Into Thin Air

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Summary: WELL WRITTEN AND ENGROSSING, I COUNDN'T STOP READING IT
Review: From the very beginning I felt I couldn't stop reading the book. His narrative is gripping and I felt I was there with him. It was inspiring and the book opened up for me an interest in adventure reading I didn't know I had. Well written and exciting to read, there never was a dull momment. Jon Krakauer's account of the individuals involved was so precise that I felt I knew them and therefore felt a lot of empathy with everyone on the mountain that fatefull day.

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Summary: Absolutely wonderful story!
Review: This was a book that I didn't think that I would like that much. Sure it was an adventure story, I liked that idea but this was from one of the survivers' point of view, just how honest could that be? Well he didn't try to make himself look good. He was a loner, a self serving person in a sport that required that people watch out for each other to servive. He is living with what happened up there in an unbelievable adventure which surely has made him think retrospectively about all of our selfish and unselfish feelings that we all have. Great Adventure!!!

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Summary: Very good, but bias story
Review: Very good story, but it must be read with "CLIMB", (A. Bourkreev & G.W. De Walt) for a clear 1996 Everest's event understanding. After all, Jon Kraukauer isn't the hero he wish to be neither A. Bourkreen is the selfish Russian painted Into thin Air. "Climb" seems to be more realistic.

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Summary: Riveting Read
Review: Krakauer writes beautifully. I felt like I was on that mountain, journeying up toward an impending doom with a group of climbers forced to make split-second decisions while extremely fatigued and deprived of oxygen. Written in a journalistic style, this book thrusts you into the midst of the hair-raising action high up on the mighty Mt. Everest. Hurrah for Krakauer!

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Summary: Riveting!This book should come with popcorn!
Review: Jon Krakauer is the best author i know.He takes you step by step through the deadly obstacles that stand in the way of Base Camp and the summit of Mount Everest;the top of the world. Quite depressing for emotional people but in a good way. On the page where he is on the top, you feel like you are. When he is on the South Summit or the Kangshung Face or the Western Kwm or Camp 4,wherever he or someone he is talking about is, you feel as if you are that person, waiting to die, waiting to live, waiting for something to happen. You feel so important and extraordinary, but you also feel like you are flying. If you think I am insane, you should read this book and you will feel the same way, I myself gurantee it. Don't wait any longer, buy this book even though you might as well order from Amazon because you will save 20% A must read. That is something i rarely say.

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Summary: Covers two extremes of human nature; Stupidity to Heroism.
Review: Anyone who attempts an expedition to Mount Everest knows the risk associated with that undertaking.Everyone on the mountain on that particular day, or any day during any expedition, knows that they may never return. It is a risk that they obviously are willing to make in their attempt to climb Everest. Unfortunately, some are more fit, both mentally & physically, to make the attempt than others. The 'commercialism' of Everest today has resulted in a high number of individuals who should never TRY to climb the mountain. I have no sympathy, nor do I place any blame, for any of the individuals who died during this, or any other, expedition. They died attempting something THEY WANTED TO DO. However, the risk must be weighed against common sense. Unfortunately, common sense does not always prevail when climbing at high altitudes. But every climber knows that before they begin! The only thing that bothered me about the book was that Jon Krakauer blames himself for part of the tragedy that unfolded. Jon should find more solace in the fact that he had the necessary physical & mental capacity to successfully complete the climb, AHEAD of the others, and thus safely out of harms way (if spending the night in hurricane force winds and 80 below temperature in a tent at 26,000 feet is considered 'safe').---An excellent book about an unfortunate expedition.

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Summary: One of the best non-fiction books of the 1990s.
Review: I have no interest in mountain climbing but I started reading this book in bed at 9am on a Saturday, and by 4pm I was finished. What more can I say? It is an extremely well written, engrossing, and tragic account of the Everest disaster. I would recommend seeing the IMAX movie before reading the book. Not having a background in mountaineering, I had trouble comprehend the scope of the surroundings. BUY THE BOOK!!!

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Summary: An engrossingly beautiful account of an unpredictab tragedy
Review: John writes with an elegance born out of experience as a person and climber. John expresses himself honestly, humbly and poetically (in a sense) which engrosses one to keep reading. This book brings the reader into the experience of Everest 1996 as no other fiction book I have read. It is so very well done, I am reading it for a third time!

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Summary: A Disaster Which Does Not Warrant The Title "Tragedy"
Review: I've read many of the reviews on this page and am surprised that so many people find this book to be so "tragic." The peple who were on that mountain knew the risks, even if they wished to deny them, and went anyway. Those who kept on climbing to the summit--even after the latest turnaround time of 2:00--compounded those risks. And the guides, who, I suppose, NEED such overblown egos if they are going to tempt fate time and time again, brought people who were, for the most part, ill-prepared. With all of these factors combined, it's a wonder anybody got off the mountain that day. I found the most ironic part of the book to be when two of the climbers, realizing their bad luck, ask themselves what they have done to "offend the mountain"...hmmm, believing they could "conquer" it? Strewing tons of garbage across the face of it in order to do so? Any of this sound familiar? While the deaths on Mt. Everest in 1996 were the result of a disaster, the real disaster was in the planning.

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Summary: as an "indoor-person", it opened my mind to the "outdoors"
Review: Since I've read this book, I've actually bought a pair of hiking boots and am planning my first mountain hike. Easy, in comparison with the likes of Everest. I'm looking forward to the challenges of this adventurous sport.