Rating: 
Summary: Chilling
Review: I almost didn't read this book, but my father gave me a copy last summer. I was stunned by the raw emotion and utter egotism of all of the climbers involved, Sherpas included. On the one hand, I was amazed at the sheer physical challenges to be overcome, on the other, it was clear that without each other, death was not only possible, but close to inevitable. As disaster struck, focus turned inward, and as each climber faced crucial decisions about themselves and others, those with the biggest egos fell the farthest. Jon has written a self-deprecating story that spares no one, especially himself. A great read, made even better by its truth about human nature and Mother Nature.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring!
Review: This book just does not amount to the reviews it got. It lacks Adventure and exitment.
Rating: 
Summary: A Scary Story?
Review: A scary story. It must be really hard to be a journalist. The need journalists have to analyse, is wasted on a subject which is really beyond analysis (which is why only 4 stars). If you want to know another side of the story, read 'The Death Zone' by Matt Dickinson - he tells the same tale from the north face, he was in a team strangely omitted from the list of participants given by Krakauer. But if you want to read the Best book about adversity on mountains, there is only one - read 'Touching The Void' by Joe Simpson. Now, THAT is a scary story...
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Summary: A look into the souls of thrill seekers
Review: As previously stated, not the best wriiten, but immensely interesting. Why people attempt to live on the edge is a fascinating subject. The end of the book/climb is worth waiting for.
Rating:
Summary: A Gripping and Honest Book
Review: Into Thin Air made me realize how insignificant we all are in the grand scheme of things. This book was extremely hard to put down because you want to see what happens as the storm is approaching and the aftermath. You start to get emotionally involved with the different expeditions and it pains you to read about their fate. Jon Krakauer did not try to sugar coat the disaster as it unfolded, he told it like it was. He seemed to be riddled with some sort of guilt or else he is just haunted by the disaster itself. This a great book and it deserves to be read.
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Summary: A winter adventure gratefully read in a warm room
Review: Taken so by Krakauer's subsequent Into the Wild, I turned almost immediately to his 1997 bestseller, Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. In 1996, Krakauer was one of a twelve-person guided team climbing Mt. Everest, five of whom died and one of whom lost his hand to frostbite. Krackauer's book answers three basic questions. First, what happened to the party. This is not easy of resolution, as the climbers and their guides become separated from each other in a driving blizzard, without adequate radio communication, and with oxygen supplies depleted. Second, he asks what Everest was really like for the climbers. The tale of personal courage, sacrifice, and unbelievable adversity is absolutely riveting. Certainly, this couch potato would never find himself above 26,000 feet outside of an airplane! Finally, he asks why he and other adventurous spirits undertake such an insane quest at all (In many respects, this is the same question he asks in his account of Chris McCandless). The famous answer, "because it's there," remains in many respects the best explanation. The story he tells of heroism and sacrifice, loss and triage (several times, the choice is made to leave dying -- but not yet dead -- climbers behind to save those still able to walk), excitement and absolute terror is nothing less than compelling. I am most grateful, however, to read this grim book in a warm room, by electric light, and after a good meal.
Rating: 
Summary: Thin Air...a Thin Defense?
Review: I've just finished the book, and I have to admit I'm rather surprised by the amount of polarization it's created. To be fair, I noticed some cultural bias in Krakauer's assesments of other people on the mountain, but I have to wonder if that's grounds for all the accusations leveled at him. I wasn't there to challenge his words, but I know for a fact that Jon Krakuaer wasn't responsible for the safety of Rob Hall's, or anybody else's team on Everest. So who was responsible? Why, that would be the leaders of the various teams, of course. You might recall that they wanted to call all the shots on the mountain. So what really did happen? Based on what I read, which may be incomplete information, I'm left with only a sketchy picture, which is the main beef I have with the book. I can imagine that it was a combination of several bad judgement calls, including not keeping up with the weather reports (they had sat phones, why not sat weather reports?) and not defining clear safety boundaries for the clients. Perhaps the guides were too ambitious to get their clients to the summit, and ignored some danger signs early on. That's my take, anyways. If an objective, disciplined, and rigorous exploratory group, with the knowledge and skill of NASA were to climb the mountain, I suspect they would approach the challenge with a much safer mentality. But such as it is, I read about a group of climbers who seem a little too self-assured, haven't developed full safeguards for themselves and their clients, and I'm not surprised that disaster struck under those extreme circumstances. It became a war zone up there, where everyone was fighting for their own life. And Jon Krakauer was merely one of many hoping to see their homes and families again.
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Summary: I'm not a book reader.....
Review: Let me start by saying, that I'm 32 and haven't read an entire book since high school. I AM a mountaineering hobbiest. I bought this because of that connection. I can't recall any movie or book that got to me the way this book did. I was so deep into this book that I could FEEL the excitement and anticipation, and then the pain and agony in the lifes of these people. I've never been on such an emotional roller coaster. I finished this book in 3 days, because I couldn't put it down. Remember, I'm not a reader! I just ordered Jon Krakauer's other books, and "the Climb." Thanks Jon, for renewing my interest in reading books, and helping me focus on MY future mountaineering endeavors. This book is a MUST for READERS and NON-readers!!
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Summary: The biggest disaster ever to happen on Mt. Everest
Review: This was a really intersting book because it gave me insight on a subject that I had never knew much about, like th different types of levels a climber should complete before climbing Everest. I had never read a biograghy/ auto biograghy quite like this, for the mire fact that Krakauer wrote it so that it would seem that he wasn't the person telling the story. Everything he gives such great detail on the moutain it intrigues you to keep reading. And I am not a reader myself but for a class project we were told to read a book that interest you. So I picked this book and I complety enjoyed it!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Sure, it's gripping, but is it good?
Review: Krakauer narrates the Everest disaster very well, but I think he missed the boat by trying to either vindicate people or hold them accountable for what happened up there. In my mind, he came across as very mean-spirited and at the same time, unwilling or unable to commit to his opinions of what went wrong on the mountain. In one breath he seems to be saying that anything can happen at altitude and people make mistakes, while in the next breath he seems to be making personal accusations behind which he never really puts his full weight. If he had committed himself one way or another I would have more respect for this book.Meanwhile, please don't hold up Krakauer as the end-all, be-all of mountain literature. If he writes about smoking out in one more book as an example of how he relates to tragedy and unrealized ambition, I'm going to be sick. Anatoli Boukreev's THE CLIMB is a very good explanation of the same events, and at times has far more spirit to it, as does ANNAPURNA, by Maurice Herzog. If you want mountain literature, read that one.
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