Nanga Parbat, by Ulrich Ling. 52 pages, 24 photographs, 3 maps, and 1 sketch. Munich: Bergverlag Rudolph Rother, 1953. Price, DM. 3.80.

This inexpensive, small paperbound volume was brought out in early August, just a month after the actual ascent of Nanga Parbat was made and at the very moment when the controversy between the members of the expedition was breaking into the press. It gives a summary of all the previous expeditions and devotes the last eleven pages to the successful climb. The summaries are good although somewhat dramatized for the average reader and not as detailed as those found in Dyrenfurth’s “Zum Dritten Pol.” The final fifth of the book, however, is of more interest since here is found new and somewhat controversial matter. The account suggests that there was no disharmony among the members of the expedition. The disputed permission to climb is reported as readily given by Aschenbrenner, who is said to have urged the climber in best shape to go on alone. There is no mention of the separate starts for the summit; it is merely stated that Buhl climbed faster. Most of the photographs are well reproduced, and although many have appeared already in other books and there are none from this year’s expedition, they nevertheless add greatly to this small book.

H. Adams Carter