Cover photo: Emmanuel Aguirre. Click to see a larger version.

ISBN-13: 9789889979928
Paperback, 308 pages
Includes 28pp colour photo section
Size: 14 x 21.6 cm
Published: April 2008

Price: HK$148 / US$18.95
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The Standard (click for larger view)

With Bare Hands
The true story of Alain Robert, the real-life Spiderman
by Alain Robert
AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Overcoming vertigo — and countless injuries which have left him officially disabled — the 'Human Spider' has scaled over 80 skyscrapers worldwide: from the Petronas Towers in Malaysia to Taipei 101, from Chicago's Sears Tower to Canary Wharf in London. Reward and punishment have been received in equal measure — the flamboyant Frenchman has gained international fame and raised thousands of dollars for charity, but has also been arrested, beaten and prosecuted. 

Many people ask whether it is madness to undertake such perilous ascents without using safety equipment. But in Alain's view, it is madness not to follow your dreams! This is the inspiring story of a man who has conquered fear and exceeded his own limits: the world's greatest urban climber.

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MEDIA ATTENTION

"A climber known as 'Spiderman' has climbed a 45-storey hotel in Hong Kong, using just his bare hands." — watch the 90-second BBC News video clip!

Heightened Awareness: Office workers look out in amazement as daredevil skyscraper climber Alain Robert, dubbed the 'French Spiderman', scales the 60-storey Four Seasons Hotel in Central yesterday — see the South China Morning Post story and photos, and Harry's cartoon

Alain Robert was interviewed on ATV World's Newsline programme on 20th April. You can watch online here.

"French Spiderman Alain Robert, who has become famous for illegally climbing buildings across the world, scaled a top Hong Kong hotel on Tuesday, eyewitnesses said. The 45-year-old urban climber scrambled up the outside of the 45-storey Four Seasons Hotel before being detained when he reached the roof, said one worker in a skyscraper close by who saw him reach the top. The feat drew onlookers from nearby office buildings, including the neighbouring Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong's tallest building, which Robert had been expected to climb once he announced his visit. Robert was in Hong Kong to publicise his book With Bare Hands, which looks at some of his climbing successes, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Opera House and many of the world's tallest skyscrapers." — AFP

"Alain Robert scaled a 45-storey luxury hotel in Hong Kong on Tuesday to raise awareness of global warming, his third known ascent in the skyscraper-packed metropolis. Robert, 45, dressed in a white shirt, scaled Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel with his bare hands and without any safety harness, after evading the city's police who had been tipped off about a possible ascent at an undisclosed site.
Large crowds craned their necks skyward, gasping when the shaggy haired climber slipped at one point before regaining his balance. "He's totally crazy, it's really dangerous," said Jakob Mense, one of those who witnessed the climb. "If the weather's like this it's OK. If it's windy or it's raining it's incredibly difficult and it might kill him," said John Chan, who collaborated on the French climber's recently published biography With Bare Hands." — Reuters

"Robert is either a story of inspiration and a man living his dreams or a complete nut job, depending on your perception. Local publisher Pete Spurrier, who is publishing Robert's autobiography With Bare Hands, which is out tomorrow, obviously goes with the intrepid Spiderman theory." — Annemarie Evans, South China Morning Post

"You've been banned from the mainland for climbing, right?
Yes, for climbing the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai. But the ban was temporarily lifted when the local authorities in Hunan actually requested that I return. They asked me to climb in Zhangjiajie to generate publicity for the area. There was someone closely following me around and they held onto my visa the whole time. My agent is still working to get the national ban lifted." — read the rest of the HK Magazine interview

Alain Robert is the subject of a gripping new Channel 4 documentary entitled The Human Spider. Click here to watch a clip from the film!

