An engaging memoir about “taking risks” as “a path to growth.”
~Kirkus Reviews
“Will Zieman's strengths be enough in the face of Everest's special and grueling challenges? Libraries and readers who choose Tap Dancing on Everest will find out - and will also discover a special sense of joy, accomplishment, and growth in Zieman's experiences. This translates nicely to a thoroughly engrossing adventure that will prove hard to put down, whether the audience is composed of physicians, would-be mountain climbers, or armchair adventurers looking for a 'you are here' feel of excitement.”
~Midwest Book Review
“Tap Dancing on Everest” is gorgeous. It is so full of joy, zest and fun and yet with some profound thoughts. Once started you cannot put it down.”
~Sir Chris Bonington, author of Everest the Hard Way, knighted for his services to mountaineering
“With a poetic vision that is staggering in its honesty and beauty, Mimi Zieman brings readers into the heart of a Himalayan ascent, guiding us along some of the unexpected pathways that intense adventures can trace in both body and mind.”
~Katie Ives, author of Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams
“Mimi Zieman’s book is an ideal alchemy of grit and grace. The lessons Zieman learns on the mountain are important lessons for us all. A wild and deeply satisfying journey.”
~Emily Rapp Black, author of The Still Point of The Turing World
“Mimi Zieman is brave, tough, and impressive when on Everest, and lively, engaging, and funny when on the page. After returning from her climb, she says she was “very grateful for ceilings.” I myself, am grateful for her vivid recounting of all her journeys.”
~Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings
“The story takes place on a frozen summit but is bound to melt your heart. The courage that drove her to this unlikely adventure permeates her candid recounting of her breathtaking tale.”
~Etgar Keret, author of The Seven Good Years
“The small band that formed the Everest ’88 team will be remembered as free spirits who went to the unknown and embraced the true spirit of adventure, a far cry from today’s narrative on Everest, and an essential addition to mountain literature. In Tap Dancing on Everest, expedition doctor Mimi Zieman brings to life the toll experienced by non-climbers on an expedition, what it was truly like not knowing if her teammates would return, and ultimately, what it took to heal their wounds. While recalling her tap-dancing days, this book is also a metaphor of a different kind of tap dance, that of survival on the roof of the world.”
~Norbu Tenzing Norgay, Vice President of the American Himalayan Foundation, and son of Tenzing Norgay
“Tap Dancing on Everest is that rare book that manages to capture the adrenaline rush of a thrilling adventure and the gut-wrenching pathos of an epic tragedy. Mimi Zieman is telling a story that readers will be unable to put down—not just about life and death on the world’s most dangerous mountain, but about how we, as human beings, too often have to put ourselves in extreme danger to feel fully alive. I was utterly captivated by this story. You will be, too.”
~Steve Almond, author of All the Secrets of the World
“[This] story touched me deeply.”
~Dr. Tom Hornbein, Author of Everest: The West Ridge, and high-altitude medicine researcher
“What would lead a young female medical student from New York City who lived a life of shoulds and expectations to join an unaided climb up Everest as the team doctor? That young woman was Mimi Zieman and, in her memoir Tap Dancing on Everest, she unravels what brought her to that mountain years ago. In beautiful prose, Zieman brings us into her family’s Jewish immigrant roots, her city childhood, her dream to become a dancer, and how climbing and adventure helped her reconcile her past with the woman she became.”
~Ann Hood, author of Comfort: A Journey Through Grief
“The best ascent of Everest in terms and style of pure adventure.”
~Reinhold Messner, the first man to solo Everest, and the first to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen along with Peter Habeler
“From page one, Tap Dancing on Everest draws you into the heart-stopping world of mountaineering. An engaging narrative rich in details and vulnerability, the story captures the adventure in reaching beyond one's comfort zone and into the unknown."
~Johanna Garton, Author, Edge of the Map: The Mountain Life of Christine Boskoff
“A captivating story, seldom told, about what it’s like to take care of Everest climbers from the perspective of a feisty expedition doctor. This page-turner is a must-read for real and armchair adventurers everywhere.”
~Stephen Venables, author of Alone at the Summit and first British man to summit Everest without oxygen
“Climbing Everest was not on Mimi Zieman’s bucket list. But after a lifetime of trying—and often failing-to “follow the rules” of growing up a good Jewish girl with the right body, the right boyfriend and the right personality, the challenge of the vast mountain calls her…By turns gripping and charming, tragic and joyful, Zieman’s rocky, ultimately revelatory journey shows how the true triumph of the summit is the discovery of her calling.”
~Allison K Williams, author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book
“Mimi Zieman's compelling and very personal memoir recounts with warmth and insight how her father survived the holocaust, her challenging childhood, her courage and determination in the face of continued obstacles, and the passion and persistence that bring her to the roof of the world. "
~Arlene Blum, author Annapurna: A Woman's Place
