I didn’t know what to expect from this book – and loved it. Cory Richards gives us a (presumably) frank, uncensored glimpse into what it means to face ongoing mental health issues. His bipolar drives him to forever seek new extreme adventure, which makes this book fascinating. It made me feel a range of emotions, from dismay and sadness, to triumph and hope, and I was totally gripped right the way through.
Cory’s writing is often profound and wise. He’s philosophical and insightful. He writes beautifully and captivatingly. He explores so many of life’s big questions, such as how we define our identity, and the stories we tell ourselves about our lives. And, most importantly, how we can escape victimhood and rewrite our stories.
Not only does the reader get real insights, backed up by research, about a number of mental illnesses, including bipolar and complex PTSD, but also an absolutely spellbinding account of what it’s like to prepare for, and then tackle, the most dangerous mountains in the world.
From a young age, Cory knows that his brain is wired differently. His parents never really knew which version of himself they would have to deal with that day – the sweet Cory, or the difficult Cory. He becomes a defiant, rebellious young man in troubling relationships with his parents, brother, friends and colleagues.
Cory is often fearful: of his ‘madness’ and the things he imagines will go horribly wrong (he’s a master of catastrophic thinking). But he’s the first to admit that this fear also drives him to greater achievements. He also craves stimulation and becomes addicted to a range of substances, from caffeine to antidepressants and nicotine, which don’t help to stabilise his moods, and eventually lead him to rehab.
His life is filled with irony. He realises that he takes pills to counteract his ‘madness’ in order to be able to do mad things. He tries to stay sane in order to attempt the insane, which helps him escape insanity.
Highly recommended.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Random House for accepting my request to read and review The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within on NetGalley.

Published: 07/09/24

Stars: 3

My standard three stars on a memoir signify I read your book.

I didn't like the jumps in time. This isn't time travel. I prefer a straight timeline when possible.

I found the profanity just took away from whatever point Richards wanted to make. I didn't connect at all with him or his story.

Three stars because this is his life, not a novel. As a novel I would have DNFd.

I have admired Cory Richards' work as a photographer and mountain climbing explorer for several years. In this autobio. Richards lays bare his personal experience, professional development, evolution as an artist through the lens of his mental health. In this well written, interesting, at times difficult memoir, Cory Richards fully fleshes out not only his own story, but that of mental health issues in general. He is open, transparent, but unflinching in sharing his journey, his struggles, his motivation and his experiences in becoming an explorer.

My only gripe about reading this memoir in kindle form was a lack of images. Richards' description of a climbing expeditions, of covering locations, for National Geographic cried out to the heavens for maps and photos!

This is an interesting memoir, as the author has accomplished things (re: mountain climbing) that few people will ever accomplish and had opportunities to go places and experience things that most of never will. It is also a powerful memoir because the author is so open about his mental illness and how it has impacted his life and career. There is a rawness and vulnerability that is uncommon in memoirs, especially ones written by men. The reader sees how the author’s understanding of his mental illness and how it affects his life, and the lives of others evolves as he experiences great triumphs and tragedies, and as he is forced to confront himself and try to understand why he is who he is and does what he does.

This is Cory Richard’s memoir about his struggles with mental illness and his escape into the often dangerous world of climbing and climbing photography. Often harrowing and unflinchingly honest, this memoir is very well written. I received a digital copy via NetGalley.

I usually hate giving memoirs bad reviews because it feels like I'm critiquing the author's life or experience, but this was bad. This was really bad. It was too long, too self-conscious and yet not self-aware, patronizing... and very, very, glaringly male.
If you are determined to read this book, perhaps a library copy would be the best.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for offering me the ARC.





For the publisher:
I don't intend to post this review to my blog or social media, but I wanted to be honest here.

“It’s very easy to be certain amidst comfort. It’s easy to fight when consequences are still just abstractions.” ‼️‼️‼️

“The problem with an unwell mind is that it makes you blind to the world.” 🥺

Wow this book packs a punch. Cory is bipolar and this book is a look into every nuance of his life and how his mental health has shaped it. If you have ever loved someone with mental illness you will feel his struggles viscerally. How he runs from it, but also towards it. How he makes mistakes but then beats himself up for them.