"Alain Robert drives his family up the wall. The world's greatest 'urban free solo' climber has scaled 80 of the world's tallest buildings without using any equipment, just his hands and feet. He has an arrest sheet as long as his arm, which in his case is very long from all the trauma he puts his muscles and tendons through." — The Independent

"Clinging to the outside of the 88th floor, heart pounding, palms sweating, and nothing between you and the flashing blue lights of the police cars hundreds of feet below except a lot of thin air – this is not a sport for acrophobics. Alain Robert, the man known as the Human Spider, is perhaps the most daring climber of all time. His terrifying brand of "free climbing" – climbing without tools or safety devices of any kind – has taken him up some of the most daunting buildings in the world. The Jin Mao tower in Shanghai, the Debis Tower in Berlin, and Europe's tallest building, Moscow's Federation Tower, are among his recent conquests, while in the past he has clambered to the top of the Centrepoint Tower, Sydney, and the Eiffel Tower in pursuit of ever-greater thrills and risks." — Daily Telegraph

"As he climbs ever higher above teeming sidewalks – without official sanction, mostly – panicked and fearful local governments inevitably send in the cops, with sirens blaring. Admiring crowds gather spontaneously at the foot of his vertiginous conquests, cheering and screaming. Frequently arrested following his descent to terra firma, Alain is familiar with the vagaries of police procedure. In China, he was breathlessly huckled through Shanghai airport by a bunch of uniformed cops, having incurred a five-year ban from re-entering the country. In Moscow, he wound up freed from a few hours' police custody smelling of vodka proffered by admiring cops. Mick Jagger? Street-fighting man? Pah! Phew, Alain Robert's rock 'n' roll!" — The Herald

"There was one extraordinary shot in The Human Spider (C4) that captured the sheer madness of what 'urban free climber' Alain Robert does for a living. It came halfway through the film, when we already knew the diminutive (not to mention epileptic) Frenchman liked clambering up the outside of the world’s tallest buildings without ropes, harness or any other safety equipment. Or permission, for that matter. We knew he’d scaled the colossal Taipei 101 (1,670 ft) and the Petronas Twin Towers (1,482 ft), among others. We’d seen him scoot not only up but all the way back down the comparatively puny National Bank (574 ft) in Abu Dhabi. Indeed, we’d seen so much footage of him climbing it was beginning to get repetitive.
Then, as we watched him shin up Shanghai’s soaring 1,380ft Jin Mao Tower, the camera did something it hadn’t done before. From a vantage point nearby it started at the base of the Jin Mao and tracked dizzyingly up and up the vertical quarter mile of glass and steel to where Robert, a mere speck by now, was clinging to the side of the building just below the top, trying to avoid being grabbed by policemen on a balcony above him. The vertiginous sense of height and stomach-lurching vulnerability were overwhelming." — Daily Telegraph

'Spiderman' scales Chinese mountain with his bare hands: A daredevil French climber scaled part of a mountain in southern China using only his bare hands, months after he was banned from the country for clambering up Shanghai's tallest building without permission... — ABC News

一位藝高人膽大、有「蜘蛛人」之稱的法國攀爬者，因為未經允許就攀爬了上海最高大樓，而被中國驅逐出境；數個月之後，他再度徒手攀爬中國南部一座山的一部份。 中國官方媒體新華社報導，以攀爬世界最高大樓聞名的羅勃特，週日在湖南省天門山接近山頂的地方爬了兩百公尺（六百五十六呎），而且未使用任何輔助工具。 羅勃特這次並未被逮捕，取而代之的是來自各方的喝采，及播出他被歡欣鼓舞的群眾所圍繞著的官方電視報導。當地官員邀請羅勃特攀爬位於張家界國家森林的此座山，希望這樣的特技表演能夠刺激觀光產業。 羅勃特六月份時因身穿蜘蛛人裝攀爬著名的「金茂大廈」，而在上海吃了五天牢飯，並被中國禁止入境五年。 他表示，他花了兩個月時間說服七個不同政府部門的官員，讓他重返該國攀爬一千五百一十八公尺（四千九百八十二呎）高的天門山是有好處的。 羅勃特曾攀爬過許多世界最高的摩天大樓，包括台灣的台北一零一大樓、馬來西亞的雙子星塔以及香港的遠東金融中心。 他也爬過巴黎的艾菲爾鐵塔以及紐約帝國大廈，而且全都未使用安全裝置。— The China Post

I'm Spider-Man: After finding the Alps too disappointing, he took to climbing very tall buildings without ropes. From the Petronas Towers to Canary Wharf, Alain Robert has scaled more than 70 skyscrapers. Yesterday, he conquered the Lloyds building in London. Stephen Moss met him before his ascent – and arrest... — The Guardian

Click play to watch a montage of Alain Robert's awesome climbs!