Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon

Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon

By: Michael P. Ghiglieri   Thomas M. Myers  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Two veterans of decades of adventuring in Grand Canyon chronicle the first complete and comprehensive history of Canyon misadventures. These episodes span the entire era of visitation from the time of the first river exploration by John Wesley Powell and his crew of 1869 to that of tourists falling off its rims in Y2K.

These accounts of the 550 people who have met untimely deaths in the Canyon set a new high water mark for offering the most astounding array of adventures, misadventures, and life saving lessons published between any two covers. Over the Edge promises to be the most intense yet informative book on Grand Canyon ever written.

Publisher: Puma Press

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Awesome Reading for People with short attention spans - I cannot sit down for more that 10 or 20 minutes with a book. This book is no exception, but that's the beauty of how the authors structured the chapters. They separated the topics quite strategically (Death by Floods, Death by Natural Disasters, by Murder, by Air, etc.), so that people like me with a short attention span can put the book down knowing that it can be picked up and resumed at anytime with just as much interest as before. My favorite parts are the tables at the end of each chapter that list the tragedies chronically, so that if I want to I can go back and read the details. Genius, Guys! The best section is the summation at the end--The Grand Canyon is not an amusement park, and we need to respect its dangers as well as its beauty and splendor. By the way I got a bunch of ideas from this book for my own fictional novel, The Azurite Encounter.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Anecdotes and Statistics - _Over the Edge_ is proof that #1) life is full of anecdotes, #2) death is even more full of anecdotes, and #3) it only takes 2 anecdotes to make a statistic. This book chronicles all the stories of death in the Grand Canyon (some of them truly jaw-dropping). Each chapter explores a different cause of abrupt end of life: gravity (falling), environment (temperature, weather, terrain, flora/fauna), water (flooding, drowning), mechanical (aircraft), bad luck (lightning, rock fall, unopened parachute), and pre-meditated (suicide, murder). Ghiglieri and Myers obviously conducted extensive research and seemed to have gone to pain-staking ends to compile and analyze the data.

More compelling than the numbers themselves are the circumstances that led up to and surrounded each fateful moment; these details provide the authors with fodder for analysis and clues for possible interpretations of the statistics. According to Ghiglieri and Myers, "...the people who die traumatically in the Grand Canyon die mainly...due to their own... poor judgment." (p. 367) On practically every page, there is a glaring example of how death could have easily been prevented whether by more thoughtful preparation, closer heedfulness of warnings/authority, greater appreciation for danger, clearer understanding of personal limitations, or better communication. Perhaps the only information missing from this work is a final tally of the numbers - total number of deaths versus total number of visitors, etc. - and statistical support of the return on investment of a risk/reward analysis. Or, perhaps the authors intentionally omitted such information so as to drive home their point that a lack of analysis is part of the problem in the first place. After all, it is clear that the public is already _too_ cavalier about the power of the canyon; knowing the slim odds of encountering problems might encourage more risky behaviors.

At the least, _Over the Edge_ is an interesting read for anyone, regardless of whether he/she has actually visited the natural wonder. And at the most, this book is essential material for anyone planning more than a casual stroll along the landscaped paths of the South Rim.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Updated Version??? - I saw this book in the North Rim gift shop, but figured i could alway pick it online later. In the gift shop copy I looked at there were stories from 2009, but the publish date here (and everywhere else I look online) is 2001.

Can anyone who has recently ordered this book from Amazon tell me if the version they recieved includes the most recently updated stories??? Thanks!

BTW...It looks like a very cool book!

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Excellent Transaction - Actually, I'm pretty sure I've already responded to the review request, but the used book was received sooner than promised in like new condition. Had it been on the shelf in the store I wouldn't have hesitated to purchase it. A trustworthy
dealer based on my one deal.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Grand Canyon Happenings - I was totally unaware of all the different tragedies that have occurred in the canyon. The author explains them in an interesting way. An very good read.

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