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Summary: Another moving and insightful story from Krakauer
Review: Into Thin Air, as with Krakauer's previous book, Into the Wild, does an impressive job of making a pursuit which is almost unimaginable to most of us into an understandable and moving enterprise. The people who pursue "the highest, the fastest, the first, and the farthest" are different from the rest of us; they are driven by impulses which seem almost contra-survival.It's a real shame that the whole "controversy" about Into Thin Air has materialized. I believe it overshadows the fact that no such story as this has been written for a mass audience before. Many readers have made much of Jon Krakauer's frankly expressed personal opinions about the appropriateness of Anatoli Boukreev's choice to climb without supplemental oxygen, his opinions of the relative fitness and experience of his fellow clients, and the decisions made by the guides of the respective expeditions. I consider most of the resulting furor overstated and demeaning to all concerned. Boukreev was a phenomenal climber, and performed heroically on that tragic day. That does not automatically mean all his actions are beyond question. He should be, and was, honored for his role in saving the lives of helpless clients, and his attempts to rescue guide Scott Fischer. He does not need to be canonized, especially simply because he is now no longer living (Boukreev died in an avalanche on Annapurna). No one is the "villain" of the book (I've actually seen that claim made several times in print), and anyone who thinks that is being disingenuous. Everyone there made errors in judgement, and the book makes it very clear how very difficult, almost impossible, it is to think with any degree of clarity when your brain is starved of oxygen and your body is out of fuel. Jon has said himself that he made factual errors in writing the article, and later in this book. He has tried to rectify those errors where they have been made apparent to him. Those who paint him as the villain of the piece for daring to question the actions of the dead tend to ignore that. No writer is flawless in research. It's so much simpler to paint one person or the other as entirely in the wrong, but it is completely wrong to do so. The book stands on its own merits, regardless of any media tempest over personal opinions which some feel were expressed too bluntly. At this point, who said what to whom at which point is not what is important; what is important to take away is the whole question of whether Everest is a place for the wealthy to take an "adventure vacation." As he put it in the book, at the summit of Everest, you might as well be on the surface of the moon as far as rescue is concerned. That is something to think long and hard about before one puts oneself in a place of no return.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting But Sad
Review: The 1996 Everest attempts are a good example of what happens when wealthy, self-absorbed people get into trouble. Read the book for that lesson. For an individual look at one of those types of people, read "The Strange, Last Voyage of Donald Crowherst". What a colossal waste of human spirit, drive, and talent! Imagine what they might have done had they directed their resources outward to mankind instead of inward to themselves. From a Christian perspective, the story is also a good example of what happens when people worship the Creation instead of the Creator. Everest is a harsh idol.
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Summary: We'll take you to the top, but not back.
Review: Unputdownable adventure and high drama. It makes you feel as if you're a member of the expedition and imagine yourself in the hazardous positions and exhaustion of the various characters. The events described will keep haunting you for quite some time, especially the climber hopelessly stranded near the top of the mountain at night, as out of reach of help as if he was on the moon, and the guy who's abandoned, frozen into the snow, and the next day stumbles like a zombie into the camp on his own, where his 'friends' put him in a tent, leaving him for dead again the next morning, only to have him come back a second time to remind them he would like to get off that mountain too. Climbers abandoning each other, refusing help to others so as not to endanger their own chances to get to the top or down again, and the route to the top being marked by frozen dead bodies also makes you question whether this whole circus of commercial Everest climbing by inexperienced climbers, temporarily suspending morality and law, should actually be allowed.
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Summary: Read this book.
Review: This is a really exciting book! It is about a blizzard disaster while climbing Mount Everest. In this book a lot of things go wrong. The author of this book was on the climb, so you get a first hand experience. I am not a big time reader but with this book, I couldn't put it down. It is a book with action, comedy,emotion all in one . If you are a reader who likes a good adventure, this a book for you!
