Rating: 
Summary: A praiseworthy book
Review: This book makes you want to both climb and stay away from Mt. Everest. Question Krakauer if you want, but this book is captivating.
Rating: 
Summary: Unnerving heroism
Review: A wonderful gift from my father for my birthday. Every page you turn - the perilious journey continues. Absolutely lucid, this is an incredible book that moved me to the limit. Jon Krakauer's 1996 Bestseller Into the Wild was just as gripping, but this story was based on both the psychological and mental health of other climbers. Unfolding his step-by-step encounter of climbing the mountain's deadly pinnacle made the picture seem so real, so vivid. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air painted the most spectacular pictures in my head, it felt like he had taken a reel of film and placed the exact same text into my head transforming it into pictures - and I was there. As a 14-yearold, I now have a real appreciation of high altitude mountain climing, and that one small step or miscalculation can result in death. Sadly, for nine intrepid mountaineers they paid the ultimate price with their lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe the writer was part of the problem.
Review: None of the books I have read about the Everest tragedy have answered the question: Why did Rob Hall continue to encourage climbers up the mountain after the 2:00PM turnaround time? Krakauer says he thinks Hall might have been "playing chicken," but could it have been the writer of INTO THIN AIR who was to blame. Krakauer identifies Doug Hansen as the person with whom he most closely identified. If there had been no tragedy to write about, would Doug Hansen have been the focus of the Krakauer story? Did Rob Hall consider that possibility? Did he want to get Hansen up for Krakauer as much as for Hansen himself? These and several other unanswered questions have dampened my enthusiasm for what many other have seen as a flawless, engaging account.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Book - Frightening Confession
Review: Krakauer has given us a good tale, but the image of mountaineering I am afraid has suffered from the shallowness and evasiveness of his analysis. Most troubling is his confusion about the responsibilities of climbers - clients or not. At high altitude you come ready to climb; you look after yourself; you do everything in your power --and perhaps beyond-- to help your mates when they get into trouble. INTO THIN AIR is an exceptional book, but a frightening confession of selfishness.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent - emotional recollection of a painful disaster
Review: I was mesmerized by this personal account of what its like to climb into the death zone and what went wrong. The author reminded me of James Watson ("The Double Helix") in his willingness to lay all his cards on the table and expose his real thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: An absolute must read....
Review: I had heard too many people talk about this book and I absolutely had to read it. Upon doing so, I could not put the book down and used up an entire day to read it. It was amazing how Krakauer accounted the tragedy and the climb to Everest. I empathized with him and felt like I was climbing the mountain in spirit. It was unreal and yet it was very real. I believe that he was brave enough to admit the pain of leaving his company behind and the people that perished. At this point, I think it would be hard for anyone to admit what he has done but he has and he has done it. Anyone would have escaped from it but he didn't. I'm sure he wanted to in order to achieve peace within himself which he may or may not have conquered. Makes me want to climb Everest but I don't know if I do have guts and the burning desire as much as they had.
Rating:
Summary: Now i know what not to do with an overabundance of money
Review: After reading this book, I wrestled with two types of emotions. One was overwhelming sympathy for the friends and family members of the victims. the other was utter confusion as to what prompted these individuals to blow such a large sum of money on a life threatening venture. Overall, the book was interesting and well-written but I can't give it a higher rating than I did simply because of the fact that i see these people as senseless idiots with nothing better to do with their time and money than risk their lives .
Rating:
Summary: You should all be ashamed.
Review: Everyone who is reviewing this book seems to want to blame Krakauer. It was not his duty to go out and help these people, because he would have DIED if he did. Boukreev, on the other hand, was a GUIDE. He is PAID an extrordinary sum to save these people's lives. Krakauer did what every single person who has bashed him would have done: He went to sleep to avoid death. Of course he didn't want the other climbers to lose their lives. But it wouldn't help them if he had gone out and killed himself as well! I challenge any of you to climb Everest in whiteout conditions, and then try to save someone's life. If you actually do it, call me. 1-800-WHY-BLAME
Rating:
Summary: How could you not like this book?
Review: This book is not supposed to be about being funny and fun :) while sport-climbing :) in the sunny springtime :). It is a serious story of expeditions gone wrong. His blame was duly placed and he can't be blamed for giving his own opinions. Whose do you want him to give? What is wrong with the people who rated this book? It is spectacular.
Rating:
Summary: A great non-fiction tale of death and triumph on Everest.
Review: The book was in itself not thrilling but, a non-fiction book can't be. I liked the way Krakauer described the events in such detail. It makes you want to never even think of climbing this mountain. I had not heard about this very much so I was still not knowing of what was going to happen. And the death zone above 25,000 feet gave you a sense of excitement when they were up there. All in all the book was extremely satisfying to the very end and if you want to read a book that will take you to the top of Everest read this book. It's a good one.
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