For anyone interested in the history of Everest but who doesn't want to trawl through the epic academic pieces that are out there (Walt Unsworth's Everest comes to mind) then this is an ideal book to start on.It contains a series of first hand accounts from many different trips covering everything from Noel's trip in 1913 to the disaster in 2014. Many of the stories aren't getting to the top but the adventures on the way.There are couple of odd bits;There is a piece from Tenzing Norgay but nothing from Edmund Hilary about the first ascent where Tenzing seems to take a swipe at Hilary's ability (which is a shame).The Rebecca Stephens piece seems superfluous and I wonder if it was just included to cover the first British woman - no mention of Junko Tabei's ascent in 1975.Appendix II seems to break with the idea of it being first hand evidence and tells the story of Maurice Wilson, which is interesting but surely if this is included then maybe Alison Hargreaves should have been covered?All these things considered I did still enjoy it and would recommend it.