Rating: 
Summary: Powerful, Passionate, Palpable...
Review: This book is not designed to be a thriller or an adventure read--it is a harrowing true-story memoir, and deserves to be treated with the due respect. After reading this I was stunned by the honesty of the writing and the horror of what happened. I didn't want to believe that it was true, that people had to turn their backs on the dying to preserve themselves, that 29,000 feet up there was no room for altruism, that climbers were allowed to slip into death and remain frozen on the cliffs. It speaks loudly and clearly of man's pride and pain, and questions whether we should embark on such ego-building adventures at all. Utterly stunning. I hope you find your peace Mr. Krakauer, I truly do...
Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: It was late at night in a snow covered condo in Vail. All was quiet. This book was on the coffee table, dog-eared, with a bookmark. I opened it up to the marked page and read the heart-wrenching story of a man on a mountain talking to his wife in New Zealand, naming their unborn child, and knowing that he would not survive the night.I spent the night and then some reading the book. And I have read everything about that climb that has been written thereafter. This is the best book of its genre that I have ever read. If anyone knows of a better one, I'd like to know about it. Start reading this only when you have a lot of time to read, because you will not be able to put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Required reading for obessessed over-achievers
Review: This is definitely one of the best of the adventure books I have seen. I bought the book on an impulse but that turned out to be a good decision because I read it straight through. After reading it, I am glad that I never succumbed to an attraction in youth to take up mountaineering, because I am pretty sure that it would have killed me. The risks and the pain and suffering are too great. Jon Krakaurer writes a good book, appealing to those readers who know nothing about mountaineering. The 1996 Everest disaster shows how obessession with achieving a goal can lead to poor judgement and ultimately to disaster and death. Mountaineering by its very nature attracts people who are determined to achieve their goals and who have a high tolerance of pain and suffering - precisely the type of people likely to persevere and end up in trouble rather than turn back to safety. But in an environment as dangerous and unforgiving as Everest at high altitude, climbing in `the death zone' above 7500 metres, mistakes and poor judgement simply are not an option. Two team leaders, both experienced climbers, continued to climb to the summit long after the deadline for returning safely to camp had passed - both died, along with a third guide who went back to assist. Another experienced senior guide climbed without oxygen, a radio or equipment, then bugged out after reaching the summit and left a junior guide to bring back inexperienced and exhausted climbers through a hurricane while he sat in his tent drinking tea. Weak climbers were let burn themselves out climbing to the summit, leaving them too exhausted for the descent. Some died, others were lucky to survive - the survival of one climber who was left for dead for a night and a day in a freezing hurricane was a miracle. Somehow, he managed to find enough strength to walk back to the camp, then survive another night of exposure to extreme cold when his tent was demolished in another storm. If that guy was a cat, he would have used up a lot more than his nine lives. Like most disasters, a series of mistakes and misjudgements compounded on each other until a catastrophe resulted. The 1996 Everest disaster was virtually inevitable, it would have happened sooner or later and it will probably happen again.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: In Jon Kraukauer' book "Into Thin Air", a true, accurate, and terrifying adventure was told. This book is a great novel for being as factual, and accurate as can be. It brings a sensation as if you are there on the mountain with them, suffering, and going through all the adversities with the rest of the team. You become "involved" and seem to start to "interact" with the people that are there. Overall, I would put put this on my top 20 book list that I have read.
Rating:
Summary: A Surprisingly Well-Written Thriller
Review: The story of the tragic Mount Everest expedition that is the subject of this book has been told in many interviews, articles, and TV documentaries. But Jon Krakauer's account is by far the most captivating. I loved reading this book for a couple main reasons: Krakauer does a wonderful job preparing the setting and introducing the reader to Mount Everest, and then he lets the story take over. In the first couple hundred pages of Into Thin Air, Krakauer uses the time that the climbers spend slowly hiking the lower parts of the mountain, acclimating themselves to the altitude, to introduce all the players in the disaster that follows. Then with the final half of the book he tells the story of the fateful ascent to the mountain's summit and the storm that took several lives. The last hundred or so pages of this book make up the best true life thriller retelling that I have ever read. Krakauer's writing is perfect in that it makes the story so vivid, but it doesn't get in the way with overdramatization as one could easily do with this unbelievable event. This is one of those books you will still be up at 4AM reading if you aren't careful. Definitely worthy of its best-seller status.
