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Summary: I still pick it up and read passages here and there
Review: The best book I ever read. It help me get though a break up with my girlfriend of three years. I got so involved with it I forgot all my pain. One problem It wasn't long enough. I finished it in 5 days.Beck He lives!!!
Rating: 
Summary: good as fiction, disturbing as reality
Review: I thought this book was well written, but I had some problems with the text. First, was it only me who had problems telling the Sherpas apart? Krakauer said that there was a Lopsang on Hall and Fisher's teams, but only the one on Fischer's team is mentioned in the Dramatis Personae. And what about the Indo-Tibetan Border Police expedition? The members that died were not mentioned in the dedication, as Chen Yu-Nan was. If you climb from the tibetan side of the mountain and die, it doesn't seem to count in Krakauer's eyes. Another thing that bugged me was the constant reference to "my Sherpas" or "his Sherpas". If they said "my Africans," that would not have been OK and would have sounded racial. IT was degrading to read about the climbers saying that. one problem that Krakauer had was that he would mention someone briefly, ignore them, and then come back to them in great detail. It was too hard keeping everyone organized. Maybe in the case of the Minor characters (and especially the Lopsangs) he should have assigned letters in parenthesis, so we could keep them straight. I don't think that any of the climbers can be held accountable for what their oxygen starved brains did, but Boukreev, who was such a vital member of the team, really acted w/o judgement when he made the decision to climb w/o bottled o2. And I felt nothing but contempt for the people who found Beck and Yasuko alive but left them because THEY wanted to save their own skins. I think that the author should have concentrated more on the A.C. team and not M.M. He should also have spent more time on Rob Hall, an incredibly important person who he gave little mention to.
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Summary: I was rivited. Read it twice. Great non-fiction.
Review: I enjoy Krakauer immensely. I also am somewhat of an armchair adventurer. Have run marathons and aspire to a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. The summit of Mount Everest calls to the adventurer in me like a siren. Though I will never be able to do it, I have the utmost respect for those who have summitted Everest. Jon Krackauer brought to life for me the stuff it takes to get it done. The perils. The immense challenge. He painted the Everest picture with words, especially the 1996 disaster. He did it eloquently. With compassion. He rivited me! I've read it twice and will again.
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Summary: I'd like to empty a whole box of stars on this book!
Review: ANYTHING Krakauer writes is at least a five-star project, but this book is his best. Hearing him re-tell the story (as opposed to just reading it to the audience) is an added bonus. What happened on Everest is fascinating anyway, but Krakauer's account -- in such detail -- actually puts the listener up there with him. I've never been a fanatic about outdoor sports, but I listened to this audiobook three times -- and enjoyed it just as much each successive time.
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Summary: No Way in Hell Would I Go Up There
Review: OK, I'm not an "outdoorsy" person in the first place, I admit, but man, after reading that...I can't beleive that people take out second mortgages on their homes, go into debt, etc for the privilege of going up there, not being able to breathe, being in horrible pain, and a good chance you could drop dead or freeze to death at any minute. I guess I can sort of see how someone would want to do it--maybe they've dreamed of it since they were little, maybe it's a "guy thing" (sorry to sound sexist--I know plenty of women make the climb too) maybe it's serious bravery, who knows. All I can say after reading it is thank God my husband is not a climber, because I worry enough about him as it is. I think it is wonderful, loving, and supportive of partners who support their partner's dream to climb Everest, but my personal take on it is if my husband expressed a desire to do it, I would tell him it would be over my dead body, and shoot him in the foot if I had to to keep him from going. sorry, that's just me. That woman who talked to her husband as he was gradually dying of hypothermia has my total respect, she was so brave to hold it together for him and try to talk him through it. That passage was one of several in the book that really choked me up. Others made me wince, shake my head, and made every hair on my body practically stand on end. Especially the last sentence before the Afterword--that was just chilling. Krakauer doesn't seem to be able to forgive himself for surviving when some of his friends did not, or for any of the understandable errors in judgement he made under these adverse conditions. I hope that writing the book was good therapy for him, and that the writing and the passage of time have helped him and the other survivors of this heartbreaking event find at least some measure of peace.
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Summary: A haunting story of tragedy that stays in your mind
Review: This story has everything:heroism,tragedy,edge-of-your-seat suspense,psychological introspection. It is all the more tragic as you read about real people experiencing real horror atop Mt.Everest. The stunning b&w photography, the images of yaks and Sherpas juxtaposed among high-tech gear high in the Himalayas,the "what if's" and "if only's" that invaribly come to mind.I would often awake from a disturbed sleep with it's images of isolation & desolation atop a blustering peak. Fascinating piece of work!
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Summary: Great book, but in only one small part becomes monotonous
Review: Very interesting, active, captivating and includes incredible detail, but at one point becomes very monotonous as I would put it down for a while and start another novel, but as I watched the IMAX film I decided to finish it--- It is a wonderfully written novel that is worth anyones read who is involved in the great outdoors or just interested in adventure.
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Summary: Reads like an edge of your seat suspense novel!
Review: Even though the end result was well publicized, Jon Krakauer builds the tension and suspense without over-playing the events. I felt as if I were stuck near the top of Everest. A MUST READ!!!
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Summary: It makes you want to wear your parka to bed!
Review: I bought this book on a whim andended up breathless. A chilling (no pun intended) account of some of bravest or dumbest adventure seekers on the planet. The jorney is described so vividly and in such detail that you want to put the book down to recover from the last chapter. This book reads so fast that you'll want to read it twice.
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Summary: GRIPPING
Review: Could not put this book down! The book keeps you on the edge of your seat, yet is very educational as well. Jon Krakauer places notations throughout the book explaining details of the region, the people, and the mountain. Recommend this book highly!
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