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Praise for Lighting Out

“In a sort of nouveau Dharma Bums, drifting in and out of Bay Area counterculture and the High Sierra, young Californian Duane combines a climber’s journal with a memoir of the year following his graduation from Cornell. . . . Seeking some kind of logic and order to his life, Duane, under the tutelage of his father and uncle, both of whom are middle-aged and in better shape than he, sets himself the painstaking task of preparing for, and climbing, the biggest and most dangerous rock in the Sierra—El Capitan. On the granite faces of Yosemite, Duane’s prose comes most alive. In the arenas of sport and love, he learns patience, understanding, and how to confront his fear. Lively and engaging.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“This captivating debut offers a glimpse at the ‘Generation X’ counterculture on the West Coast. . . .The contrast between the slacker-climbing crowd and the New Age poseurs is enhanced by a wonderfully deadpan writing style that is rarely too technical for those unfamiliar with the sport. Highly recommended . . .”

— Library Journal

“A must for rock climbers under age thirty.”

— Willamette Week

“. . . told so straightforwardly, by such a young craftsman, that you will be grateful and smiling about having been along for the climb.”

— The Sunday Oregonian

“. . . [Duane] explores with fine irony and rare depth his awakening into manhood, love, and conquest . . .”

— Isabel Allende

“This book marries earth and sky in a mysterious kind of reverse mirror-imagining, the gorgeous spellings-out of the manifold, gripping, everyday concrete world subsumed under the majestic, empty, serene peak views of mountain climbing. . . . A splendid and central achievement surpassing anything I have yet seen of its kind.”

— A.R. Ammons

“From John Muir to Jack Kerouac, writers have endowed the mountains of the far west with deep and sometimes transformative powers. In Lighting Out, Dan Duane takes to the limit this ongoing love affair. Yosemite is his cathedral, and scaling its monumental walls is much more than a rite of passage; it is an act of passion, reverence, and awakening.”

— James D. Houston

“Lighting Out is an immensely entertaining read. Whether it’s charting the terra firma of the heart, or scaling big walls in Yosemite Valley, Dan Duane’s narrative, on a climber’s scale, is a 5.14.”

— Page Stegner