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.