Into Thin Air

Rating:
Summary: Heart Stopping Intensity
Review: If you have ever set foot on a mountain in your life, then this is a must read book. Jon Krakauer captures the realism of the 1996 Everest catastrophe as well as any writer could have. Though this nonfiction book started out slow and pretty boring, it builds up to a climax that seems fictionalized, by the impossibilities he encounters atop the mountain. Because I've hiked and backpacked before, I felt the realism of the insanity he was going through. Krakauer described the details so perfectly I felt chills as I read about the conditions of weather and stress he underwent. A couple deaths are foreshadowed in a way that makes it clear the hikers are "toast". On the other hand, the unexpected fatalities are shocking and unbelievable, even after you read them two or more times. Some parts of the book jump around in terms of time, but if you are an experienced reader this is an outstanding book. The book is enthralling and a must read for anyone who is ready for the grievances that occur in the wilderness, and is an especially good read for climbers or anyone interested in the outdoors.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative
Review: A good friend told me that Into Thin Air was an incredible book and that I just had to read it. After reading this documentary with a twist I can truthfully say it is an incredible book. After the first two chapters I knew I had picked a winner. Krakauer starts off the novel with the middle of his actual story. The first chapter consists of Krakauer reaching the peak of Everest at 29,035 feet; this first chapter is hardly informative, rather it gives the reader something to look forward to later in the book. Chapter two is like a classic documentary: Mr. Krakauer gives a detailed history of Everest and all the adventurers that have tried to climb it. This chapter was by far the most boring part of the book, the author simply lectures. My dislike of chapter two is the sole reason why I only gave this book four stars. From chapter three on the caliber of the book is very high. Krakauer did a spectacular job melding the informative aspect with his own personal account and ideas. This book is different from every other non fiction, or fiction book I have ever read. With most factual books I have to read in intervals, they never seem to excite me. And with fictional pieces, I find them too predictive. There is always some

Rating:
Summary: I'll read it again
Review: Any book that I consider reading again before even finishing is one that I will treasure on my bookshelf. Contrary to the belief of my mother, this book actually got me interested in climbing. It was interesting and well written and I recommend it to anyone who can read.

Rating:
Summary: Page by Page Suspense
Review: Even if you already know the story of the deadly Mt. Everest expeditions of 1996, you will appreciate Jon Krakauer's own first person account of the Adventure Consultants and the Mountain Madness groups. Both of these expeditions were led by well-seasoned Everest climbers---Rob Hall from New Zealand and Scott Fischer from the States--and had the aid of expert guides, Sherpas from Nepal and "outsiders". But we soon find that even these experienced people are not immune from the human frailties of greed, denial and self-serving. Those Achilles' heels will cause both expeditions to completely fall apart. At the same time, human error combined with the unforgiving terrors of high altitude climbing sets the scene for heroism in many of the climbers and crew.

Krakauer, a journalist who signed on with Hall's expedition to do a story for Outside magazine, doesn't disappoint as weaver of a tale. I took the book everywhere with me while reading it, always eager to find out what would happen next.

If a book that explores deftly our desire to reach an unreachable summit appeals to you....especially when that book does not shy away from the tragedy caused when the desire to reach it undoes common sense and humanity....I highly recommend "Into Thin Air."

