3.5 stars

Not Without Peril by Nicholas Howe delves into the dangerous situations that hikers on the Presidential Range have experienced over the past one hundred fifty years. The first of which occurred in 1849 and the last four took place in 1994. Some misadventures are the result of being ill prepared for the dramatic weather of the mountains, others occurred because of a hiker’s hubris; however, many died, a few barely survived, and one person vanished. 

Alongside these tales of misadventure, Howe includes his own knowledge of the range from growing up in New Hampshire, including discovering signs of construction on the failed electric railway, or the markings of the King’s Trees. Mainly, while Howe generally refrains from commenting too much on the poor choices of these people, many of them were ignorant and inexperienced, though some were simply victims of misfortune. By reading these stories, it is quite clear that even the best prepared or the most confident adventurers still must oblige to nature. In the Presidential Range, the circumstances can change in an instant and you never can be 100% prepared. For example, one story that stood out to me was when two teenagers in 1994 went ice climbing in February and had died of hypothermia. Both of them were experienced and stuck together throughout the climb, and just been unlucky. Contrast this with the preceding story where two men went ice climbing, and when conditions got tough and one of the climbers got hypothermia, his partner left him to die in the snow. 

Many natural elements in the book were described by numerical figures or simply stating that the storm got heavier and so on. I believe this is why I became somewhat disinterested, because I felt that Howe could not choose between narrative and nonfiction. Howe mainly stuck to truth and chose not to embellish the unknown details, as in how exactly each person died. He instead presented the findings of the rescue teams’ investigation into the causes of death. Though I understand why this was done, each story felt like it had this gap, and I often would circle back and reread, thinking I had missed something when I had not. So while I understand why there are a lot of numerical figures and geological facts, I found myself skimming through to find the more narrative parts of each chapter. 

The narrative parts, however, were very entertaining and though Howe makes these people, some of whom died way before he was born, feel real. For example, my favorite chapter was about Dr. Ball, who was quite the character. He was a Harvard educated doctor who did not practice medicine but instead was an adventurer and writer. This man was full of confidence, however, his near death experience on Mount Washington proved his inexperience and arrogance. Though his circumstances could easily have been avoided, Ball deduced that Mount Washington was the issue, and since two other visitors had died that year, that he was some type of survival expert. This absurdity was what made the book entertaining. 

While Not Without Peril delves into the dangers and meteorology of the Presidential Range, it simultaneously examines human nature, especially against the elements. All safety and security is stripped away in an instant, leading to many hikers to make choices out of fear, selfishness, or survival. These decisions are what made each situation unique. 

Overall, I would not recommend this book to everyone, just because it takes a special type of stamina to get into this. With the way the narrative is structured, I would only recommend this book to someone who has some knowledge or interest in geology, hiking, or climbing, since the book caters more to that audience.