Reviews for Doctrine and Argument in Indian Philosophy

The average rating for Doctrine and Argument in Indian Philosophy based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-03 00:00:00 Jennifer Cook A biography of Dougal Haston, probably Scotland’s greatest mountain climber. Early in his life, while just a young boy, he had developed his love for mountain/rock climbing. He passed through the usual progress of a mountaineer of ambition in his country: native hills, native rock, native snow and ice, Dolomite rock, mixed routes in the Western Alps and finally, IF HE IS STILL ALIVE OR PHYSICALLY FIT, the Himalaya or similar lofty ranges. Haston successfully climbed almost everything there was to climb. But he became an international figure after his successful climb of Eiger, the most famous mountain wall in the world which had claimed a lot of lives of those who had taken its challenge. During this climb, Haston’s American partner John Harlin fell to his death. But the climb affected Haston’s psyche in a different way: “In extremis on the summit ice field, when (team mates) Lehne and Strobel had taken most of the gear ahead, and neglected to fix some of the ropes, he (Haston) had fought his way up sixty-degree water-ice slope without an axe or hammer, and had ‘gone to the limit’. But he had also embraced the risk like a lover. At times, the privations and suffering had evolved into something close to euphoria. When looking over the edge, he had felt in total command of himself and the savage environment, and when he returned to ground level, it confirmed what he had long suspected: it was the only thing in life that could offer a momentary happiness. Bev Clark believes that ‘he had stayed in control in an impossible situation. His partner had just died, and he was getting frostbite. It was a remarkable display of will. It was the same later, surviving a bivouac on the South Summit of Everest. That’s real control of the head.’” Haston died at a young age of 36 skiing alone on a mountain, buried by an avalanche which broke his neck. He had married once, got divorced, had a girlfriend after that, but never had any children because kids are incompatible with climbing rocks and mountains. His back accounts were empty and his credit card had maxed out. He left a novel about mountain climbing which was poorly-written because he never had the time to polish it. But at least he is now a footnote to the history of mountain climbing: the first climber to conquer Everest by the South-West Face. If the dead can have the benefit of a hindsight would Haston think it was all worth it, dying an at age where most people would just be beginning to accomplish things which can also bring genuine happiness? Who knows.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-01-27 00:00:00 Steven Anderson While the life and death of Dougal Haston remains absolutely fascinating, Jeff Connor's work does not lend itself to properly highlighting the man who revolutionized the climbing world of the 1950s and 60s. The first half of the book wastes time and space describing climbs that are never attributed to a map, so the reader is lost in trying to decipher where and when Dougal and friends were climbing. Once the book starts actually discussing Dougal and his personality, much of the content is lost as the writer constantly quotes pages of text and speaking from other people--some of whom aren't properly introduced, which sends the reader on a hunt for information. In the end, Jeff Connor claims to have significant insight into the life of Dougal Haston, and while it is all quite interesting, I don't think the resources he had available to him were fully exhausted, and I am left with more questions than answers.