High Life

The history of high-altitude physiology and medicine is such a rich and colourful topic that it is surprising that no one has undertaken a comprehensive account before. There are so many interesting ramifications from the early balloonists to the various high-altitude expeditions, culminating in the great saga of climbing Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen. Underpinning this variety of areas is the basic biological challenge of hypoxia and how humans and other organisms adapt to it. This topic is of key importance in several areas of medicine including pulmonology, critical care, anesthesiology and cardiology, but it is also of general interest to many other life sciences such as biology and ecology, because hypoxia is encountered by many organisms throughout the animal kingdom. The book covers the topic from its earliest beginnings with the Greeks to the last two or three years. The coverage is very broad with special sections devoted, for example, to China, Japan, India and Russia. The book is profusely illustrated with 185 illustrations and includes over 800 references. Three appendixes cover the chronology of main events, databases of high-altitude publications and tables of high-altitude locations, and there is a list of classical books on high-altitude physiology and medicine. Along with narratives of some of the classical explorations and high-altitude expeditions, the book is a comprehensive reference text which should be valuable to everyone interested in high altitude and hypoxia generally.

This is the first comprehensive history of high altitude physiology and medicine, a rich and colorful topic. Its central theme - adaptation to hypoxia - is illustrated in the fascinating stories of several classical mountaineering and balloon expeditions.