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Summary: Krakauer Takes Readers Along a Harrowing Journey of Everest
Review: Imagine yourself alone, surrounded by nothing but blinding snow. In the midst of hurricane force winds and sub zero temperatures you are all alone, 8,000 meters above the rest of the world. Home is only a picture in your mind, your body aches with agony. After completing Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, I breathed a sigh of relief that I had made it off of Mt. Everest in one piece. Krakauer's description of the events that took the lives of several of his comrades will leave you breathless.
Krakauer's book combines his oustanding journalistic talents, climbing expertise and his experience of the real life crisis that took the lives of 12 people in the Spring of 1996. No one could tell this story better than Krakauer. With poignancy and compassion Krakauer takes the reader up into the heart of the mountain to explore what drives women and men to push their minds and bodies beyond the limits-- to stand atop the world.
This book is a must read.
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Summary: Tragic story, relatively good storyteller
Review: I'm not an outdoorsy type. A friend of mine and I once had a discussion about how forcing someone to climb up a mountain, with inadequate oxygen and subzero temperatures, all the while suffering from exhausting and dehydration, would be regarded as cruel and unusual punishnment. While reading this book, however, I found myself able to understand how someone would actually be willing to pay 65000 dollars for the privilege. Into Thin Air, while not a brilliant piece of writing, is a solid account of a fascinating and gripping tale. Jon Krakauer chooses to concentrate on the personalities of the climbers in addition to narrating the events of the climb; this is what makes the book such a great read. In addition to understanding the facts of the case, you can understand what they meant to the climbers on the mountain. The most amazing thing to me about the book, and what seems to be the discussion surrounding it, is that Krakauer seems to be trying to expunge some of his own guilt about the mountain. Such guilt, while certainly understandable, doesn't seem to fit with his own story. The fact is that climbing Everest isn't without risk; people choose to climb it to some extent because of that risk. Krakauer himself says that a storm such as the one which killed the climbers is fairly routine. Every part of his account, from the tales of frozen bodies on the trails to his commentary on the mortality statistics for 1996 on Everest, point to the fact that climbing Mount Everest is a potentially deadly undertaking. The tragedy may be in the lack of understanding of this fact on the parts of all parties, both at the time of the climb and now. Krakauer points to many people as bearing some responsibility for the tragedy on Everest. He points to lack of experience on the part of the climbers and to poor judgment on the part of the guides. These things, perhaps, created a situation where climbers were stranded on top of the mountain in a storm. Perhaps the tragedy of the story is that people didn't understand that there was a real risk of death on the mountain. Certainly, some of the actions on the part of the guides and the clients were valiant, others less so. However, it seemed to me that there was quite a bit of shock at the deaths on the summit, which I'm not sure how to explain. If you have the time, read the book. It's interesting, and you'll read it compulsively though to the end.
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Summary: Insular lives
Review: Krakauer's book is excellent for several reasons, not least of which is that it lends insight into why someone might choose to attempt Everest or other unquestionably dangerous peaks. Namely, the increasing popularity of high-altitude mountaineering seems directly related to increasing dissatisfaction with the lexan bubble erected around the daily lives of most "civilized" people. The mountain is a leveller that disdains all the trappings humankind has devised to make itself richer and more comfortable; the fact that some seek to be "levelled" is simply a verification of the fact that, for those people, the trappings just don't cut it, however many they can afford. As "Into Thin Air" amply illustrates, money may get you to Everest, but it doesn't get you on top in swaddled comfort.
I would also suggest that a good deal of the criticism of the book, and second-guessing of Krakauer's actions and motivations, stems from the narrow perspective of contented insularity, characterized by a lack of desire to confront the psychological and spiritual deficiencies of a warm, fuzzy, packaged, push-button existence. Anyone unable to step outside of this perspective has no hope of understanding what Krakauer or anyone else on that climb went through, and really has no business judging any of them. Conversely, Krakauer *is* entitled to the judgements he makes, right or wrong; his perspective is from within, not without. That doesn't make him a good guy or a bad guy, just a guy with an *informed* opinion - who happens to be an excellent writer.
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Summary: Back seat Mountaineers
Review: No, I am not a mountianeer, but found the details of this book to be fascinating and the pace to be gripping. As the author states, this is his personal account of the tragedy that unfolded on the mountain. I am offended by the numerous reviewers who accost Mr. Krakauer for his actions and hold him responsible. It makes me wonder if they even read the book that closely. I have no doubts that Krakauer would have given his own life in trying to rescue his teammates if he could have. How easy it is to sit at our computer in our warm home and criticize his actions. We weren't exhausted, cold, and hypoxemic on that mountain as Krakauer was. If Krakauer was looking to redeem himself in a self-serving way, would he have written about his second guesses of his actions? Or would he have simply left that part out of the book to make him look good? I believe Krakauer did all he could and should be commended. So he profits from the book and movie...big deal! That's his profession. You knew that when you bought the book. How else could this story be told? I would follow Krakauer up a mountain any day and have no doubts that his actions on the mountain were appropriate and justified.
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Summary: Caveat re some of these reviews
Review: Enough time has passed since the 1996 Everest tragedy for opinions to have polarized. I believe a few of the posts here were written by people who only read the Outside magazine article, and not the book, which was written after a great deal more investigation and circumspection. If you've only read the Outside article or others, you owe it to yourself and to the author to read the book.
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Summary: Controversy over commercial expeditions to Mt. Everest
Review: I was anxious to read this account since I had previously read Dick Bass's book about climbing the seven peaks. I was not expecting to be challenged with ideas concerning whether or not commercial expeditions were in fact beginning to be less safe because of the money involved. This book was a good read---in fact I was very tired after my bedtime reading every night!
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Summary: Worthy
Review: A good read for around the campfire. I found the events a little difficult to follow at times.
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Summary: Great fiction, lousy journalism
Review: Having read Krakauer's and Anatoli's books on the Everest climb, and having done altitude climbing myself, I regard Jon's book as a wonderful work of fiction. However, it is clear that he needs to find a villain. The closest that I can see is Rob Hall, who showed poor judgement in not turning around sooner and did not have the sense of Fisher to have someone below who likewise might have saved Namba and helped Weathers. I understand that Krakauer might well have been too wiped out to have helped, but he should admit that. He seems more to take the attitude that it "wasn't his job" to save anybody. May God have mercy on his soul is that is all his excuse was.
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Summary: This is a superb piece of writing and reporting.
Review: Lots of people write well. Lots of people report well. But Jon Krakauer does both, with a keen eye and a keen heart for not just details but the details that tell the story of human beings struggling with human issues. His honesty in grappling with his own feelings of guilt over the death of his climbing companions shows a remarkable strength of spirit and strength of soul. I would willingly follow this man up Mount Everest myself. -- Ron Somers
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Summary: A fascinating, thorough and honest account of the disaster.
Review: This book was even more interesting than I expected. The author's descriptions of the various participants and background on Mt. Everest expeditions really make the story hit home. Considering the horrific force of the storm that hit and the incredibly depleted condition the author was in, it's bizarre that some have had the nerve to criticize Mr. Krakauer. To have expected him go out in his condition and in that storm to save other climbers in the condition they were in is like expecting a woman in the advanced stages of labor to rescue people from a burning building.
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