and Bloody Boon?

In reply to stroppygob:
What did people expect Mills and Bloody Boon?

Nah - Ron and jerry

In reply to Bulls Crack: NICE! I got my book as part of my 21st birthday present from my girlfriend which included going to his lecture and meeting him!

The only problem was I was so star-struck and he was so modest we barely said a word to each other! My girlfriend had to tell him I had tried cream the week before! I did shake his hand twice though!

Absolute legend though!

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

LOL! I was doing some horrible route LHS of Carls Wark and was just baling out after calling for a top-rope when he soloed up Bubbles I think, traversed around at mid height for a bit, came over to me and told me the route I was on was pokey, traversed off again as I quickly top-roped out and then waved when he looked up at me again....fraud that I was!