Into Thin Air

Rating:
Summary: Riveting account -- not quite as good as Into The Wild.
Review: I looked forward to reading Krakauer's Into Thin Air with muchanticipation for two reasons. First, it had gotten so much pressbefore its release that it was hard to ignore. Second, because I had found his last book, Into The Wild, to be so thoroughly compelling. I read maybe 30 books last year and I'd have to say Into The Wild was one of the top three. Into Thin Air was almost as riveting, but not quite. Still an very interesting read.

As for Krakauer's guilt or motivation, it's so hard to put one's self in his shoes. I've never experienced such oxygen deprivation. I've never experienced such brutal physical conditions, such exhaustion. It's hard to be too judgmental. I look at the book as an extremely interesting, well written account of a very tragic incident.

As for Krakauer profitting from it. Again, who am I to judge. From what I could tell by reading the book, he spent a lot of time and effort clarifying details of just what did go on. I attended a slide presentation and lecture by Mr. Krakauer on the book and expedition recently and he seemed a most sincere person. In fact, he promised to personally match dollar for dollar any money collected that night for the Himalayan Rescue Association.

All I can say is that the book was very well done. I felt the cold, the exhaustion, the blinding snow, the biting wind and in a very real way came to know and feel for all of the people involved in this incident.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book. It makes you want to give Everest a try.
Review: Two weeks ago I was given the opportunity to get Krakauersautograph on Into Thin Air and his other two books. I also heard himspeak. Very compelling story. Unfortunately I only have 70 pages to go in this book but I haven't read Eiger dreams yet. I can't wait!!

Rating:
Summary: Half-way through, you can not stop reading until the end.
Review: It took me two days to read to the half-way point of the book,then I couldn't put it down. I read until 4am the next morning, whenI finished it. I felt as if I, myself, had been at one of the lower base camps, unable to help, but able to see the tragedy unfold. When I closed the book, I cried for the survivors (including the author), and their families, who would never forget the great calamity which would forever alter their lives. Does life become more precious to those who survive such a horrible feat? For me, it shall be a long time before I forget "Into Thin Air."

Rating:
Summary: A book based on life-and-death-experience
Review: In a late Saturday afternoon, reading this book while I moved from a beach chair in the backyard to a couch next to the screen door when it started raining. The rain wasn't like pooring, yet easily noticabe everytime my thoughts escaped from the book. The sky was then even darker than a normal 5:00pm in a clear day.
If one has some imagining ability, preferably an active one, any noise around while reading this book probably would alarm that person as the echo or prelude to the storms or crying for life through out the book. Excellently written and very well edited, this is more than just a thriller that one can easily say, "All that crap was made up, anyway." Apart from personal tragidy and misfortune, the story in the book has more philosophical touches than most realized.
Commercialization is the protocol and the driving force of our morden civilization, it has swallowed everything emerged from daily life, or even life itself---heard of a Heaven's Gate pupil who went on lecture tour after failed suicide? Somehow, nature always has her revenge. In Rob Hill and Scott Fisher's case, they died as much out of their egos as out of their pursuit of market share, as much being mountaineers as being businessmen. It was a brutal, merciless event, yet after some contemplation one cannot claim it brutaler or more merciless than the consequences from global warming or excessive logging. Life goes on, but some of us may have to pay the toll for the rest of us, when they are positioned to challenge mother nature. Not have been dominating our sense all along, the dark side of the human odyssey, key-noted the entire book with its originality.
When everything quited down again, finally finishing the last chapter, I raised my head and looked around: everything man-made, everything commercialized---well, I felt much safer.

Rating:
Summary: A tragic acount of ego getting the better of common sense!
Review: John defines the skills needed to effectively tackle Everest. Those skills were lacking in many of the customers on all of the expedition teams. It is beyond me how people can fool themselves in order to believe they are capable of achieving such a elite goal. Death and permanent physical and mental scars are the result of such self deception. We all can't play in the NFL, NBA, or MLB. Why do we think we can compete in other professions such as this. "There oughta be a law!"

