Reading this book reminded me of patterns in families. Like in the Kennedy clan, there were senators, president and diplomat. Then two brothers were shot. In the Hillary family line, there were mountain climbers.
I am glad that there is no fever in mountain climbing in my family. Not that we are wealthy enough to support endeavors like that. Even though Mallory was from a family with slim means, he married a wife with private income. Otherwise there was no way he could afford to have two stints (6 months each) of attempting to climb Mount Everest.
What the widow of Scott said was probably true, if she did not willingly convince her husband to go to the South Pole he would probably be miserable for the rest of his life. It is a good thing that there are few born explorers. Imagine lives filled with close shaves near death, with wives who were constantly in danger of becoming widows and children who stood much chances of being orphaned in the name of grand exploration.
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