Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome

Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome | Bob Madgic | Surprisingly engrossing

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Shattered Air: A T...

	Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome Bob Madgic Burford Books, 2007 - 264 pages average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Shattered Air

Excellent account of the events of July 27, 1985. As an avid climber of Half Dome, I have heard the lore of this event for twenty years. Finally, a thoughtfully researched piece on the events and people who converged to experience this tragedy. A good, quick read which is enhanced with solid, technically detailed data on climbing and Yosemite specifically. Very accurate, even down to the detail of the spring off the trail up to Quarter Dome.

Surprisingly engrossing

I am not a fan of the action-adventure/disaster story, and intially, the word "catastrophe" turned me away from this book. I have been pleasantly surprised. The author develops the characters well enough that we care about their travails. I am glad I already 'made it to the top' before I knew this much about lightning and thunderstorm peculiarities - scary stuff. I recommend this book to hikers and any outdoor enthusiasts.

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The Perfect Strike

As I read this, voraciously, I couldn't help but be reminded of "The Perfect Storm." Mr. Madgic's book works hard not only tell the story, but to give every kind of context: personal, scientific, geographic, etc. The result is that he meets what I suspect was one of his two goals: to give the careful reader as complete a picture of that day's tragedy as possible. He also meets what I assume was his second goal: he tells a damned good story. I get the impression that this was a labor of love, but, to my mind, Mr. Madgic has shown more than enough talent to join the likes of Simon Winchester or Erik Larsen. I hope he tackles another book.

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Gripping story

This is a really great true story about a band of buddies who hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite during a fierce lightening storm and got zapped. Their goal was to ignore the warning signs and dance in the storm. Finally they took refuge in a rock cave that overhangs the valley below to marvel at the display. What they didn't know (or chose to ignore) was: 1) Half Dome is one of nature's greatest natural lightening rods; 2) What they took refuge in was essentially a smaller natural lightening rod on top of the big one; and 3) The remnant of a man-made lightening rod was right in their midst. They were perhaps the only humans to observe first-hand that lightening does indeed strike twice in exactly the same place with devastating consequences (yes, death and injury resulted - along with great heroism on the part of rescuers - but you need to read the book to get the details). Highly recommended although the author takes frequent and too-long side trips to discuss technical climbing, types of clouds, etc. when he could have focused more on this truly gripping tragedy. A must read if you ever plan on visiting Yosemite National Park in the Summer. Advice - in July/August, be very careful hiking in the high country after 2 pm - I and some other hikers got caught in a sudden/unexpected lightening storm in Aug. 2006 and it's unbelievably scary - and I observed all the warnings! Bob Madgic also has a cool book on fishing for native trout in California's Tuloumne river titled Persuing Wild Trout.

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The good news and bad news

I wondered how the author was going to fill up an entire book about an accident that happened, literally, as fast as lightning. Well, the good news and bad news is that he doesn't. The story, of a group of guys getting struck by lightning at the top of Half Dome in Yosimite National Park, takes up only the last few chapters. Normally I hate it when books are written like that, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Most authors would waste a lot of space giving the full background to every major character, but this author shows us what the main characters are like, by telling exiting stories of things they did in their past. And not just random stories, but stories that relate to the final lightning accident and to how they will react to it. The book also, thankfully, lets us know what happens to them years down the road (the event happened in 1985 and the book was written in 2005) so we see how the accident really affected them. It's also nice that there are photos of the main characters, and of the site of the accident. Overall a pretty good book.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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