Once the destination of only the hardiest of adventurers, Mount Everest has become a tourist hot spot: commercial expeditions vie for climbing rights and a 400-room luxury hotel may be built at Base Camp. Still, according to this brief and visually arresting history (ideal for younger readers but also appealing to mountain-lovers of all ages), the mountain retains its deadly mystique, offering the "adrenaline rush of extreme danger." Dickinson, a filmmaker who wrote about his own 1996 ascent of the world's highest peak in The Other Side of Everest, delves into the mountain's geology and ecology, explores Sherpa culture, and examines the climatic rigors that have claimed the lives of 162 climbers with slick efficiency. He also recounts the exploits of those who made it to the top (and some who died trying), including contemporary daredevils who climb without oxygen or paraglide off the summit. He ends with an account of the by-now familiar disastrous 1996 Everest expedition that took eight lives, a reminder, he feels, that the mountain can never really be tamed. The book's "interactive" gimmicks include a pop-up photo of Everest and a number of loose "documents"-maps, a Nepalese prayer-flag, facsimiles of a diary and letter from a couple of lost climbers-tucked inside small pockets; young children may find these gratifying, while adults will find them but briefly amusing. Color photos throughout. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.