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: From Base Camp to the Summit, I was enthralled. Into Thin Air, John Krakauer's adventure tale of the Everest climbing disaster in 1996, was wonderful. The events of this climb were a haunting memory for Krakauer and this book was his way of getting them off his chest. In 1996 John Krakauer was asked by Outside magazine to accompany Rob Hall, an accomplished Everest guide, on a mission to the highest peak in the world in order to write an article about the growing commercialization of Everest. Climbing Everest was an ambition since boyhood for Krakauer. So in the spring of 1996 he went to Nepal, where he met his nine climbing companions, and three guides. John Krakauer did not easily bond with any climbers except for one forty six year old postal worker from Seattle named Doug Hansen. Most of his companions were wealthy people with little actual climbing experience. Even so, the group climbed successfully until the last stretch to the summit. On the final summit climb many mistakes were made and the blame cannot be pinned on one person, but the lack of oxygen caused a lack of good judgement. Only six of Krakauer's companions returned to base camp. The agreed upon turn back time of 2 o'clock was not abided by and there were people reaching the summit after 5 p.m. It was impossible to reach the camp in the dark during a blizzard. Thus, the lives of two of the group's guides, including head guide Rob Hall, were lost. Doug Hansen and three other climbers were also killed in the storm. When one approaches this book, it cannot only be thought of as a book about climbing. Into Thin Air is about people and how important it is to have a mental and physical balance. Once the group was in the "death Zone" above 24,000 feet, brain cells were lost and the physical element of Everest became just as dangerous as the mental element. True to Krakauer's original assignment, this book is about the commercialization of Everest and the people like Krakauer's companions who try to buy the accomplishment of climbing Everest instead of earning it. John Krakauer has an excellent writing style, both informative and thrilling at the same time. Into Thin Air is Krakauer at his best. This book is great for outdoorsmen and city boys alike. It shows how critical every decision is on the top of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Morality -- does it exist at high altitudes?
Review: Hi. I am a senior in high school and I read this book for my Advanced Contemporary Literature class. I'd heard only good things about it from my friends so I thought it would be a good choice. Although it starts off slowly, which is necesary to provide the background to the trip, the climax becomes more and more anticipated with each page. The battle for survival at the summit makes the last 200 pages seem like 20. Krakeur writes with such passion and honesty, the reader is drawn into the delicate balance of life and death and feels the ups and downs of small accomplishments, then disatrous downfalls, with the climbers. One comment made in the book by a climber in another expedition, Shigekawa, poses an idea that seems to be an underlying issue of the book: "'Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality.'" This is a scary statement because it advocates the "you're on your own" principle high atop Everest and that is a place where many people do need help and cannot survive on their own. I wonder, though, after reading of the severe effects of high altitude on the human mind, if it is even possible for morality to exist above 8,000 meters. Morality involves the conscious ability to determine what is the right action to take (the one beneficial to mankind, in the larger sense) and the wrong action to take. Hypoxia does not allow for this type of cognitive thinking to occur at high altitudes. Krakeur is having trouble forgiving himself for actions he did not take on the mountain that could have saved lives and, in retrospect, he realizes he should have taken them now, but how can he be held responsible for neglecting them when his brain was not functioning? One of the paradoxical aspects of Everest is that quickness of wit and sharpness of mind are necessary to conquer the mountain, yet the mountain denies its conquerors these things by restricting oxygen. I defintely recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: MORE THAT JUST A MOUNTAIN
Review: I don't give many 5 star ratings. This book launched me into reading about mountain climbing and I have also since read two of Krakauer's other books which shows its profound effect on me.

Into Thin Air describes the ill-fated adventure that occurred on Everest in 1996 in which a freak storm and poor judgment led to the untimely deaths of several would be summiters. Two of the deaths were mountaineers of great renown.

So why read a book about tragedy and death? Jon Krakauer does what few authors can do. He gives you a true feeling of being there and feeling the wind, and the cold, and the snow. I found myself feeling short of breath at his description of altitude oxygen starvation. The author is honest and even in exposing his mistakes and share of blame in the tragedy. Some parts are quite humorous and I had to put the book down and laugh out loud. It is a mixture of adventure, suspense, and drama. I loved learning about the Sherpa culture and way of life over in the small villages and towns in Tibet. Also, you will learn about mountain climbing and the equipment and the skill necessary.

Remember the phrase: "Getting to the summit is optional. Making it down is mandatory."

Rating:
Summary: Gripping, Compulsively Readable True Story
Review: I polished off this exhilarating and thrilling book in about three days and was sorry to finish it. Krakauer is a gifted writer who can make mountaintop scenes vivid even for readers with little mountain climbing experience. Its pace is nonstop, and Krakauer puts you right there with him, vomiting with high-altitude sickness, half-blind with snow blindness, shivering in 40-degree-below-zero blizzards, listening to screams for help over radio, and picking the ice off the faces of fellow climbers who are now corpses.

