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To the Greatest Heights
- Narrated by: Vanessa O'Brien, Vivienne Leheny
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
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To the Greatest Heights
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Summary
When Vanessa O'Brien was made redundant in 2008 as part of the recession, she moved to Hong Kong with her husband for his career and resigned herself to being 'just the wife'. There she was, aged 46, bored, uninspired, unemployed. Was this going to be how she was going to live the rest of her life?
One night in the infamous Kee Club, over shots of tequila, a friend suggested O'Brien climb Everest and that was the start of an epic journey she never looked back from as she climbed Everest, K2 and many other mountains.
This is her inspirational story. As O'Brien says, she couldn't explain to her listeners how she got to the top of K2 at the age of 52 without being honest about what came before. In To the Greatest Heights, she reveals the trials and tribulations of her difficult childhood and the result is a life-affirming book that shows how she achieved these climbs in spite of and because of her past.
To listen to To the Greatest Heights is to know that there is a path to overcoming the worst of what happens to us, a path that helps us reach the summit of our lives, too, whatever our age.
Critic reviews
"What a wonderful, honest, refreshing book, full of free-spirited adventure, humour and profound thoughts to provide inspiration to anyone who simply dreams of getting out and doing their own thing." (Sir Chris Bonington)
"Ernest Shackleton listed those qualities an explorer should possess over a century ago: optimism, patience, idealism with imagination and courage. Vanessa's qualities are truly akin to these." (Alexandra Shackleton)
What listeners say about To the Greatest Heights
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 30-06-23
Hmm
I put off buying this because I expected a book about wealthy people buying their way up mountains but - due to the lack of women's voices in mountain literature - thought I'd give it a go.
You can't knock O'Brien's commitment to her list of objectives but this is a story of money over skill, (the most technical gear reference is to an ascender) and the usual bs about relying on under-rewarded local populations to do the grunt work and loving the environment while simultaneously jetting around destroying it and littering up wild places with expedition debris.
The mountains and poles appear as a tick list to achieve; the book is void of any real feeling towards the spirit of wild places. It's a sterile adventure... but at the same time it is interesting to hear from the viewpoint of someone with the means to repeatedly sign up to challenges in this way, and I have a lot of respect for the author's tenacity and ability both to know and speak her mind.
The narration is awful.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Tina D
- 09-01-23
Don’t bother
Boring !!!! Sounds like a computer is reading !!! I tried & tried to
Listen to this book but it’s just boring with the voice sounding like a computer! Couldn’t finish it ! Maybe u need to be a climber to appreciate it !!!
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