Amongst all of this is his desire to climb. Climb Everest. Climb wherever. Thank you, Corey, for telling your story.

The audiobook is narrated by the author himself and so you know that it is done with the perfect inflection of emotion as he knows what he knows about what he wrote.

Thanks for the free audiobook @PRHAudio #PRHAudioPartner and to Random House, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC.

With a generosity of spirit, an adventurer’s heart, a sense of humor and compassion for others, including himself, Corey Richards takes the reader on a journey up the highest peaks on Earth and the lowest descents of his bipolar disorder and depression. Richards uses his mountain climbing and photographic skills to keep his mental problems at bay, but he eventually realizes that he must face his devils without succumbing to other addictions. His pathway is hard, jarring and harrowing but also insightful. Don’t expect a book only about problems or achievements. Don’t anticipate a “how to” or platitudes. Richards reaches deeper with thoughts that should impact everyone as they strive for a life of meaning, joy, and presence. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title. Highly recommended.

I found the journey of Cory Richards life awe-inspiring, from early on it seems he has tried to find a peaceful place but had to take many different paths to find one that made him happy. I love the places he traveled to and the cultures he learned from. I loved the many ways he tried to find help and each time he received help added to understanding of his journey. I love how he describes everything in his journey, it felt like I was right there with him and that I could hear, see and taste what he was doing; the descriptions of his climbs, the encounters with unexpected finds and his the preparations for those climbs were mind boggling.
The most inspiring part of the journey is his courageous effort to find what would bring him peace and not giving up on himself. I like that each encountered with other people made him more empathetic and more understanding about how everyone has their own package and that we all want to be happy. I loved the results of his stay at the Buddhist retreat where he found what really matters and tried to add it to his life.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Random House and NetGalley for an advance copy of this amazing journey into one man soul and finding a great journey.

(★4.5)

“Wow! Wow! Just wow!” But this is no child’s goat-cow-giraffe-zebra-horse….

The Color of Everything is a memoir of adventure, success, fame, and the struggle to overcome personal demons. Cory Richards grew up in Utah's mountains, learning outdoor skills from his father despite a troubled home life. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he found solace in photography and climbing. His successful adventure photography career was disrupted by a catastrophic avalanche, forcing him to confront past trauma and mental health.

The Color of Everything is a demanding work. It’s a torrent. A purging. It’s a very fluid book, insofar as it’s like a large body of water. It swells, stretches out in a calm peace, crashes with floods, and slows to trickling streams. It’s raw…if I can use a word that Cory himself hides behind by hating it. Though I dislike the use of present tense in a broad sense, I can feel the pull of him through life as existing only in moments. He is constantly in the now, and this memoir delivers this. You can know Cory from these pages — maybe more or less than he intended, and maybe more or less than through his photography, but you can feel his presence throughout.

Inside this memoir, Cory emerges as adventurer, artist, and observer. There’s beauty in the writing style, whether his own or a ghost writer’s, and it’s a marbling of fact and experience. Yes, there’s a decent amount of mountain climbing, but there is also science, mostly centered around mental health explorations, and a deep poignancy that felt like an exposed wound. Some of it is science for you. Some are his plaintive pleas of defending and defining himself with science. But it doesn’t matter, it all works together as if he’s both teacher and patient. He has split himself open down the middle and said look here.

