Rating: 
Summary: Left me breathless and touched
Review: Before reading this book, I thought climbing Mt Everest is no big deal. You just need plenty of stamina and technical mountaineering skills and these could be trained. The book convinced me otherwise. Luck, endurance, play great parts too. The events were so realistically recounted that I often felt breathless.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll feel like you are there
Review: "Into Thin Air" is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. While reading the book I felt as though I was a member of the climbing team. Krakauer is a very good descriptive writer who has a way with words. His account of what happpened on the top of world is chilling to say the least. I have already recommended this book to all my family and friends and I would definately recommend it to YOU!
Rating:
Summary: A Book That Reaches New Heights In Real Adventure
Review: This is a winner.Krakaur's account of the hellish Mt. Everest expedition that cost the lives of several experienced mountaineers and their paying customers is a dramatic story told very well. I don't know much about mountaineering, or the sub-culture of adventurers who pursue personal highs through scaling the peaks of the world. The book makes a fine introduction of both topics as background for the actual Everest expedition. Its strenght lies, of course, in the telling of the fateful trek up ths world's highest mountain. The description of the deprivation, physical pain and mental strain that greets almost all high altitude mountaineers does make for an enthralling tale (It also made me wonder who in his right mind would want to undertake such a venture). This book is more about tradgedy than triumph. Although some of the participants have heroic moments, the fact that supreme ego as well as commercial pressure drove many to undertake unwise risks that resulted in death left this reader wondering "why" by the end of this fascinating book. A very fine read you won't want to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Into Thin air
Review: Jon Krakauer's description of a complex event that has caused significant controversy in the mountaineering world and obvious torment in his own life was both disturbing and gratifying. I now have a much greater appreciation for the incredible will necessary to climb Mt. Everest as well as an appreciation for the pain that succeeding or failing can and often does cause. I feel like I somehow know the people on Mt. Everest on May 10th 1996.
Rating:
Summary: A page turner
Review: I'm not a mountain climber, but this book kept me riveted. Well written. It gave me quite an appreciation of the rigors of climbing the mountain. Not that I ever would climb the mountain, but it practically turned me off of ever thinking about it. A good expose on the internal pressures climbers feel to get to the top and also of the irresponsibility of the tour guides. They put personal achievement of themselves and others ahead of safety. The author explains the conflicts of climbing Everest, both physical and mental. He's a bit overly apologetic for his actions which gets tiresome. But overall, an excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: Acquisition which hurt
Review: This is the second book I am reading by the author. I was born in India and lived most part of my life in the mountainous state of himalayas in India. I have always loved to wander and get lost in the mystic mountains. But this book has brought me to the harsh reality of the truth. Himalayas as is beleived by most hilly people as god, is place to love and respect. I feel sorry and respect the caliber of all the good people who consumed there lifes searching something, which no one knew what, on these mountains. I am not sure what good are these acquisitions, if they leave so many of us so hurt. Although I was not involved in this disaster, I am equally hurt and disturbed for what all happened there. I just can not pull myself away from it, being a part of mountains myself. But on thing I am sure, it is best we find a cure for this Summit Disease, as I am sure mountains will never change. Love for mountains does not nescarily mean climbing the peaks, it means getting to know the mountains, to know the flowers and fauna of the mountains, to enjoy the springs and to love people living on these high mountains.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greats!
Review: If you like climbing books, adventure books, or just like to read, this would classify as any of them. It's hard to read in less than a week. Into Thin Air is an excellent book. It's about a journalist that is sent to Nepal to climb Mt. Everest, the largest mountain in the world. When your up around 29,000 feet you start to lose some of your awareness. Find out how Jon and everyone else on the mountain try to cope with this disaster.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautifully Written Tragedy
Review: This is a book I will long remember. I really hated for it to end. It is non-fiction at its best. It was so interesting in its detailing of both the rigors and the extreme dangers of high altitute rock climbing. How will I ever forget the incredible sadness the author described of losing his friends to the elements, their hopelessness in being stranded in the dark, at over 26,000 feet, exhausted and delirious, with frostbitten hands groping for ropes in gale force winds and snow, with very little oxygen. And his private torment and feeling of betrayal in leaving some of his dying teammates behind on the mountain, to maximize the chance for himself and others to survive that terrible storm. It was a tragic occurance that happened only three years ago on the roof of the world, and was a fate that I could only have barely imagined--but with the author's vivid account it comes to life. It is a great adventure and truly a great book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greats!
Review: If you like climbing books, asventure books, or just like to read. This book is very suspenseful. It's hard to read in less than a week. Into Thin Air is an excellent book. It's about a journalist that is sent to Nepal to climb Mt. Everest, the largest mountain in the world. When your up around 29,000 feet you start to lose some of your awareness. Find out how Jon and everyone try to cope with this disaster.
Rating:
Summary: Into Thin Air
Review: Into Thin Air - a good book and a terrible movie! So what's new? As a journalist, Krakauer gets a "D". As an author he gets a "B+" for contributing an intense account of the 1996 tragedies on Everest. While I read this book from cover to cover without putting it down, I had to hold back on one star because Krakauer failed to present accurate and complete facts of the 1996 tragedy - causing unnecessary harm to those who survived, and to those mourning the loss of loved ones and friends who perished on the mountain. If this was fiction - no harm done - but it's not. Be sure to read 2 other books on this subject: "The Climb" and "High Exposure". God Bless Boukreev!
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