The South Beach Heart Program, by Arthur Agatston

Written by the well known and reknowned author of the South Beach Diet books this book is a 4 step plan that can help save your life. Part 1 of the book is about our health care system that relies way too much on procedures to fix things that happen such as a heart attack or stroke, and why doctors are paid more to treat disease than to prevent it. Angioplasty and Bypass surgery are a multi billion dollar industry in the USA. In part 2 he presents his Heart Program which is designed to identify and prevent problems before they become life threatening. There is much about the newest and latest research about the how and why of heart attacks. If you have a family history of heart disease, or have high cholesterol/high blood pressure, you need to read this book!

No Shortcuts To The Top, by Ed Viesturs with David Roberts

I LOVE to read books about high mountain climbing, especially in the Himalayas, so this book was a natural for me to jump into. I've read about Ed Viesturs many times in other books and magazines, however Ed started out with a pretty low profile. I knew that he had relocated to the Seattle area, and I knew that he was going for climbing all the world's 8,000 meter mts. (there are 14 of them), and I knew that he climbed without the use of supplemental oxygen, but until the last few years there just wasn't much written about Ed because of his low profile.
The book is mainly an autobiography with a little about growing up and the bulk of the writing is about his climbing career with the emphasis on the climbing experiences on the 14 8,000'ers, as he calls them throughout the book. Ed was genetically gifted for climbing in the "Death Zone" as his body utilizes the sparse amount of available oxygen better than most people and he works hard to train and get to the mountains he loves to climb. I rather enjoyed getting to know more about Ed and his accomplishments. It was a very easy read, with plenty of exciting moments! If you like to read mountain climbing books you are sure to enjoy this one, too.