This is a nice package. It deals almost exclusively with the attempts and first conquest of Everest. Those expecting a rehash of the '96 Krakauer story (Into Thin Air) won't find that here.This book explores the early attempts and failures as well as the successful Hillary/Norgay summit. The pictures are mostly black and white, with a lot of historical/archival shots from early expeditions. There are plenty of breathtaking pictures of the mountain as well as interesting shots of mountaineers at their work.The text gives a good account of the various early expeditions.All in all a good book, whether or not one wants to page through via the photo captions or read the text to this coffee table sized exploration of Mt. Everest.