Rating:
Summary: INTO THIN AIR BY JON KRAKAUER
Review: This is a great book and I believe that it is the best book that I have ever read. The story itself, of survial during the terrible storm on the Mountian, creates such a book that I could not ever think of that type of an idea in my mind. Jon Krakauer did a great job going back over the event and expressed in words that made it feel as if I was on the mountain with him at that time. It has some great stories within the book that allow the readers senses to kick in and realize what the people climbing Mt. Everest actually went through. The book does start slow, but it does begin to pick up and the book and words keep getting better and better as te book goes on. In the book he does reach the summit and then the bok really takes off and the storm hit. This was one of the deadliest seasons that I could ever think of. Jon Krakauer did a great job recreating this deadly season. It talks about many deaths that occured on the mountain, along with the shock and horrible dieseases. It goes into specific details on many things on the mountainand the charaters and what actually happened to each of them on the mountian. Rob Hall was Jon expedition leader and he struggled with climbing the mountain as well. Struggled enough that it actually did kill him. I would find myself going crazy if I were climbing a mountain and found myself without a leader. These are the types of things that Jon had to go through on the mountain and what he does while he is on it was simply amazing. This was a great book to say the lest and I would reccommend it to everyone who enjoys a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Big ol Mountain
Review: This is a great story. The begining is sort of slow with Krakauer describing a lot of the history of the mountain. He talks about how it was named, and how it was measured. He then talks about all of the early expiditions to the mountain. After a bit he talks about all of the climbs from great explorers who climbed the mountain with out oxygen, or who took a much harder route. After about 150 pages the acclimization is over and his team and many others start their drive for the top. That is when the story gets good. He is very descrptive about what he sees and what happens to otherclimbers. He criticizes other climbers on the mountain and some of the other expedition leaders. There were lots of problems on the mountain in the spring of '96 and a lot of people could tell that soething bad was going to happen. It retells a story in which many people die and are injured in a very good way. The author was critized for writing this book so soon after the accident, but I think that it was good to tell the world what happened.
Rating: 
Summary: Into Thin Air
Review: Into Thin Air is a book full of adventure and suspense. Jon Krakauer's personal account of the 1996 tragedy on Mt. Everest hooks the reader and makes them feel like their on the mountain with Krakauer and his teammates on the expedition. My favorite part of the book was when they started climbing the mountain and when they got to the top. My least favorite part of the book was the beggining because it went into too much detail about the history of Mt. Everest and the history of past expeditions. I recommend this book to anyone, even if your not into mountain climbing.
Rating:
Summary: Emotional
Review: Into Thin Air is the best book I have ever read. I couldn't put it down! It made me laugh and moved me to tears. Especially the part where Jon finally makes it back to his room after the horrible tragedy. The way he describes how he just lie there with all these mixed emotions and heart ache. My heart went out to him. The story was beautifully done.
Rating:
Summary: Great Recap of a Tragic Event
Review: A disclaimer: I read the whole book without being able to understand the lure of climbing mountains, especially Everest, an incredibly remote, dangerous peak. There can't be enough fame and fortune to justify the risk, and I can't imagine that the rush of standing on the 'top of the world' is worth it either. That said, Krakauer delivers an outstanding account of the doomed expedition. He does an tremendous job of describing the conditions, especially the difficulty of climbing in high altitude, where oxygen is limited. As an adventure story, this book really delivers, entertaining and keeping the pages turning right up to the finish. The thing that tugs at you is that the story is true and the ending is not a happy one. There are no heros, but there are also no villains though I'm certain that there has been and will continue to be copious fingerpointing. The only culprit here is the desire in some people to push the envelope and take unnecessary risks simply for the sake of saying they did it. That can't come as much consolation for the families of those who lost their lives.
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