Cory Richards memoir was heartbreaking. His descriptions of his ongoing battle with bipolar depression and how it affected himself and those in his life were so very harrowing. I cannot imagine the frustration he and his family felt while he was growing up, as well as the women in his life struggling to understand him. Those passages were so very chilling to read. I found myself wondering what direction his life may have taken if his dad had not been so invested in teaching he and his brother winter survival skills during their childhood. His mom and dad seemed to always be there to support him in spite of the challenges inherent in doing so over and over again.
As an adult, his drive to put his life at risk to climb the unforgiving mountains over and over, living in such remote locations and dealing with the excruciating weather, sleeping sitting up on the side of a steep mountain, constantly worrying about an avalanche, all while trying to run from the feelings caused from his bipolar depression will remain with me for many years to come. The realization that he was so adept at chronicling his travels and experiences for National Geographic makes his prowess that much more impressive.
My heart felt for Topo after his years of training and his anticipation for their last climb, he must have felt betrayed, not having any realization of the torturous struggles Cory was trying to overcome. I am hoping that they have since been able to heal their rift.
One of the most impactful passages for me was when he moved to the other side of the world with the woman he loved so dearly in an effort to live their lives, but his inner thoughts, fears, and judgmental feelings destroyed the relationship. His awareness that he had used women in a similar fashion over the years was my first glimmer that he was beginning to realize his impact on those around him.
So many random things will linger with me…his satisfaction with the act of sweeping, ouroboros, the phrase “Go gently!”.
Many many thanks to Cory Richards for having the strength to share his internal struggles, Random House, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this eye opening portrayal of living with bipolar.

Amazing! In spite of serious mental health issues and a rather chaotic, to put it nicely, upbringing and family life, Cory Richards becomes a world renowned mountain climber, a photographer and is later employed by National Geographic. I will not go into that part of his life and add spoilers, but his accomplishments are so noteworthy. And this is not simply a flat retelling of his life from a young age; he has a strong way with words and his philosophical descriptions that give this story a depth that I don't always see in autobiographies. He's brutally honest about his failures, his shortcomings and the immense roll that his mental health has played in his life and in the setbacks that ensued.

I am not drawn to mountain climbing but I would read this book and feel like I was there, on Everest. Fascinating and terrifying, he brings it to life. And the story of his life rounds out the picture of a complicated, intelligent man. I would recommend this book to everyone, mountain climber or not!

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

The Color of Everything is an incredible memoir from a remarkable man. This book is honest, vulnerable, stunning and impossible to look away from.

Cory's story is incredible and how he shares his struggles and challenges is both heartbreaking and inspiring all at once. Cory's writing is as descriptive and gorgeous as his photography, and you are transported into his story alongside him. This is truly one of the best memoirs I've read in quite some time, and one that will stick with me for years to come.

A must for anyone looking for hope in times of challenge.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy.

Wow. I want to start reading National Geographic and the back issues now because Cory Richards is a stylistic and funny writer. They drew me in right away and I didn’t want to put the book down because I didn’t want to miss anything - and it’s a book! (chuckle)

This book hit home and I think it will for a lot of readers. A lot of people run or hide from who they are by escaping into other things or locking their pain in a closet. Richards bares all when he is buried alive and thinks everyone has died. I still don’t know how he had the fortitude to take pictures of himself in these moments. I get that his camera is an extension of his arm, but wow.

The author then takes us through his version of his childhood and he admits it's his version (chuckles). Through what it is like having bipolar episodes of varying degrees and how it has impacted various people and events in his life. How he chose to deal with having the disease. The other choices he made in life which at times do not represent him in the best light. How he has educated himself to be a better person and the paths he has taken to do that. There are also very dark descriptive moments that include suicidal ideation.

I don’t want you to get the idea that this book is all darkness and no light. Richards has been on mad adventures. He vividly explains his trips and you can almost see the jelly fish coming up at you. I have to admit, he gave me an itch to climb, but then I remembered, “Oh, wait I’m handicapped. Skipping from cliff to cliff ain’t gonna happen.” (chuckle) Yeah, he did it. He says it so casually too.

The Color of Everything is not just a journey through the past and around the world. It is a show and tell of Richards’ soul. Sometimes it hurts to look and you want to look away, but don’t. There is light, or should I say color on the other side. I highly recommend this book. Read it in chapters or read it all at once like I did. Just read it.

This was such a beautifully written memoir that really talked about Richards mental health and how he was able to overcome to do his mountain climbing. Originally, I thought the book would focus so much on how me survived in the rough elements while mountain climbing, but you also learned how he overcome his own struggles to be able to do the climbs.

