"From the time of his historic expedition to Nanda Devi in the high Himalaya, Charles Houston, M.D., has asked: Why do people get sick in the mountains? What are the symptoms of hypoxia - lack of sufficient oxygen - that also occurs in everyday life, due to injury or disease? How can we best prevent, diagnose, and treat it? Houston answers these questions in an engaging, comprehensible style."--BOOK JACKET.

The air about us -- Oxygen: the vital essence -- Moving air: respiration -- Moving blood: circulation -- Cells: the ultimate users -- Mountain illness: the air up high -- The body up high: cellular and vascular responses to hypoxia -- The spectrum of high-altitude illness: AMS/HACE -- Vision and the eye at altitude -- HAPE: high altitude pulmonary edema -- Chronic and subacute mountain illness -- Hypoxia in everyday life -- Acclimatization -- Genetics of high-altitude performance -- Prevention and treatment -- Operation Everest I and II -- Limits to work at altitude -- The mountain way.