Sometimes, one knows within a few pages whether a book is a winner. This describes Harriet Tuckey’s 2013 book and project of 9 years. The secondary title is the most interesting, How a Champion of Science Helped to Conquer the Mountain. That champion was Griffith Pugh.

British explorer-writer H. W. Tilman once bemoaned the uneasy alliance between climbing mountains for their own sake versus scientific purpose. Such sentiment was a hindrance for Pugh in Britain. Tuckey’s book covers the 2 equally important themes of personalities versus Pugh’s physiological experiments from sea level to the Himalayas on soldiers, athletes, mountaineers, and others exposed to various environments. On Everest, his recommendations for hydration, nutrition, metabolism, boots, stoves, acclimatization, oxygen, and more were instrumental in the eventual outcome. However, the honorary Sir titles of John Hunt and Edmund Hillary were not earned by their treatment of Pugh. Both ignored, ostracized, and usurped his contributions.

On page 1, Dr Michael Ward is introduced to Dr Griffith Pugh, found sitting chalk-white and cold, immersed in icewater, experimenting upon himself. He was often difficult for family and some colleagues to live with, an eccentric, a single-minded and absent-minded scientist, a boffin but with a more negative slant. Harriet Tuckey, his daughter, and much of the world, did not know of his creativity until years later. Respect was belatedly given him at the 40th anniversary of the 1953 first ascent of Everest. Loyal colleague Ward honored Pugh, surprising the audience with the “news” that while previous expeditions had leaders, had logistics, had climbers, they had failed because they did not have the unsung hero Griffith Pugh constantly studying and improving gear and knowledge. He had thus converted what had previously been amateur outings into a scientifically improved attempt and success.

Many of Wilderness & Environmental Medicine’s readers are aware of Pugh’s famous studies on Cho Oyo, Everest, in the Antarctic, and especially the 9-month long Himalayan Silver Hut Expedition near Ama Dablam and Makalu in 1960–61. There, he led the study of long-term living at high altitude with fellow physiologists Ward, James Milledge, John West, and others. Utilizing not just his voluminous 1940–1986 scientific papers, many of which are archived at West’s The University of California-San Diego, but also newly discovered personal documents, Harriet Tuckey’s book tells these stories well. It won the prestigious 2013 Boardman-Tasker and Banff Mountain Festival nonfiction book prizes for mountain literature.