By Heinrich Harrer
published by Labyrinth Press 2007. Hardback 512 pages, ISBN 978-1-921196-00-3, £25.

Those readers (or film buffs) familiar with ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ may have wondered what the author did in the other 80 something years of his life. The answer is: an awful lot. He was a member of the first team to climb the north face of the Eiger and as a result was personally congratulated by Adolf Hitler, given a signed and dedicated photograph and a cruise amongst the Norwegian fjords at Third Reich expense.
After his seven years in Tibet he wrote a book of his experiences and became famous, travelling the world to explore, lecture and climb mountains – many of them first ascents. He became interested in ethnography and expedition followed expedition: to Peru, Alaska, Congo, New Guinea, Suriname, French Guiana, Japan, Sudan and eventually back again to Tibet.The book drips with name drops from the Dalai Lama to the von Trapp family, from Thor Heyerdhal to Tenzing Norgay, from Brad Pitt to King Leopold. It seems that Heinrich Harrer seldom passed up on an opportunity to meet the famous. The translation from the original German is excellent, but still retains some of the Teutonic formalness and stolidity. Heinrich Harrer attracted criticism and controversy all his life and yet this never seemed to worry him. He was certainly not afraid to discuss it in his writing. The book is an amazing account of a life that was full and varied - so full that one feels that each chapter could be expanded to fill a whole volume on its own. Perhaps this has already been done: there are twenty other books by the redoubtable Mr Harrer.

By Fred Nind