Psychovertical is a powerful if intensely personal book, well written, sometimes brilliantly so. It charts Kirkpatrick's fractured upbringing and subsequent escape to a life of extreme climbing and close calls... He is a clear, spare writer, and a highly visual one. The descriptions of climbing are among the best I've ever read... Kirkpatrick chooses words with the same care that he chooses a wire.

Kirkpatrick's autobiography sparkles with black humour...He writes with great eloquence on the fears of an extreme craftsman pursuing his crazy self-imposed task

Thrilling ... Most compelling are his psychological battles, as self-belief and a dry sense of humour ultimately propel him to the top

Andy is one of the funniest of Britain's top climbers and represents what is best in modern British climbing: boldness, innovation, sense of humour, irreverence, commitment, and an appetite for risk.

Entertaining, funny and a bit mental

Kirkpatrick never shies from the terror and self-doubt that seem to foreshadow his every move, and the daunting psychological and physical tasks he sets himself are always in danger of smothering him. But it is his wit and an effusive enthusiasm for climbing and travelling to regions totally inaccessible to the average punter that make this so readable. The man seems to have an insatiable appetite for putting himself in preposterous danger, which rewards the armchair reader very nicely.

A book that makes you shiver, certainly. But much more profound than I expected.

In a sat-nav dominated world, where GPS and a host of other acronyms designed to get us from A to B have overtaken paper maps, it is refreshing to meet someone who understands technology, but prefers to find his way by practicing the rare and ancient art of using nature’s signposts, from puddle patterns to shadow lengths . . . I’m hooked. Back at the beech, I make a mental note of emerging bluebell patches, forming an internal map that I’ll use to find my way around the wood

As Gooley reminds us, navigation is, first of all, about understanding where you are. His marvellous book is a good starting point

The perfect book for getting you started on your own adventure

Tom English's excellent book, The Grudge, revisits an occasion when sport and politics and ancient rivalry came together

True tales: great stuff

Shudderingly good ... English has a rare talent for getting to the core of a person

Thatcherite politics and rugby come crashing into contact in this rich and textured account