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First 2-star Review for Elbrus

Descent read but strange delivery. Author/climber seemed way out of their element would have liked to hear more of the cultural experiences as well.

At the wool market in Cheget while acclimatizing for Elbrus
I read this over and over trying to figure it out. At first I was really confused, and mildly miffed. My book Elbrus, My Waterloo [HERE] has been one of my best selling books on Amazon. It's gotten quite a few 5-star reviews and one 4-star review. But 2-stars?

I'll address a few of these thoughts here.

1) Descent - I'm pretty sure the reviewer meant "Decent" and decent is good enough for me. If everyone that reads it believes it to be decent, then I did my job well enough.

2) strange delivery - I think this refers to the fact that it's my journal notes expanded slightly. I make no secret of this in any of my marketing text. I kept a journal. I fleshed it out and made it into a book that could be read by someone who is not me, and doesn't understand my journaling shorthand.

3) out of their element - no idea what this means. Like, I don't have any experience traveling to the Baksan region (speaking of which, this was my third trip here)? I don't have any experience traveling around the world (I am currently only missing Antarctica in my Seven Continents journey)? I don't have any experience climbing mountains (I've climbed quite a few, most of them solo)? So I really have no idea what this even means.

4) hear more - again, it's my journal. While I do describe nearly every person and location in the book in enough detail that many of the 5-star reviewers felt like they were there in my shoes, it's actually not really full of prose and poetry about the glorious days of life on the Caucasus. One, that wouldn't have been possible in the time available each night to journal, and two, it would have made this a several hundred page book and about $6 more.

There are a mere handful of people who write most everyone else's climbing books, and of course, I'm not one of them. So my books will totally not sound like them. I just tell it like it really is, what I'm really feeling, and what I'm really doing. I won't be hiding my failures and weaknesses under the poetic description of a local selling wool from a cart.

Anyway, if you've read my book, leave a review and make your mark. I welcome it.


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