Having just visited the Grand Canyon, I was very interested in reading this book, which I took out of the library when I got home. I witnessed in person the foolhardy actions of tourists going way too close to the edge while taking pictures or just tempting fate perhaps to peek over the edge to see the massive drop off. It is truly frightening to see how easy it would be to fall over the edge, and many people have done just that, whether by accident or on purpose. The book chronicles every known death in the Grand Canyon in grisly detail, divided into chapters for the various causes of such deaths. I found it to be a fascinating and absorbing account, but the book is very long (500+ pages), and some of the sections would have benefited by some editing. ( )

The individual incidents are gripping, but taken all together this will grind you down. ( )

Highly enjoyable despite the length. Growing up in the area, it brings back memories of conversations past, of events that seem as incredible now as they did when I first heard about them decades ago. ( )

Long. Exhaustively detailed. sometimes difficult to follow. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could. I think it's a must read if you're planning a trip to the Grand Canyon. Particularly the first several chapters regarding falls, drowning, etc. The last part of the book gets into the area of sheer bad luck... not much you can do about random boulder from above or kidnapping. ( )

Contents

Why a book on Death
Cross Section
Map
1 Say, How many People Fall Here From the Rim
From Within the Canyon
2 The Desert Crucible: Environmental Deaths within the Inverted Mountain
3 Flash Flood!
4 Killer colorado
5 If Looks could kill: Deaths from the air
6 Lightning... Freak Errors and Accidents
7 Suicide
8 Murder
Eiplog
continuing research
Author Profiles, Order form
Reference
Index

This book is fascinating enough that it didn't take long to read it. ( )