An interesting account of a groundbreaking life! ( )

Barbara Washburn's "The Accidental Adventurer: Memoir of the First Woman to Climb Mt. McKinley" is a great little memoir by the first woman to set foot on the summit of North America's highest peak.

Washburn was the wife of the late Bradford Washburn, a well-known climber, mountaineer and cartographer. She made a few first ascents in Alaska mainly out of love for her husband. She made the controversial decision to leave her children (infants) behind with relatives to follow her husband's dreams.

Her memoir is simply written and she comes across as a humble and extremely likeable person. This was both a quick and interesting read. ( )

This is a quick read by and about the first woman to ever summit Mt. McKinley, Barbara Washburn. Barbara also happens to be the wife of Brad Washburn, famed climber, cartographer, and photographer, whom Barbara traveled everywhere with. Her style of writing is not sophisticated but seems genuine in its humbleness and matter of factness. It's refreshing to read such a full life in such a short read. I got the feeling from Barbara's stories that she is just a well rounded nice person who just happened to find herself being whisped away to far off places like Tibet, Alaska, and the Grand Canyon on a whim and she always just sort of went with it. I ended the book admiring her a lot. ( )

I picked up this gem while traveling in Alaska. Folksy, unpretentious, well-written memoir. Two word summary: pure joy. Book layout is well designed with many delightful photographs. ( )