Hi Katy, I've read Simon's recent blog, and he mentions some notable passes on Mount Everest. It appears as if he's perhaps read 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer or 'Climb' by Anatoli Boukreev. Both are personal accounts of reaching the top of Mount Everest. I have read them myself and was utterly facinated by what they went through during their journey to the Top Of the World. I was wondering, being the adventurer Simon is, has he ever aspired to visiting Mount Everest? Or climbing any mountains, for that matter? -Susan

"Dear Susan, I have indeed read Krakauer's "Into Thin Air"; I may even have recommended the book on the Simon's Reader section of this website, but that would have been some years back. The Boukreev book has been sitting in my library ... abandoned on the ice shelf, skin yellowing with each passing year like the freeze dried husk of a ... no, I don't think I'll go there. SLB"