This one took me a bit to get into the story but it was good past that. It was interesting reading of the different adventures and experiences pf someone else.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Thank you Netgalley and Nat Geo for the gifted book!

To be honest, when I first wrote the review for this book, I said I liked it but pointed out some things it was lacking. Then I watched the documentary (14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible) and heavily revised my review because I think that you need to read the book and then watch the documentary to get this whole story.

When reading the book, I was frustrated that a book about how he climbed 14 of the world's 8k peaks in 7 months, little time is given in the book to celebrate each summit. I continually felt let down that the narrative just ran from peak to peak. But watching the documentary, I realized this is actually how it happened in real life. At times he was literally running up and down mountains. It was phenomenal to watch and at many times made my stomach drop seeing what he was facing.

He admits in the book he doesn't relish dealing with his emotions, and when I read that, I was like, ah, that's why this book feels disjointed at times, you won't let us in your head... And so much benefit to this story could have come with more reflection and giving certain plot points more time to breathe. And we got more of that reflection and personality and more climbing context in the documentary. It's mind boggling all he accomplished and literally seeing it made it more fathomable. On the page it's hard to comprehend the sheer magnitude of these climbs.

So I have given you reasons why I don't think the book alone gives you the full pictures, but I don't think the documentary can stand alone either. I was sharing constantly with my husband more of the backstory about certain events and Nims as we were watching. I definitely feel I got more from the documentary than my husband did. Therefore, I definitely recommend that everyone read this book and then watch the documentary. Reading the book will give you the foundation and outline of information and events and watching the documentary will flesh out the personalities and magnitude of all that they faced and accomplished.

Do you love adventure stories about people beating the odds to do something truly incredible? Well then this one's for you. Nims accomplished what most would consider impossible...and he did it with ease.

What a fantastic story! I loved both the book and the Netflix documentary. The story and adventure is absolutely incredible. However, the writing itself is a bit lacking. I had a hard time not rolling my eyes sometimes (especially when it came to Nims' ego and how "special" he is), but the story itself made it worth the read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a great addition to watching the movie Nims is in- it adds a lot of detail and reasoning for Nims that is de-emphasized or unclear in the documentary.

It’s a little rich to be lectured by someone galavanting around the Himalayas, and climbing Everest 3 times because the first two didn’t fit into his FKT (but would have still broken the world record) about global warming and environmental impacts of all the people on Everest. And who now runs and owns an expedition company.

Grandiose ego and poorly written - timeline of when things happen or how much time has past is very loose.

A great biography for overcoming obstacles in your path set at the highest of altitudes!

Nimsdai Purja has set goals all his life to achieve. Growing up in Nepal, he wanted to be a Gurkha soldier, just like his father. Through perseverance, he was able to achieve this goal. Then he wanted to be more than just a soldier, but an elite warrior, so he set his sights on becoming a member of the Secret Boat Service (SBS) for the British military during the war on terror. During his years of service, he was given the chance to climb Mount Everest and he was bit by the climbing bug, to say the least. Wanting to do what everyone thought impossible, Nims developed Project Possible, a mission to climb the fourteen highest mountains in the world in only seven months, which is seven years faster than the world record. What Nims learned about himself and fellow climbers throughout this mission is shared for readers to discover that they too can conquer the impossible.

Young readers who love action and adventure will love this autobiography of Nimsdai Purja with his pursuit to climb all fourteen death zone mountains. The first half of the book is geared towards his life up to the point he decides to make the lifestyle transition necessary to climb all fourteen peaks. The second half is dedicated to a chapter-by-chapter description of each mountain and what occurred while he and his team were climbing. They had to overcome several obstacles on the way up and the way down. Just because you have achieved something doesn’t mean you won’t face something on you journey back! There is quite a bit of climbing lingo, but with enough context clues, readers will be able to understand what is going on. Very exciting book for young readers!

