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Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home | 
| Authors: Nando Parrado, Vince Rause
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $2.50
You Save: $11.45 (82%)
New (39) Used (42) Collectible (1) from $2.50
Rating:  101 reviews
Sales Rank: 21243
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 140009769X
Dewey Decimal Number: 982.6
EAN: 9781400097692
ASIN: 140009769X
Publication Date: May 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence.
Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.
As time passed and Nando’s thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.
Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 96 more reviews...
RIVETING... November 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having read Piers Paul Read's book, "Alive", a riveting account of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes mountains in which sixteen of the forty-five aboard survived a harrowing ordeal on the mountain for nearly two and a half months, I was sufficiently intrigued to read a first person account by one of the pivotal survivors of that ordeal. I was not disappointed.
Nando Parrado, reflecting back over a span of thirty plus years, shares his experiences with the reader. At twenty-three, as a young Uruguayan high on life and flying to an exhibition rugby game in Chile, he was master of his universe, when the unthinkable happened. The plane carrying his family, friends, and teammates, suddenly crashed onto a glacier deep in the Andes Mountains. The crash killed many of those he had known and loved, including his beloved mother and sister. Life as he knew it was over, and from its ashes a new Nando Parrado was born.
Before the crash, Nando had lived a comfortable, privileged life and was more of a follower than a leader. Yet, as their situation on the mountain became more desperate and death seemed a certainty for all of them were extraordinary measures not taken, Nando rose to the challenge, emerging as a leader in the unlikeliest of circumstances. In a desperate bid to save his life and that of the other survivors, an emaciated and ill-clad Nando, together with his friend, Roberto Canessa, climbed an unknown peak in the Andes, and trekked over forty-five miles across frozen terrain to seek help for the remaining survivors. How he and Roberto did this is the stuff from which legends are made. It is simply an extraordinary and riveting story.
In his reflections and reminiscences, Nando explains the impact this singular event had on his life and how it shaped him into the man he became. It is a story well-told and one worth reading. Those who love memoirs and true life adventure stories will find themselves riveted to the pages of this book. It is little wonder that this book has become a New York Times bestseller.
Amazing November 13, 2008
I couldn't put it down after the first 50 pages. This is an amazing true story of a life changing experience. Tragedy, brutal conditions and the best and worst of raw emotions. If you've seen the movie and read Alive, this book is still worth a read. I'm sure every one of the survivors has a different perspective and take on the experience of some aspects of the events.
Simply inspiring September 9, 2008
If you think you have it tough, pick up Miracles in the Andes. It is simply one of the most inspiring books you will ever read. It moves along very quickly. And as good as Alive is, Miracle in the Andes is even more enjoyable and enlightening because it reaches into one man's mind and heart in exploring those hard-to-define characteristics that some people have in survival situations. That said, you don't have to be a fan of the survivor-story genre to enjoy this book -- just a fan of life itself.
A Five Star Book September 7, 2008
If you like survivor stories, this is one of the best ever written. Even though I read "Alive" many years ago, this book brought new and detailed descriptions from, in my opinion, the person who practically single-handedly saved the rest of the team who hadn't perished after two-plus months on the mountain. Parrado's writing is superb. Since the plane crash happened over 30 years ago, he brings great insight and introspection and detailed updates on his fellow teammates and their accomplishments in the intervening years.
 "Miracle" in the Andes August 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just finished reading Piers Paul Read's Alive (1974) a few days ago, and so fresh with names, maps and time lines, I had high hopes `Miracles in the Andes` would add a new dimension to this amazing story. Unfortunately I was somewhat disappointed, all the more so given the generally good reviews `Miracle` has been getting. It is perhaps inevitable in the shadow of Read's classic masterpiece that anything else will pale in comparison. The re-telling of events from Parrado's perspective is interesting but misses a lot - for example he was in a coma the first three days of the accident - and he doesn't seem to add much that is new to Read's version - which almost without exception is better told.
Beyond a retelling of the events, I had hoped Parrado would reveal something new about himself and the other survivors, but instead if often read like hagiography, glossing over the differences among the group to show them as united friends, discounting and minimizing character defects. It reminds me of how the Catholic Church writes history of saints, and it is probably no coincidence that the survivors were from Catholic backgrounds, and saints in the minds of true believers who saw the hand of God at work in this "Miracle in the Andres". I was hoping for a more in depth psychological examination of the survivors, a sort of personality x-ray to bring them to life, to intimately know them as friend or brother. Instead there is a polite respectful distance, which is frustrating, given the intimate nature of the experience.
Despite these sentiments I still recommend the book to anyone who has read `Alive`. Parrado's inner struggle with life and death - while not exactly original or new - is profound and worth the reminder of what is important. There are also new pictures, and an Epilogue with brief bio's of what happened to the survivors after the rescue to the present day. Whatever the faults, as the men age, and the myth grows, more books and films will appear to hopefully peel back more layers behind the "Miracle" in the Andres.
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