The Last River: The Tragic Race for Shangri-La

The essence of this book is its characters. If you want the typical second-by-second action, the literary equivalent of "slow-motion" - tense faces, surging muscles, tall waves bearing down, and all that - then this isn't your book. I mean, the river scenes are there, but they aren't the essence. If you want a cheap thrill, read something else. For Balf, this expedition wasn't like that. It wasn't about cheap, take-home, made-for-tv summiting. Sure, they called it "The Everest of Whitewater," but these were no twenty-something testosterone freaks selling an image. These were middle age guys, Harvard and Yale grads, writers, chemists, intellectuals. They all had wives and kids. Yet, at the same time, they were unmatched paddlers - pioneers and legends. Roger Zbel is famous for running the big Eastern rivers in flood when all the young dudes were scared off, and he has dominated extreme kayak racing for 15 years, ever since he and his buddies pretty much invented it, along with the whole new discipline and culture of squirt boating. Tom McEwan was the first big waterfall runner, and he has first descents in many countries. He's considered untouchable in a boat, and he runs his own kayak school nowadays. Jamie McEwan was an two-time Olympian paddler, and a Bronze medalist, the only American male to win a medal in whitewater solo craft. And on the river Doug Gordon was the best of them all . . . Balf knows that. He knows that Tom McEwan could drop off a thirty-foot falls without much thought, that Roger Zbel could run class V in his sleep, that all these guys had been near death on the river. But what Balf gets at in this book is the characters themselves -- what made these intelligent, middle age fathers and husbands leave their daily lives to paddle a river that left many of the world's great kayakers shaking in their spray skirts?He looks at them from many different angles, and it's great stuff. For example, there is a great part about Tom McEwan's paddling camps - Balf calls it an "Outward Bound-meets Bad News Bears" approach to travel, or a "Charlie Chaplin approach" to camping by the river -- a kid would be told to dig a ditch, but he wouldn't have a shovel. So he'd be directed toward a shed. But it would be locked. Next, he'd be sent to the neighbor's for wire-cutters . . . And then, after he gets back from the Tsangpo, McEwan is right back out there again, leading paddling trips in his way -- guiding clients expertly, infectiously down harrowing rivers by day, camping out with his four clients on someone's porch by night. "Why does it seem, the older I get, the more stuff I accumulate, but the older Tom gets, the less stuff he accumulates?" asks one of his clients. While most clubs are having a nice lunch, Tom's wealthy DC-area clients are being led through the noise and trubulence of a waterfall curtain, up into a secret room behind the falls, and not even thinking about lunch. And again, he's not just some insane guy

The largely unexplored Tsangpo region of Tibet is the backdrop for a story that weaves adventure and sport (river kayaking) into a very compelling story. Todd Balf's The Last River is the story of 4 men's attempt to take on one of the world's last great challenges, the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Balf does a good job of explaining the complexities of kayaking without eliminating the thrills. He also balances the telling of the story with a throughtful analysis of the four participants rationale for taking on such a potentially deadly challenge. As an armchair adventurer, I found this book to be engrossing - I recommend highly!

Todd Balf's The Last River was a very compelling read about something I know little about - the sport, adventure and competition of white water kayaking. It was also a very interesting read about a part of the world that I always find intriguing - Tibet -- and the history of the Tsangpo region and the river itself. However, what made the book compelling was the story of the group of people involved in kayaking and this adventure, both those who went on the trip and those who didn't. I also enjoyed Into Thin Air and Perfect Storm, and would be surprised if this book wasn't another bestseller.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. OK,so I live in Isrel and the though of a huge river pulsating with white water waves is already a bit dreamlike, but then I am reading to be entertained which I certainly was. I felt that the book gave meaningful insights into the thought processes and personalities of a group of people who came together to do something that seems positively insane to me. I was enthralled by the descriptions of the river and the kayaking, attracted to the dilemmas of middle aged guys doing something that doesn't jive with middle of the road expectations and had my appetite whetted for understanding more about Tibet. Could any of us ask for more in a book?This is a good adventure book that makes you think, imagine and grimace. The story flows, the chacters are real and while the river came alive I am happy to say that my living room stayed dry all the way through. Get out and enjoy the book.

A caveat -- I've never done any river running. Now, after reading Todd Balf's book, I feel like I partially understand, in a white water sense, much more of the sport. The best thing about this book is that you fully experience the running of this mad river in Tibet! The river is awesome, beautiful, and irrestible. The guys running the river were nuts but somehow believed they knew what they were doing - and that they could survive. Not true. Not only do you learn a ton about the sport of extreme river running but also about the politics, and second guessing, of putting together an expedition to a far off country. I recommend the book highly and predict a breathless reading experience. Maybe someday I will go to Tibet and experience the last river!