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

As a relative couch potato in the pandemic, I admittedly enjoy reading all kinds of adventuring books, and Beyond Possible by Nims Purja is no exception. Capturing his attempt to summit the 14 highest peaks in the world in less than eight months, supported by his Sherpa team, it is an inspirational feat. Yes, he brags and parties, but he also has the receipts, and also had to the hustle to be able to raise the money for this record AND to get through China to complete it. If you enjoy nonficture adventure, I recommend Beyond Possible.

An ARC was graciously provided by Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Fans of Jon Krakauer's _into the Wild_ (and other adventure reads in this vein) will undoubtedly enjoy Nims Purja's _Beyond Possible_. (It actually probably helped that I'd read _Into the Wild_ previously, as it prepped me for some of the content here--both in adventuring, and in, frankly, bad language. But this one lacked the crudeness of Krakauer's, which I am grateful for.)

It took me a bit to get into, partly due to the aforementioned language: it's like Krakauer, as mentioned, or--to channel a movie reference, the _Speed_ of books--action packed, and gripping for sure, but holy smokes, can the f-bombs stop already?--enough that I nearly set the read aside several times. Then, it was partly due to my own wonderings of "the point" aside from chronicling his endeavors. Admirable--absolutely! I simply felt that the first half of the book, in particular, illustrated the wide divide between my own mindset and Purja's. (Which I didn't even fully articulate until now.) He really is in a class by himself!

Challenging as it was, at times, I did regularly find encouragement to persevere through tough times (even though they'll inevitably be very different from his)--tough love, as it were. Several parts also saw me waiting with bated breath to find out what happened. Would permits be granted for the elusive 14th peak? Would he summit (I asked several times)? Would his mom's health last through to see him finish his quest? #allthequestions

Purja really is a talented writer, language aside. I was also challenged a bit as a reader with a very different worldview--he is not religious, while I am a Christian. I kept thinking, were I on any of these summits, how could they not testify to the existence of a Creator--at the very least? Nature has long testified of God's existence to me, and I hope that one day Purja sees the same. There were also several references to "finding your truth," and I'll freely admit that phrase frustrates me to no end, heh.

Would I recommend the book? Cautiously, yes, given the caveats above. Am I glad I persevered and finished it? Yes.

3.5 stars out of 5.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Nims is an inspiring human being and leader. His strong will and clear mindness enable him to accomplish what he sets out to do. He is also very caring about people and selfless in his efforts to help. This is a must read autobiography.

Author Nims Purja is an extraordinary person -- Gurkha soldier, first Gurkha to join the Special Boat Service unit of the British Special Forces, and multiple world record-holding mountaineer. This book tells many stories within the context of Project Possible, Nim's formidable goal to climb all 14 mountain peaks above 8,000 meters in a record time of six months and six days, that include Nim's family, financial challenges of the project, power of mindset, spirituality, leadership, environmentalism, and dealing with critics. These stories are told with a no-nonsense discipline of a highly trained Royal Navy officer. At its heart, the book inspires readers to push themselves beyond what they previously thought was possible, do good, and take risks.... while demonstrating the very real dangers of high-altitude mountain climbing.

I am a big fan of Nirmal "Nims" Purja since I have heard about his extraordinary record and later, after the first winter ascent of K2 made by the Sherpa team - one of my personal highlights of 2021. In these dark times, we need such a hero to cheer us up and I was delighted when I received his book to review.

I love reading about high mountains, but many books by the mountaineers themselves are not very well written, even if they are an effect of collaboration with a professional author. This is not the case with Purja’s autobiography: I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging and interesting this book is. Even if you are not as into the Himalayas as I am, you will find it as a perfect, fast-paced adventure story and a real page-turner. The author is simultaneously full of self-confidence and very humble, which makes him instantly likable and the reader will root for him from the start. His book is both thrilling and funny – he truly managed to „give the world a crazy story to remember”.

Many thanks to the publisher, National Geographic, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

Well call Marvel because they've been neglecting a superhero in our midst. This book was the definition of humblebrag. There literally was nothing this author can't accomplish and it's all due to his mind. Oh and he does it all while partying along the way. Occasionally he mentioned his mission of this feat was to acknowledge the environment but that curiously was only discussed in broad strokes. How environmentally conscious is taking a helicopter between base camps?