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Summary: Only one account of the 1996 Everest trip
Review: To get a different (some times quite different) account of the Everest disaster, read "The Climb", by A. Boukareev, the Mountain Madness guide that was at the scene and is mentioned in Krakuer's book.
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Summary: A Fascinating Look At Extreme Mountain Climbing
Review: This book was so mesmerizing that I couldn't put it down and finished it in two days. Friends who have read this book agreed with me that it was such an attention grabber that they read it in one or two sittings. I have to say that I'm not a mountaineer-type. I love to hike but I have never understood what would push people to climb Everest or any other peaks for that matter. This book did not shed any light on why climbers feel compelled to "push the envelope" but enlightened me to the harsh reality of high-altitute climbing. I was completely engrossed by the story and felt as though I was part of the team. Great eye-opening window into the world of high-altitude climbing.
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Summary: Hpes and dreams become a nightmare!
Review: I found the book very enjoyable and a quick read for anyone that enjoys true life adventure stories. The author made Everest come alive. The actual ordeal was less than 72 hours. The author provides relevant background on the history of Everest. The only thing that bothered me is that this is one person's view of the events. I wonder about the objectivity of the author's position, especially experiencing this disaster first hand.
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Summary: Fantastic, could not put it down
Review: I saw the IMAX movie made at the same time of this tragedy. I then bought the book and read it in one day. I felt it was an honest attempt to explain what happended. This is one of the best books I've ever read.
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Summary: A gripping tale of a real-life tragedy
Review: This book was a gripping look at the perils of climbing the highest mountain in the world and of the human endurance the challenge places on the climbers. One of the best non-fiction books I've read in years. I saw the IMAX movie "Everest" before I read this book and I thought the parts written about the Khumbu Icefall were dead on. That to me also seemed the scariest part of the climb.
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Summary: From a climber's point of view
Review: My mother figured that since I am an experienced rock climber who plans to diversify to ice climbing and finally true mountain climbing, I should read this book. I started it while on a climb, and could not put it down. I began to feel as if I knew these people, and had to constantly refer to the dedication to see who had survived. He used many technical climbing terms, but he did very well in explaining them. His language was very terse, and the writing was not too full of adjectives and adverbs. This did not make for particularly "english classy" reading, but it allowed for a fast pace. Because it was written so soon after the disaster, Jon did not have too much of a chance for the details to become muddled and what he wished could have happened did not have a chance to really mix with what really did happen. Some people felt he wrote it too soon, but knowing how tales of climbing successes and disasters have a tendency to grow as time passes, I believe he did the right thing. My mother hoped that by reading this book I would be cured of my drive to climb. Instead, she gave me a thought provoking reading about the forces which compel people to climb, and a too-close-for-comfort description of how easy it is for small mistakes to compile into a deadly disaster.
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Summary: Fair, Thorough, and Exciting
Review: Krakauer has written a great adventure story, one that is both tragic and true. He takes pains to share differing opinions about areas of controversy, trying to be as fair as possible. His explanations of climbing equipment/jargon, historical reviews of Everest, Sherpa culture, and the photographs accompanying the text, make it easy for the layman (like myself) to follow the story. Keep a dictionary by your side as you read this - Krakauer's vocabulary is quite ample and he employs several words not commonly used in conversation.
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Summary: The book haunted me.
Review: Into Thin Air was by far the best book that I read this summer. It truly haunted me. The enormity of detail that Krakauer used really made me feel like I was up on the South Col along with him. I could envision what the mountain was like along the way, and it truly saddened me at the end. After reading the book and the wonderful, vivid descriptions of his climbing mates, I was dreading what I knew all along, some of those wonderful people died. I almost began to cry when I read about the suffering Beck Weathers went through, in fact I did cry. To read the book was one experience and then to try to imagine living through it was another completely. I can only hope that the novel will serve people as a reminder that you can't control nature and certainly, not Mount Everest. I also hope that it will serve as a sort of a reminder of the people who died just to get to the top.
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Summary: The BEST book I've ver read
Review: An exellent read. I first heard about it from my Dad and he really enjoyed it. That says a lot for he doesn't read that much and when he does he doesn't normally enjoy a whole lot of books. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. It was that good. After I finished reading it I started looking for more information on the '96 expidition. The one thing I regret is that I would of wanted to have read it a year earlier for the IMAX show was in town all winter but we didn't go see it. I recomend this to anyone who likes nonficition action.
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Summary: A Compelling Character Study
Review: For anybody with a deep, athletic competitive streak this book is a must. Mount Everest forms an extraordinary and dramatic backdrop for this most compelling and tragic character study. In this case, it is not a critique of an individual character, but of the collective character--of guides and clients--who attempt the summit of Mt. Everest. Krakauer's honesty and rawness offer painful insights into both the character flaws and errors in judgment that led to the disaster on Mt. Everest in 1996. His love of climbing and respect for Everest show through, even in a tangled web of regrets and doubt. In the end, he offers no ready-made prescriptions for balancing brilliant ambition and self-destructive risk-taking, but his anguished tone conveys to readers his own confusion and pain in a poignant and heart-wrenching manner.
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