Rating: 
Summary: Read It!
Review: Three must reads by Krakauer! Read this book and then get yourself to the IMAX film EVEREST! I have read three of Krakauer's books and I am waiting for more! His tales of adventure are classics of our time!
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Summary: Why didn't the Sherpas try it alone?
Review: Apparently the Sherpas never climbed Everest on their own. Jon Krakauer's book does not explain why those natives lived near its base all those centuries without giving it a try before Sir Hillary came along and copped the credit. Hillary and his successors couldn't have succeeded without those Sherpas, who have proved willing and competent to make the climb when hired to do so -- with or without Western technology's oxygen masks. I suspect there are cultural and spiritual differences at work. The Sherpas may simply know the proper place of humans in nature, free of the Western compulsion to climb that mountain Because It's There. Not so the organizers and climbers on the fateful day Krakauer's narrative leads us to. He gives us a gripping story, filled with vivid contrasts: the awesome beauty of the peaks, and the several ways, all gruesome, that high altitude can kill a human being; the courage the ascent demands, and the hubristic arrogance of some of the climbers who footed the bill.Krakauer sort of takes us to the top, then down through the catastrophe, and then abruptly stops. His ending feels like a jolt. I wanted some reflection, some kind of closure. I sense he didn't provide that because he had not yet found it...that he felt compelled to write the book to get everything out, and then just stopped, the way someone would drop at the end of an exhaustive climb. That adds a compelling quality. Perhaps like any survivor of a disaster, he seems to keep circling around events and agonizing over what he might have done differently. Being a reporter myself (though never having experienced that level of drama), I sympathize with the way he has taken brickbats from some parties who have a the Blame The Messenger motivation. I recommend the book, while adding (as I advised my long-distance-hiker son when passing my copy on to him) don't do the climb! -- C. Edwards
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Summary: Brings Everest Underfoot and Lost Climbers to Mind
Review: This heartbreaking book reminds us that we are all solo adventurers, yet each tied richly and inextricably to others. Through his frank and throughtful writing, Jon Krakauer has brought beauty to the tragedy despite what must have been a hard struggle through pain, shock, regret and disbelief. This is a momentous book with fascinating lessons, the kind of lessons we learn all through life and keep forgetting. This book will help me remember them, determined to try to make sound decisions however ordinary the day or endeavor. One thing that impressed me was how easily all the climbers might have survived, since it was a severe yet manageable storm and the mistakes made were mostly the minor kind usually gotten away with. It's horrible that things turned out the way they did on Mount Everest in May 1996, but through this book and other accounts of the disaster at least we can learn from and share in the many facets of the experience. And, small comfort though it may be to their family and friends, we can shed tears for the climbers left on the mountain. Doug, Beck, the Sherpas, the Base Camp personnel who greeted Jon with a hug and a beer and a gulf of grief, and many of the other characters are unforgettable. A stunning book, intriguing, sad, informative, tender, and in a certain sense elevating. Jon, thank you. You did the best you possibly could.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding story about an unforgettable event.
Review: Although I have no first-hand experience with climbing, Krakauer made me feel as if I was part of the team. While I can understand the source of some of the criticism that was levelled against Krakauer, I feel as if he did an admirable job explaining this disaster in as much of a detached manner as possible. I doubt that any of us could have done better. I will be interested in my opinions after reading The Climb.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling
Review: I just finished reading this book. I went over to The Climb reviews and read those. I won't read that book. My sensitive nature can take only so much!! As a book review I enjoyed the authors straight forward approach. I too could not put the book down. I began reading it at lunch at work and ended up taking the rest of the day off to finish! On an emotional response to the book, I just want to say two things. There is a wooden sign I hang outside my door at my house which reads "Leave Your Ego At The Door". I think there should be a huge similar sign at the Base Camp!! And all thorough out the book I wanted to scream...Everybody leave the damn summit at 2PM NO MATTER WHAT! No matter money, no matter greed, no matter ego, no matter competition!! Get the hell off!!
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written, riveting, and profoundly disturbing
Review: The story of an organized assault on Mt. Everest is hard to put down. The story of the calamity that struck on the day the team reached the summit is impossible to put down. It is heartbreaking and poignant, and well-written. At the same time, this book is very disturbing. No clue is given as to why people engage in a "sport" that, at Everest, has a 20% fatality rate, if I read correctly (one death for every 4 people who reach the summit). I could find no evidence that these people are enjoying themselves or are having any fun. They spend miserable weeks in cold, dirty conditions, gasping for breath and being sick, sometimes critically sick. By the time they get to the apex of their climb, they are exhausted, muddle-headed with fatigue and oxygen deprivation, and vulnerable to all sorts of terrible hazards. Why in the world would anyone do this? The book provides no clue. Also, these mountaineers routinely accept crippling and death as part of their sport. The book describes climbers literally leaving others to die on the ascent because it would be too hard -- or is it too inconvenient? -- to help them. These are odd people, doing a foolish and dangerous thing. I do not feel sorry for them, and I do not have a lot of respect for them.
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Summary: creepy
Review: this book left me wondering why anyone would want to do this. snowboarding at 12,000 feet is thin enough air for me. even though i knew the outcome i couldn't wait to get to the end.
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Summary: what about the South African team?
Review: I read the book and was fascinated by the story and the quality of the writing (and the woodcut illustrations). I'm interested that none of the online reviewers has commented on the role of the "South African team". They shamed our nation, as far as I can see. What comments?
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Summary: A Fantastic Read !
Review: I found Into Thin Air an excellent book. I read Into The Wild by Jon Krakaur and so bought Into Thin Air based on Krakauer's name. I couldn't put it down and read it in two days.I was made to feel as if I were along for the climb. I knew how it felt to be increasing short of breath due to the high altitude and how it felt to be afraid, cold and thrilled at the same time!
Rating:
Summary: An experience I couldn't get enough of.
Review: I read most of this book on a plane cruising at 33,000 feet. Every now and then I would look out the window and try to imagine people trying to survive at an altitude where NOTHING does! A great book that moved me. I question the interntions of those who summited, died and those that lived. I could never but my family through the horror that unfolded some 29,000 feet above sanity.
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