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

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

List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $10.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A haunting account
Review: Jon Krakauer has put together a very well written, compelling account on his experiences from the '96 Everest disaster.

While it seems clear that this is HIS side of the story, and thus gives a slanted view on what happened, IMHO he also does not try to make himself look better than anybody else. I have heard that "The Climb" will tell a different story. I intend to read it as well. However, I think that the truth lies somewhere in between: It is probably not possible for anyone to give a completely objective account on things that happened during such conditions.

Some of the reviewers here seems to take the position "Oooh, I would have made SO many more correct, heroic desicions, had I only been there". I think that is very easy to say, sitting with the book in your comfortable armchair at sea-level. Krakauer might take upon himself to pass judgement upon others, but at least he was there...

This book is well worth reading!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: excellent book
Review: I was very impressed with Into Thin Air. I read the book while stuck in a tent on a very hot, rainy, and miserable backpacking trip last summer and the book quickly made me reasses how bad my situation really was. This is one of the few books that left me disturbed at the end. The book left me in shock. I thought for weeks about some of the events Krakauer described. Krakauer's writing is superb, and the impression I got from Into Thin Air caused me to read two more of his books, Eiger Dreams and Into The Wild, which were also very good books.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: climb with him
Review: I'm not a climber and I'm pretty scared about that. But this book take you up there, you breathe when they breathe, you are cold when they are cold, you are tired when they are tired. It's a 8848 mt's dive.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A praiseworthy book
Review: This book makes you want to both climb and stay away from Mt. Everest. Question Krakauer if you want, but this book is captivating.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unnerving heroism
Review: A wonderful gift from my father for my birthday. Every page you turn - the perilious journey continues. Absolutely lucid, this is an incredible book that moved me to the limit. Jon Krakauer's 1996 Bestseller Into the Wild was just as gripping, but this story was based on both the psychological and mental health of other climbers. Unfolding his step-by-step encounter of climbing the mountain's deadly pinnacle made the picture seem so real, so vivid. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air painted the most spectacular pictures in my head, it felt like he had taken a reel of film and placed the exact same text into my head transforming it into pictures - and I was there. As a 14-yearold, I now have a real appreciation of high altitude mountain climing, and that one small step or miscalculation can result in death. Sadly, for nine intrepid mountaineers they paid the ultimate price with their lives.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Maybe the writer was part of the problem.
Review: None of the books I have read about the Everest tragedy have answered the question: Why did Rob Hall continue to encourage climbers up the mountain after the 2:00PM turnaround time? Krakauer says he thinks Hall might have been "playing chicken," but could it have been the writer of INTO THIN AIR who was to blame. Krakauer identifies Doug Hansen as the person with whom he most closely identified. If there had been no tragedy to write about, would Doug Hansen have been the focus of the Krakauer story? Did Rob Hall consider that possibility? Did he want to get Hansen up for Krakauer as much as for Hansen himself? These and several other unanswered questions have dampened my enthusiasm for what many other have seen as a flawless, engaging account.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Exceptional Book - Frightening Confession
Review: Krakauer has given us a good tale, but the image of mountaineering I am afraid has suffered from the shallowness and evasiveness of his analysis. Most troubling is his confusion about the responsibilities of climbers - clients or not. At high altitude you come ready to climb; you look after yourself; you do everything in your power --and perhaps beyond-- to help your mates when they get into trouble. INTO THIN AIR is an exceptional book, but a frightening confession of selfishness.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent - emotional recollection of a painful disaster
Review: I was mesmerized by this personal account of what its like to climb into the death zone and what went wrong. The author reminded me of James Watson ("The Double Helix") in his willingness to lay all his cards on the table and expose his real thoughts.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An absolute must read....
Review: I had heard too many people talk about this book and I absolutely had to read it. Upon doing so, I could not put the book down and used up an entire day to read it. It was amazing how Krakauer accounted the tragedy and the climb to Everest. I empathized with him and felt like I was climbing the mountain in spirit. It was unreal and yet it was very real.

I believe that he was brave enough to admit the pain of leaving his company behind and the people that perished. At this point, I think it would be hard for anyone to admit what he has done but he has and he has done it. Anyone would have escaped from it but he didn't. I'm sure he wanted to in order to achieve peace within himself which he may or may not have conquered.

Makes me want to climb Everest but I don't know if I do have guts and the burning desire as much as they had.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Now i know what not to do with an overabundance of money
Review: After reading this book, I wrestled with two types of emotions. One was overwhelming sympathy for the friends and family members of the victims. the other was utter confusion as to what prompted these individuals to blow such a large sum of money on a life threatening venture. Overall, the book was interesting and well-written but I can't give it a higher rating than I did simply because of the fact that i see these people as senseless idiots with nothing better to do with their time and money than risk their lives .


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