Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

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Summary: Climbing Everest and giving birth--no pain no gain
Review: I read maybe a book a year and I read this one twice. Krakauer is a brilliant writer and his Into the Wild is an excellent read as well. The first 2/3 of Into Thin Air is excellent enough by itself without the tragic conclusion. The tolerance for pain that these climbers have is mind-boggling. Krakauer says that "anyone who would seriously consider (climbing Everest) is by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument." And throughout the book he tries and tries to explain why climbers do what they do. I always thought these people were a bit nutty. And that hasn't changed. But after reading this account, I do have a lot more respect for those who try.

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Summary: If you liked this book read "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev
Review: Into Thin Air is an excellent book, but having been written so close to the actual events, author Krakauer has admitted to making mistakes in his accounts. The Climb tells the story of the same expedition, only from the viewpoint of one of Scott Fischers climbing guides, Anatoli Boukreev. Boukreev is a legend in the sport, and in my opinion his telling is much more gripping. especially his telling of the rescue on the South Col. But not to detract from Krakauers effort. Into Thin Air captivated me from start to finish and will most likely be remembered as the definitive account of the incident.

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Summary: Excellent adventure, with minor personal disagreement
Review: I started reading this book with a full head of steam. After trying to remember the dozens of people that Krakauer mentions in the course of just the first few chapters, I decided that I would just keep their names at the back of the mind. What an adventure, though! I was gripped, hoping that the climbers would finally make the summit, and get back down in one piece. Having watched the many shows on t.v. regarding this climb, I knew what the final outcome would be. However, it was still fascinating to read a first-person narrative of the events that unfolded those dreadful days. To be honest, the only thing that I read that made me loose about 1/2 the respect I have for Krakauer is near the end of the book, where he writes of buying marijuana from some street urchin, then smoking it in his hotel room to get over his depressed feelings following the end of the climb that proved fatal for several members of his climbing team. I didn't think that that was needed, and, being against the usage of pot, felt that I now couldn't include it in my list of books that I recommend to my students. What a loss.

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Summary: Must read The Climb to get the full story
Review: As a mountain climber, I enjoyed this book immensely. Krakauer is gifted in his prose in this book, other books and his National Geographic and Outside articles. However, I feel as though one gets a one sided picture without reading other accounts of this disaster. Although poorly written, The Climb, the late Anatoli Boukreev's account, is a must read to fill in the blanks and question Krakaur's account. The National Geographic Everest book also gives a dry but full picture account of the whole event.

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Summary: I wish it were a thousand pages longer.
Review: I am not a climber, and I share several reviewer's opinions that an Everest attempt is self-indulgent risk for no good cause. That said, Krakauer's account of the climb was the last really riveting book I've read. I felt I was on that mountain. I kept wondering why they did what they did, but I could not put the book down and would have read for hundreds more pages if he'd written them.

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Summary: A 'must read' for all with an interest in adventure.
Review: My daughter brought me this book back from Nepal a fortnight ago.I read it in a few night sittings, engrossed in the lead up to and the illfated attempts on the summit. I had recently watched an Australian documentary on the tragedy.The most shocking part was the seeming lack of concern shown by the Japanese team for the dying Ladakhi climbers."Above 8000 metres is not a place where one can afford morality" Obviously Rob Hall had a greater sense of morality.The survival of Beck Weathers is a true miracle, and shows that where there is life, there is hope. I am now reading Chris Bonington's "Everest the Hard Way"(1975). It is interesting to see the difference 20 years makes, from the era when only one expedition was allowed on the peak at a time. I look forward to reading "Into the Wild" by the same author.

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Summary: Great summer read
Review: The story itself is amazing. The presentation however, was a bit confusing. I didn't feel that his use of names was consistent (forever switching between first and last) and that the science of climbing was explained well enough (a better example of thorough explanation is found in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm). I felt as though Krakauer assumed the reader has a certain knowledge base going in to the book, both about climbing and the Sherpas. It is surprising how little he did in rescuing the people stranded, and how it was hardly explained, yet he does seem to point out weakenesses in others' stories, even when those others were attempting to rescue stranded climbers. Also, there was little explanation as to the mindset of the climbers, and why they would want to do this, what the motivation was. My final nit with this book was that I felt this was more a confessional than a literary outlet...but the author admits that early on in the foreward, so the reader should be prepared for at-times-annoying self-absorption. Other than these points, I did enjoy the book, and read it in record time, but I wouldn't rush to read another by him (I was greatly disappointed by Into the Wild, which turned me off to ITA for so long). See the IMAX presentation, which puts this all into much needed perspective!

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Summary: Motivating -> Speechless -> Sadness in short Must Read!
Review: This accounting of the terrible ordeal was well written and spoken in the audio book. I found myself intrigued one moment and horrified the next. Well done Jon, If only it could have been fiction!

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Summary: Well-written, moving book
Review: The book details events on Everest that bring into question the nature of our responsiblity to our fellows. As one climber puts his opinion, "above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality." And yet other climbers and expeditions selflessly helped those in need, at risk to themselves and their own attempt to reach the summit. The IMAX film team, for instance, gave away spare batteries and half their oxygen -- which had been laboriously carried up the mountain, and the lack of which risked the successful finish of the $5 million IMAX film -- to help the stricken expeditions.
In another way, the book is like _The Guns of August_ which recounts the unfortunate coincidences and poor judgment which, combined, led to World War I.
The book details the obstacles and conditions all Everest climbers face, and the many different factors on this trip that led to 12 deaths. Did having a journalist on one expedition, and a prominent socialite on another, cause the respective leaders to take risks they would not otherwise have allowed? "Above 26,000 feet, ... the line between appropriate zeal and reckless summit fever becomes grievously thin."
The author also goes into the mystique and motivations of mountain climbing, and particularly climbing Everest itself, and he does not neglect the Sherpas and their history, motivation, life, culture and contributions.
And lastly, the author is brave enough to include at the end some scathing personal criticism he received after the Outside Magazine article.
The shortcomings of the book include a jumbling of the characters' names -- it is a large "cast," but the author makes it harder by switching back and forth between first and last names. For instance, the reader must remember that "Anatoli" and "Boukreev" and "the Russian" are the same person.
I think Krakauer's worst offense is to REPEAT the horrific mistake in the magazine article. Krakauer writes that jus! t above the highest camp, closest to the summit, Krakauer saw Andy Harris walking toward and reaching the safety of the tents (which good news was radioed to Harris' loved ones), and then later reported that since Andy Harris didn't reach the tents, the crampon tracks at the same elevation leading into a 7000' abyss must be Harris'. This was printed in the Outside article, and grieved Harris' loved ones that he died in that way. In fact, Harris had disappeared much farther up the mountain. The person Krakauer thought was Harris was someone else. It was a mistake once, because Krakauer hadn't interviewed everyone -- but to recount the false story again in the book and "correct" it 33 pages later was pointless and confusing.

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Summary: This book takes your breath away!
Review: What an unbelievable account of the 1996 tragedy that took place on Mt. Everest! Krakauer recounts the expedition from the very beginning, and, while almost painful at times, manages to keep the reader enthralled throughout. The writing is so descriptive that you can imagine what it must be like to be stuck above 28,000 feet with no oxygen during a blinding snowstorm! One of the most reader-friendly works of non-fiction I have ever enjoyed. Read this book!