The book captivates the reader from the first pages. Not only because it is an attractive topic, which mountain climbing undoubtedly is, but also because of how suggestively the author was able to portray the power of friendship in a borderline situation and his feelings in the fight for survival while descending the west face of Siula Grande in the Andes. Joe Simpson has done the almost impossible in terms of high altitude mountaineering. With a broken leg, abandoned, surrounded by walls of ice, affected by hallucinations - hungry and thirsty, he crawled to the base camp. We live with him second by second his dilemma - live - give up, live - give up, give up - live. Strong will and determination not to give up in the most cruel conditions proved that life won. Reading this seemingly simple and unostentatious story of heroism is an encouragement to every person in overcoming obstacles in his own life.

Joe Simpson is an experienced climber; after graduating from the University of Edinburgh, where he studied English and philosophy, he decided to devote himself exclusively to mountaineering. In addition to the first ascent in Peru, he was also a member of the expedition that successfully climbed the previously unclimbed peaks of the Karakoram. He recently took up paragliding and in 1988 he wanted to use it to descend from the top of the mountains in the Kulu Himalayas. He is an enthusiastic member of Greenpeace and has participated in climbers' protests in Britain, Germany and Austria. Encounters with Death won the 1989 NCR Award for Nonfiction and the Boardman Tasker Award. The work received international recognition and was translated into two dozen languages.