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Summary: My thoughts on Into Thin Air
Review: "Into Thin Air" is definatly a book of with an appropriate chosen title. "Into Thin Air" is an account of the horrible Mt. Everest Diaster that changed the life of the author Jon Krakauer. The book is full of suspense, action, and history which is all connected to this 29,028 foot high monster than lurks over all other mountains in the world. This personal account by Krakauer is filled with entries taken while on the journey to the top. It also has history of attempts to climb to the peak and information on the people who have spent their life trying to reach the top. Some of these people which still to this day lie only hundreds of feet below. It is hard not to get sucked into this book with some of the sad storys of climbers who didn't make it or didn't make its back down. For anyone who enjoys the outdoors I strongly recommend it. Especially if you are a climber because you can really see and relate to others who did risk there life just to set one foot on the highest point on earth. The book does move around quite a bit but its easy to understand because as you can see by the title and first half of the book the main subject does not change. Not only does this book put the idea of ones time here on earth in perspective but it shows how some people can become very self centered when it comes to getting what they want. The book has problems between people just like your everday Daniele Steel love story except it is justa little more extreme. There is a funny twist to the book due to the fact that half the accounts could be false. The reason for this is because these climbers brains are almost completely depleted of oxygen causing them to have trouble remembering and performing correctly. Before I give away too much of the story I suggest you go out and finish it from were I left off. I give this book four stars because it kept my attention and was interesting not to mention rather simple reading which doesn't hurt when all you want is a book that makes sense. Great adventure, climbing, and travel best explains this book in a few simple words.
Rating:
Summary: exceptional
Review: Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer 1997 This book details the experiences of Jon Krakauer when he joined a commercial expedition to climb Mount Everest. This exciting story follows a group of eight people who have paid up to $70,000 each for the climb. Jon, an adventure writer who is being sponsored by his employers, is an experienced mountain climber. The climb ends in disaster, when, through some very small mistakes by several people and a blizzard, trap some climbers near the summit. Krakauer feels terribly guilty about his failures and is brutally honest about the whole experience. The writing of the book helped him to begin to put some perspective on the whole incident but from his own words, he was a changed man by the experience. The commercialization of the Everest climb had resulted in too many people being on the route to the summit at the same time and it was extremely interesting to see how egos and money led the competing organizations to run very close to the edge and take excessive risks. The number of people reaching the summit in each group was the criterion by which they would be able to sell the next seasons climbing expedition. I enjoyed the book and found that it was extremely exciting, particularly the last few chapters during the actual storm. That men and women would suffer such extreme pain in order to reach the summit is incredible. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: Riveting!
Review: Only a few hundred hardy souls have managed to reach the highest point on earth, the peak of Everest. The odds of one of them having the writing skills of Jon Krakauer and doing it on the most ill-fated group attempt of all time are slim indeed. We low-elevation mortals are blessed to have a true storyteller's first-hand account of a gripping and gruesome ordeal, one that reveals a lot about human nature--some of it good, some not, all of it fascinating. Jon's descriptions place you with him on the mountainside. You can picture everything. The phone calls to the dying Hall, expedition leader, are quite moving. I admit to being a slow reader. Not so with Into Thin Air. This is a true page-turner. I devoured it. You will too. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.
