Into Thin Air

Rating:
Summary: The Most Memorable Book of the Year
Review: This was one of the most moving and memorable books I have ever read. I have been loudly recommending this book to everyone since I read it. Even if you didn't like Krakauer's Into The Wild, read this book. I doubt I will ever forget it.

Rating:
Summary: I gotta be me!
Review: Into Thin Air is a well-told tale of arrogance, stupidity and self-absorption. It was difficult to work up sympathy for any of the participants who, while spending tens of thousands of dollars risking their lives (and the lives of others) at four plus miles altitude, seemed to care so little for spouses and children left back home. Another interesting subtext to the book is the description of low paid Sherpas doing all the real work while the climbers 'aclimate' themselves and presumably grapple with the weightier issues of the soul. After all climbing Everest is a spiritual journey right? Testing oneself. Stretching limits, etc. Can't find meaning in everyday life? Work at a soup kitchen, coach little league, tutor a child, read to the elderly. Donate blood. Stop thinking about yourself all the time.

Rating:
Summary: a good book about stupidity and desperation above 26,000'
Review: Man, i snatched this book up the second i saw it because the newspaper made me cry when i read it just after the tragedy occured. I think Mr. Krakauer is being 100% honest about what he can remember from his hypoxia,...but that is just the point. He was in the realm where only 747 jets can survive, without oxygen (DUH), and these amateurs started droppong like flys as the profit minded guides struggled to save them. Why did these men they trusted go wothout oxygen? Forgive the language, but you can't polish a turd, and this is just what they tried to do. They ended up with a shiny turd. (dead heroes). I just know ill never try to climb Everest because nature laughs at those who mock it, just ask the people who said the Titanic was unsinkable.

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Summary: Most Thrilling non-fiction story I've read.
Review: I can't rate this book on how close it is to the truth but it makes a great story. Even though you know what happens, the author creates climax and suspense through his development of the characters and the events preceeding the disaster. He tells an epic tale of tragedy and triumph that compares to the Illiad/Oddesy

Rating:
Summary: I want to see Everest
Review: After reading this book I was shocked. I could not believe the conditions that the climbers went through to acheive what they thought was the equivalent of Nirvana. I thought it was an excellent retelling of the climb and I cannot wait to see the IMAX on Everest. Before I die I am going to see Everest (by plane).

Rating:
Summary: As it says in the title, it is a "personal account".
Review: Krakauer's book is by all means fascinating. Far from being a literary masterpiece (his writing skills surely do not deserve a Nobel prize), it manages to trigger the fear associated with high-altitude climbing. Rather than comparing the characters' heroics (or lack thereof), the reader should focus on the description of effort and hardship of all of the expeditioneers who were present during those fateful days of May '96. I will read Anatoli Boukreev's book next, in order to gain more insight into the tragedy that captivated so many. In hope of not sounding too redundant, it would be senseless to view this book as a finger-pointing rampage. Krakauer actually praises Boukreev's [valiant] efforts during the crisis. As for us, the readers, please keep in mind that we have no place for judging ANYONE, anyhow.

Rating:
Summary: You end up climbing the mountain with him.
Review: For a personal account of any event to work, the author must succeed in making you feel like you were accompanying him on the journey. Mr. Krakauer accomplishes that with this story. You feel the biting cold of the air; you struggle up sheer walls of ice; you wonder if you can trudge another step; you feel the frustrating despair of knowing that others around you are dying, but you are too numb from the cold and exertion to express the emotions you might have in dryer climates. The author did not have to be a great writer to make this book a winner...he had to be a great illustrator. And, he was; I felt as if I was with him every step of the way.

Rating:
Summary: JON YOU SAW BOTH SIDES OF COIN: LIFE AND DEATH
Review: All who ascend high know that death may be waiting for them at corner. But hills always suck you. there is mystical attraction in the altitudes. we huff and puff, covered in dust, half hungry but alway find something unknown to others who have never been to snow abodes of Gods. I know Jon you can feel it but you have never been able to put it in words. How ever whatever is written is simply superb. once you read it you reach in the lap of SAGARMATAJI. I will never forget those in the grip of Mother Goddess, Struggling Hall and Namba.

Rating:
Summary: It's No Ten But Give the Guy a Break
Review: I met Beck Weathers a few weeks ago and, having heard about but never read Into Thin Air, bought a copy and had Beck sign it. After reading the book half way through, I was surprised that Beck would put his name, let along his signature to it. Krakauer at first was extremely judgemental of all of the paying clients in Hall's "expedition" and seemed to have contempt for anyone who could pay their way to the summit. At the time, Jon was eeking out a living as a writer and certainly could not easily afford to take such a trip at his own expense. Beck's own experience was probably more disturbing to me than Krakauer's attempts to convince the world that the tragic events of May 10, 1996 were not his fault. Beck, in a nutshell, said that he wound up on Everest to complete his ascents of the Seven Summits and in nearly dying found that his search for fulfillment was not to be found in such a monumental accomplishment but instead in his own life which he nearly forsake for this stupid hobby. When asked for advice that he would give to a man who is 43 and eager to attempt similar feats, he was quite clearly changed in responding, "If you have children, it is morally irresponsible." Beck is not alone in having bitten off more than he could chew. He is just one who has publicly told his story and realizes just how lucky he is. After having heard his story, I actually thought less of him than before I met him. I thought he was more of an adventurer and not simply one of the many who could pay to reach the top of the world. Krakauer is unfortunate in feeling his guilt given the conditions of Everest in the Death Zone. Not one of us as readers may judge his motives, mental condition or perception of the situation which he experienced. Beck said himself that you can be responsible for one person only at those altitudes and that is yourself. Your mental capacity is barely adequate to make any decisions and the physical condition marginal at best to allow you to descend after summitting. How can anyone be expected to be a hero? If you want to criticize Krakauer, then move to Nepal and work as a rescue worker at the Base Camp. Whatever Jon's motives for writing, let them be his and his alone. He did not set out to put his book on the New York Times Bestseller List. He wrote for the need to write, whether catharsis or simply artistic desire. He wrote when he needed to and the result is what we have. Enjoy it, I did.

Rating:
Summary: A moving account of the Everest climb in 1996
Review: I live in Seattle so some of the people are familiar to me. Jon's account of this climb, and the events leading up to the horrible deaths that occurred, is very moving. I felt like I was on the climb with them. I was cold when they were cold, frightened when they were frightened. I couldn't put the book down even though I knew the outcome, it was so gripping a story, albeit a true story. I highly recommend this book to everyone, and I've never climbed a mountain.