Kiss or kill: confessions of a serial climber

Professional climber Twight presents 24 essays written between 1985 and 2000 for Climbing magazine and other sports publications. The essays have been revised by the author to get away from what he terms "the homogenized fluff" offered up by editors afraid to offend readers or advertisers. With punk rock and new wave song lyrics sprinkled throughout the essays, the work is less a description of extreme alpine climbing than a glimpse into the psychological reasons one person faces extreme danger. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)