Rating:
Summary: One of the most gripping stories I've ever read.
Review: Forget the rack of fiction books! This true life drama is told by the tragedy-participant author in great and gripping style. For me, it was a one read sitting, and I found myself walking step by step with the Everest climbers as they dragged themselves up the tortuous route. A must read

Rating:
Summary: Excellent summer read
Review: This is an EXCELLENT and riviting account of the quest tosummit Everest in 1996 where a number of people died making theattempt. Jon Krakauer is an fantastic writer who tells his story in a manner which makes it IMPOSSIBLE for the reader to put the book down. The story flows from beginning middle end seamlessly, the character development is excellent, his own view as a narrator seems extremely balanced and fair given the highly charged and emotional circumstances in which the story takes place. From the dizzy socialite to the postal worker who worked two jobs to scrape together the money to attempt Everest, the group who assembled at base camp in Everest in May of 1996 makes a cast of caracters worthy of a major motion picture. In addition, the reader can learn what it is like to survive at 26,000 feet and to experience tempatures where human beings commonly freeze to death. It is, in the end however, an uplifting story. This is a must read!

Rating:
Summary: One of the 10 best books that I have ever read!
Review: Once I started reading this book I couldn't hardly put it downuntil I was finished. I really like Krakauer's writing style and thefact that he was an eye witness to this disaster helped to make it that much more interesting. He seemed to give an honest account of the things that went wrong and the peoples reactions to them. It seems misfortunate that there were so many people on the mountain that day in May of 1996 and so many that weren't well qualified. The way Jon told the story I felt like I was there and it took me several days to get it off of my mind. It must be troubling to know that people are dying around you and there is no way that you can really help them. Thanks Jon for writing this book as I have been following this disaster since it happened and was glad to see this detailed account written by someone who was actually there. I am now reading his earlier book "Into the Wild".


Rating:
Summary: Well-Written Non-Masterpiece
Review: Reviewing the other book reviews here, and the publicdebate staged in the media,it may be that therelated issues and disagreement may be more interesting than than the book itself. Ah,the book, yes,I do believe that is is very well-written, but hardly a masterpiece.

After wrapping the read, it does also appear that Mr. Krakauer has tried very hard to make a leveled analysis of all involved, including himself. I think the problem that is arising is that most people in the general public do not have an ethical problem with the author profiting from his experience,but the climbing community (with its nebulous boundaries) does. The event lacks precedent as no so-called 'climber' has ever so aggressively promoted himself and his work as Mr. Krakauer has recently done. Perhaps there has been a kind of unwritten code which has detered others from pushing as hard.

With the recent re-issue of 'Eiger Dreams' the back cover implies that Mr. Krakauer had previously completed an attempt on K2. When was that? Since he had never been as high as Everest basecamp before,then his K2 try must have failed somewhere near the mountain town of Askole on the approach. With details such as this and Mr. Krakauer's highly emotional (yet understandable) declaration that he will never climb to 8000 meters again, many in the sport feel that he has rushed into 8000 meter climbing,thrashed about, and plodded back to the permanent 'safety' of sea level where he is undertaking sweeping pronouncements on a sport that has become an important way of life for many. The result is that many feel that his profit is coming directly at the expense of the sport which he claims to love.

Afterall, how much does the author really know about 8000 meter climbing after one single climb?? Not only had he never climbed a 7000 meter peak, or a 6000 meter peak, but perhaps not even a 5000 meter peak in his entire life. Enjoy the book, but understand that Mr. Krakauer's opinions are merely that, and yes there are many opinions in these pages even though they may be expertly camouflaged as fact. Beneath the information that is presented here is one singularly dramatic and tragic story, but not years of toil and sacrifice on the big mountains which could served him so well on the mountain last spring and consequently in the crafting of this disturbing book.

Rating:
Summary: readers of outside magazine alert!!
Review: If you have read Krakauer's account of the disaster in OutsideMagazine, then you have no need to read this book. Have we, OutsideMagazine Readers, heard enough of this or what? How much more can we stand? How much more squabbling over what actually happened between the people that were up there can we take? Enough is Enough. Buy the magazine-it's cheaper.