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Summary: Survival of the Fittest
Review: This story is about the tragic and terrifying fight against the world's highest mountain, Everest. Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, is an extremely will written story of the very frightening Mount Everest disaster. Krakauer had previously never climbed any higher than Everest Base camp, but being in the extremely good physical and mental shape, he was one of the only survivors of this disastrous expedition. The way this book was written grabs you and takes you in. Krakauer does a very good job of thoroughly explaining the characters. When the story gets going, and he refers back to some of the people you know whom it is that he is talking about. Another thing that might make Into Thin Air so intriguing and frightening to people is that in most stories when the plot gets sad or scary them most of the time the reader likes to tell themselves, "no, don't be scared, this didn't really happen." But in this story that is not the case. This is as real as it gets. Towards the end of the book you have grown attached to certain people, learned about their family and friends and what they have done to get were they are today. One man, Doug Hanson, held down two jobs just so he could pay for his dream to climb Everest. Doug was one of Krakauer's close friends, and in the book Krakauer mentions how he would rather Doug reach the mountain than himself. Doug had attempted to climb Everest once before but had to leave when he was about 1/4 a mile away from the summit because he was sick and running out of oxygen. He returned this final year so he could, as himself, " Get that dumb mountain out of his life". It would have been very hard for them to turn Doug around again because he could practically see the top of the mountain so they so they let their sympathy over take them. They let him continue. This is just one of the may times when you will fell so concerned for the person that you are almost out of your seat. Some people, myself included, would ask these men why would they ever want to climb the mountain if you knew all the risks included? But Krakauer explains how climbing is part of him just like breathing. Like in ever thing you do if there is no challenge involved it starts to get boring. We al know that Everest is far from boring!
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Summary: Absolutely Stunning
Review: I am a smart man. I am very well-versed and have read many a book in my day. This is by far the most engaging story I have ever read. The book is, what, almost 400 pages? I am a damn slow reader and I finished it in two nights. This book is not for just mountain climbers; it is for everyone. Young and old. Sure, it is about a mountain event, but the real story is of the pursuit of life goals, persistence, successes, failures, life. It is very emotional to read, very emotionally written, very encouraging. Awesome book. I give it 6 stars and 3 thumbs up.
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Summary: Writing High Altitudes
Review: "As he squatted, he lost his footing on the ice and went hurtling down the Lhotse Face. Incredibly, after falling only 70 feet he plunged head first into a crevasse, which arrested his tumble." Into Thin Air is a sobering and sometimes heart stopping, account of the '96 Everest ascent by climber and author Jon Krakauer. Nobody is safe on the mountain. Even the Sherpas, born and raised in its shadow, are not entirely immune to Everest. On Everest skill and experience count for little or nothing. A Sherpa's incident illustrates that quite well. "As they resumed their descent, a volley of grapefruit-sized stones came whizzing down from the upper mountain and one of them struck a Sherpa in the back of the head. 'The rock just creamed him,' says Beidleman, who observed the incident from a short distance above. 'It was sickening,' Klev Schoening recalls. "It sounded like he had been hit with a baseball bat.' The force of the blow chipped a divot from his skull the size of a silver dollar, knocked him unconscious, and sent him into cardiopulmonary arrest." The beginning of the book - and the climb itself - was slow going, discouraging to the reader. Krakauer's first couple of chapters are details about the discovery of the mountain, history of specific ascents, the purists blaspheming and then accepting the use of bottled oxygen, the first ascent by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and it's affect on England, the ascent of Everest by Dick Bass (a banker from Texas), and the purists blaspheming Bass's desecration of the mountain. I would recommend reading the first 4-5 chapters after you've become involved with the book, in other words skipping it and reading it later. The writing was excellent, and very descriptive. It provides vivid and sometimes stomach and/or heart-wrenching pictures of Everest. For example, Krakauer describes a Sherpa with HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, not to be confused with HACE which is High Altitude Cerebral Edema). "The sick Sherpa had so much fluid in his lungs, Beidleman recalled, 'that when he breathed it sounded like a straw slurping a milkshake from the bottom of a glass. Halfway down the Icefall, Ngwang (the Sherpa) took off his oxygen mask and reached inside to clear some snot from the intake valve. When he pulled his hand out I shined my headlamp on his glove and it was totally red, soaked with blood he'd been coughing up into the mask. Then I shined the light on his face and it was covered in blood too.'" Into Thin Air is a book that shakes the soul and turns the stomach. I would recommend this book to any person without any actual responsibilities for a couple of weeks or days. The book seriously hinders ones ability to complete tasks, since it requires full attention and is sure to get it.
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