An Eye at the Top of the World: The Terrifying Legacy of the Cold War's Most Daring C.I.A. Operation

by Pete Takeda

At some point during the inhumanly cold Himalayan winter straddling 1965 and 1966, a peculiar collection of box-shaped objects — one sprouting a six-foot, insect-like antenna — plummets nine thousand feet down the sheer flanks of a remote peak. Ripped from its moorings by an avalanche, the jumbled apparatus slides down a funnel-shaped hourglass of hard snow and shoots over a black cliff band, careening a vertical distance six times the height of the Empire State building. The boxes come to rest on the glacier at the mountain's base. One, an olive-drab casing the size of a personal computer, begins to sink. Then, trailing a robotic dogtail of torn wires, it slowly burns through the snow, melting into solid blue glacial ice, eventually disappearing beneath the surface, and never seen again.

No one actually witnessed this event. But as you read these words, nearly four pounds of plutonium — locked in the glacier's dark unknowable heart — are almost certainly moving ever closer to the source of the Ganges River.

Eye at the Top of the World, provides a harrowing present-day account of Takeda’s expedition to solve the mystery of Nanda Devi.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2006

Reviews

[Karol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating look at Indian culture, a CIA operation, and mountain climbing - mostly about a climbing expedition that touched on some cold war and other history of the area.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seems to get lower reviews because it is often not what the reader is expecting. It was exactly what I was expecting. The story takes place in the Himalayas, so of course there will be mountaineering tales. I personally enjoyed Takeda's writing style, and the twist of the C.I.A. operation. It is no doubt an intersting story, but be prepared to pay attention. It's not a lazy summer read.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book did not live up to the review that led me to buy it. A fairly small part of it was devoted to the CIA operation; the rest was the author's recounting of their trip and climb. Think of it as a less dramatic Into Thin Air with a happy ending.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book just didn’t do it for me. It lacked any sort of thesis and tried to do too many things at once, ultimately failing to do any of them well.

Is it an autobiography? Is it an investigation into the CIA’s Cold War spy operation on Nanda Devi? Is it a retelling of the team’s journey into the Himalayas years later? To me it felt more like an excuse to go climbing and the novel was part of the deal to finance the trip. There were also entirely too many characters mentioned early on, few of them the author ever actually developed. Also, I counted about a dozen typos.

Those are the cons. The pros are that I learned a bit about India and its peaks, as most mountaineering books generally focus on 8,000m peaks in Nepal or other neighboring countries. I also gained some narrow insight into the CIA spy operation, the full implications of which may still remain to be seen.

Anyway, here’s a nice quote from the book:

“He then gazes out the tent door through the gray drizzle and beyond-into the past.”

[Monzenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

High three stars. The geopolitics stuff is quite interesting, though not necessarily telling the whole story. The personal climbing stuff, while I get is the book proper, is just okay. And honestly I'd side with reviewers who said the title is bit misleading - it's a one-person (one-team) journey to recreate the dangerous and interesting trek, not really the "legacy" itself. If the book were retitled to "My Tracking of the Legacy" etc it would be more appropriate, though it would catch less attention from the geopolitics crowd I suppose.

[David Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing story, but the writing was not as good as I would liked. I was still drawn into the adventure and the mystery, but I will not spoil the ending!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breathtaking. Edge of your seat. TRUE!

[Kim]

First, a disclaimer: I am only halfway through this book. I was defintely wooed by the story--Cold War spy story set in the Himalayas? Does it get any finer? So far, I think the books subtitle is completely misleading, as it has very little to do with the CIA operation.

So far, maybe 25 of 170 pages (and I think that is generous) have been dedicated to that story line. The rest has been the author beginning to climb Nanda Devi (the mountain where the radioactive spy device was lost) and talking about himself. A lot.

Dude, I really don't want to read three pages about your conflicted feelings for your girlfriend, unless she is a 25,000 foot mountain named Nanda Devi. Or, even better, the radioactive device. I just wonder when the author gets over himself. Once I get over my irritation by how much he is talking about himself, I plan to thumb through the book and see if there is any mention of the operation. If not, this one is going in my donation pile.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimately very disappointing. The writing is not great which makes it hard to read at times, but the biggest problem is that the book is not about what it says it's about. Mostly it's the author telling about his climning experience. I didn't really learn any new insights about this CIA mission after reading the book. He spends more time writing about taking a dump on a climbing trip than discussing the CIA operation (seriously- at least 3 times).

The authors story is interesting, just not what I signed up for.

[DeAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book. needs to be a movie!