storms of silence

The book’s major theme is the nature of agression: Simpson belives that there
is more to life than a crampon- the genocide in modern Tibetan history.

New title from the author of the award- winning Touching the Void. In Storms
of Silence Joe Simpson writes about the two expeditions he had to abandon. The
first was to Gangchempo which was stopped by a snow storm.

The second was to change his outlook on life. During an expedition to Cho Oyu
in Tibet he had a disturbing encounter with a party of political refugees and
became obsessed with stories of Chinese brutality in in the country.

In Storms of Silence» Joe Simpson recalls the severe snowstorm which put an
end to an attempt with four others on Gangchempo and the infection which
forced him to abandon the climb on Cho Oyu in tibet. During that expedition he
has a disturbing encounter with a party of political refugees and a 4-year-old
boy fleeing across the Tibetan border. He becomes obsessed with stories of
Chinese brutality in the old world Tibet they overran by force 40 years ago.
He also begins to question the ethic of playing rich men’s games in Third
World countries contributing little to the local people who endure a fearful
struggle to survive. Oppression abroad makes him see mindless violence in his
home town of Sheffield in a new light. The books ends with his first trip to
the Andes in Peru since «Touching the Void».»