A thoughtful and informative memoir about mental health, photography, and mountain climbing. Richards has worked to deal with his mental health challenges for years- and he doesn't spare himself or the details. I went into this hoping to read about mountain climbing but found that the more personal, the effort he made to quiet the noise, was the more important element. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

Being interested in both photography and mountaineering, I was familiar with Cory Richard's work - beautiful, dreamy, painting-like portraits and images of faraway places. But I had no idea how complicated and fascinating the person who made those photos was.

If you are expecting another volume of reckless high-altitude adventures, you may be surprised - there are plenty of those here, of course, but the main theme of this book is mental health. “If you know anything about my life (and that’s a pretty big if), I imagine that some of you are wondering if I’m the same person who climbed mountains at all. I’m guessing that some are googling if there are two Cory Richardses and they’ve picked up the wrong memoir and are reading someone else’s memories,” he writes after a few first heart-wrenching chapters about his difficult upbringing and struggle with bipolar disorder. But it made him who he is, and it made both his climbing and artistic careers possible.

His writing is raw, authentic, and compelling. He is very open about both his problems and the harsh realities of the high mountains: “To the ancient part of the brain, it’s all the same thing; in that five-hundred-million-year-old piece of the mind, there is no poetry or story and we can tell no lies to escape the fact that the neurobiological basis of climbing is simple: Don’t die. Chaos is what I know best”.

Highly recommended not only to die-hard mountaineering literature fans.

Thanks to the publisher, Random House, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Photographer, filmmaker, and climber Cory Richards delivers a powerful memoir about his survival--not just in the mountains, but also through his struggles with mental health in The Color of Everything. Beginning with a harrowing account of surviving an avalanche, Richards' intense prose ranges from dangerous slopes to the depths of bipolar disease and addiction to failed relationships to his traumatic and violent rivalry with his brother. The result is an insightful and important book that is extremely human.

I also found his ruminations on the art of photography to be fascinating, and his climbing prose is very accessible to the non-mountaineer.

I received a digital advance copy of The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within by Cory Richards via NetGalley. The Color of Everything is scheduled for release on July 9, 2024.

The Color of Everything is the memoir of Cory Richards, a photographer and climber known for being the only American to summit an 8000 meter peak in winter. I was not familiar with Richards prior to reading this book, so didn’t know what to expect going in. The book opens with Richards caught in an avalanche, then backs up in time to take to that moment and beyond. After the first chapter, I thought this might be an adventure memoir, but quickly realized this was more than an adventure tale. This was search of a man for peace in the chaos of his mind.

Throughout the book, Richards explores his struggles with mental illness (bipolar disorder) and the relationships that impact his mental health and are in turn impacted by his mental health. In the end, Richards does not give us any clear answers, but does leave us with a feeling of hope and progress.

As I was reading a digital advance copy, there were not pictures in the book, which I missed. Richards often describes images that he captured as he is detailing the events around them, and I would have liked to have those images in the text. I am curious if they are present in the physical book.

Overall, The Color of Everything is a memoir of an adventurer in the wilds of nature and the wilds of his own mind.

I was invited to read this memoir about a man who suffered with bipolar disorder, but channeled his energies into climbing Mount Everest, becoming a photojournalist, writer, and documentarian. The book arrested me right away with a near death experience for the author Cory Richards surviving an avalanche. There is a famous selfie he took right after this where he's crying and his eyes are covered with snow. My first thought was, "Why would someone want to do this again?!!!" Yet he did do this again... and again and again. It seems like Cory was taking life by the balls and testing its limits with the incredibly dangerous mountain climbing experiences he achieved and documented. He travelled all over the world experiencing a multitude of cultures, exploring silence and meditation, transitioning through homes, wives, and girlfriends.

Cory spent time as a teenager in a psychiatric hospital, and although had good parents, had a difficult relationship with his brother, and experienced family trauma. Cory is a very talented writer, exquisite in putting to pen and paper his ruminations on mental health, relationships, and everything in between. He really "went deep" on a lot of subjects as he navigated an interesting but difficult life, and as a voyeur I enjoyed looking through his window on the world.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.