Kirjahaku

Here is narrative nonfiction at its most gripping. Journalist Jennifer Jordan chronicled the individual stories of the five courageous women who have climbed K2, the most fearsome mountain in the world. Climbers call K2 "The Savage Mountain." It is not quite as tall as Everest, but it is far more dangerous, located at the border of China and Pakistan, in the deadly Karakoram range, which has the harshest climbing conditions and weather of any place in the world. Ninety women have climbed Everest, but only five female climbers have ever reached the summit of K2 alive. Three of these women died on the way back down the mountain, and the other two have died since their climb. Because, these five women, who defeated the most ferocious of all mountains, have lost their own voices, "Savage Summit" told their tragic and compelling stories. The terror and triumph of K2 was revealed through the stories of the few women who have succeeded in climbing it. The women in these stories are forced to deal with harsh conditions from the mountain, and from the men climbing around them, often being treated unfairly or discriminated against in their struggle to get to the summit. "Savage Summit" also attempted to answer tough questions: do female climbers rely too much on their male climbing partners? Are women prepared for the physiological and emotional rigors of K2? Are female climbers, because of the publicity and sponsorship opportunities afforded them, climbing the mountain without the proper training, endangering their own lives and the lives of those who climb with them? And, if women are as capable of men of climbing this most deadly peak, who will be next to attempt the long trek to the summit?

In 1939 the Savage Mountain claimed its first victim. Born into vast wealth yet uneasy with a life of leisure, Dudley Wolfe, of Boston and Rockport, Maine, set out to become the first man to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain and, in the opinion of mountaineers, an even more formidable challenge than Mt. Everest. Although close to middle age and inexperienced at high altitude, Wolfe, with the team leader, made it higher than any other members of the expedition, but he couldn’t get back down. Suffering from altitude sickness and severe dehydration, he was abandoned at nearly 25,000 feet; it would be another sixty-three years before the author discovered his remains.

Noch vor wenigen Jahren wäre niemand auf die Idee gekommen, fur Finanzprodukte wie Investmentfonds massenmediale Werbung zu betreiben, und das Publikum hätte mit dem Begriff Investmentfonds nicht viel anfangen können. Heute sind Fernsehspots, Zeitungsanzeigen und Werbebriefe fur einzelne Investmentfonds, fur Fondssparpläne oder fur eine Kapitalanlagegesellschaft als Ganzes an der Tagesordnung. Die Werbung fur Investmentfonds suggeriert mit Hilfe von allerlei Zahlen und Charts hohe Renditen und niedrige Risiken, sie verweist beispielsweise auf das in einen Investmentfonds investierte Kapital als Ausweis seines Markterfolges oder auf Auszeichnungen von Rating­ Agenturen wie Standard & Poor's. Sehr häufig setzt sie auch, nicht anders als die Werbung fur Kosmetika oder Pauschalreisen, emotionale Gestaltungselemente ein, etwa stimmungsvolle Bilder und gefühlvolle Texte. Jennifer Jordan untersucht in ihrer Arbeit dir Frage, ob und wie diese Art der Investmentfonds-Werbung wirkt. Sie fragt, inwieweit es der Investmentfonds-Werbung gelingt, die subjektiven Rendite- und Risiko-Erwartungen der potenziellen Käufer eines Fonds und damit ihre Anlageentscheidung zu beeinflussen. Bei rationalem Verhalten, so lehrt die (präskriptive) Kapitalmarkttheorie, dürften Werbeelemente wie z.B. Ratings, Charts oder emotionale Bilder keinerlei Einfluss auf die Rendite- und Risiko-Erwartungen der Anleger haben. Wir wissen aber aus zahlreichen Untersuchungen der (deskriptiven) Behavioral Finance Theory, dass sich Kapitalanleger keineswegs immer rational verhalten, sondern Urteilsheuristiken verwenden und in "Wahrnehmungsfallen" treten.