Along the way, he describes the history of attempts made on Everest, the psychology of summit fever, the Sherpa culture, and inherent tensions in the guide / client relationship. It is this last aspect that is probably most responsible for the summit disaster of 1996. Clients had spent far too much money, and guides too much personal prestige, to turn away within 200 feet of the summit, when that was exactly what they should have done on Krakauer's ill-fated expedition in 1996.

Krakauer is an honest writer who spares neither himself or his fellow climbers culpability for the bad decisions that lead a dozen people to their deaths. While he portrays some climbers sympathetically, he does not ask for sympathy - he makes it clear that these men and women knew the risks and rolled the dice willingly. Sympathy, therefore, goes to the dead climbers' long-suffering spouses and children and not the climbers themselves.

You will never think of Everest the same way after your read this book. Its climbers and their fate will linger in your mind's eye long after you finish this grim, well-told tale.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling, Chilling And Riveting
Review: It is hard to imagine how anyone could put this book down. Five Stars all the way. This is the true story of the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster. It is a story of courage, bravery and so much adventure. There are questions left unanswered. However, the reader can learn about the amazing drive and determination of the climbers. The story is told with great detail. The reader feels as if he were there on that mountain without a doubt.


Rating:
Summary: Meh. Not so great.
Review: It wasn't horrible. It wasn't excellent. It was a decidedly biased book about a horrible tragedy, and if i hadn't read Boukreev I would have been convinced that Jon Krakauer is the be-all, end-all of the 1996 pre-monsoon Everest season. So I read this book, which was unfortunately my first introduction to mountaineering books. And I was all like, wow, Jon Krakauer must be great. Then I read Boukreev, and I discovered that Krakauer had missed some crucial points. Then I read Breashears, and Curran, and Scott, and Salkeld, and Viesturs. And you know what?

Krakauer's book can't hold a candle to any of them. He admits, quickly and on the run, that he was unprepared for the size and scale of Everest and enormously dependent on his guides to get up and down the mountain alive. Yet he can't manage to keep himself from telling you how much better a climber he is than almost any of the other clients on his team. It's a holier-than-thou attitude that, on second reading, completely turned me off the book. He ignores the fact that he didn't know Boukreev well before the climb, and still did not when he wrote his book, in favor of shifting blame. The simple fact is that the 1996 tragedy on Everest is one of many similar tragedies on that mountain and many others. I came out of reading Krakauer's book thinking that Boukreev must be some incompetent, selfish villain. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Neither man is entirely saint or sinner. This is glossed over in Krakauer's version, but it is entirely true. Boukreev came from a different culture, a different climbing tradition, and viewed climbing Everest as something that needed self-reliance and strength. Krakauer initially mentions holding this same opinion, yet by the time he makes his final return to Base Camp, he's apparently seen the light and casts Boukreev as the villain.

Another point, and not a small one: if Krakauer is such an objective journalist, why is there no interview with Boukreev in his book? It might seem that the rush to publish, and make a buck off the tragedy, was far too important to bother with anything as basic as getting the other side of the story complete. A sad omission, since Boukreev's 'boss', for lack of a better word, died on the climb and could no longer shed any light on what went wrong, what had gone right, and why he'd hired Boukreev at all. On language difficulties (Boukreev was from Kazakhstan), on his vision of how the climb should go, and on how what happened differed from his ideas. Unfortunateley, Boukreev has since died, and so Krakauer's anything-but-objective tale can never be remedied.

So why a "3"? Well, on first read I thought it was a great book. And many of his facts are well-presented. I like his style of writing, and the subject matter is really interesting. It's the opinions-stated-as-facts that are off-putting, and the holier-than-thou attitude. Krakauer was in a terrible situation and rather than examine it objectively, decided to go for the spin. Part of his brain, I think, is still on that mountain. Unfortunately, the air there is apparently too thin for objectivity.

Aside from the lives lost, the biggest tragedy of the pre-monsoon Everest season of 1996 is the failure of people to respect their limits. Unfortunately, Krakauer's book seems proof that he is still suffering that tragedy. What could have been a terrific book given a lot more objectivity has been made into a sensationalistic account of a tragedy.

Oh, well. At least he's probably got a new house and cars out of it.