All and Nothing

Inside Free Soloing

De: Jeff Smoot

Narrado por: Eric Smies

Once considered a fringe activity, climbing without a rope has entered the mainstream consciousness, largely because of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo featuring professional climber Alex Honnold. Yet climbers have been free soloing all along—motivated by reasons as varied as the climbers themselves.

All and Nothing delves into the cultural history of free soloing, ranging across the storied climbing cultures of the Alps, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, the Gunks, Eldorado Canyon, and several other locales. Writer and climber Jeff Smoot explores the interplay of climbing and risk, as well as psychological theories, evolving ethics, the effect of media coverage (particularly the portrayal of extreme sports), and shares original interviews with dozens of free soloists. Smoot also recounts his personal experiences climbing without a rope in the same era as talented climbers like Mark Twight and Peter Croft.

From inside his complex connection to free soloing, he examines our relationship with risk, how we perceive our sense of control, and our perspective on mortality.

©2022 Jeff Smoot (P)2022 Tantor

Great book, hurt by poor narration

Smoot has compiled another important work of climbing history, weaving together the deep connections from its distant and recent past. Sadly, Smoot’s professionalism is marred by Smies’s schlocky narration. Unprofessional and robotic, I literally thought it was AI. Who else could mispronounce John Muir’s last name, the terms carabiner and piton (in a CLIMBING book)? But, no, Smies is like a sleeping belayer—he had one job, and failed. Is it fun that he adds distinct voices for characters? Sure. But it doesn’t compensate for the more fundamental flaws. This is sad, again because the author has gifted us an important new work.

Well researched and interesting story.

Another well written book by Jeff Smoot. He did a great job intertwining his own experiences and those of others to examine the motivations behind free soloing. Unfortunately the narrator did not research the pronunciation of common climbing terms or the the names of climbers. This detracts a bit. All in all I recommend taking a listen.

Dramatic Climbing stories galore

If you love listening to climbing stories, this is for you. If you love to climb, it will provide quotes and describe feelings which resonate with you. Narrator gets 4/5 for mispronunciation of some climbing terms, but otherwise well done. It can’t keep the overall experience from being 5/5.

Awful Robot(ic) Reader

Jeff Smoot a great, the book is great, totally ruined by the reader. Not to mention that all the mispronunciations of common climbing terms, names, places are seriously distracting.. as a professional reader, couldn’t a few correct pronunciations be sought?