Customer Reviews
John Krakauer's novel was suspenseful
Jon Krakauer's suspenseful novel of the tragedy on Mt. Everest in 1996 is fantastic. This gripping novel accurately portrays the events and problems that were experienced on Mt. Everest. I feel this book was a great and fantastic look at what may be one of the most tragic events on Everest. Krakauer's personal experience of the expedition gives the story a first-hand view of what happened and tear-tugging touch. Krakauer's experience with the climbers who survived and those who didn't gives the reader a real sense that these were real people, not just pulled out of somebody's head. In my brief time on this planet I believe that Into Thin Air is was of the best written non-fiction book that I have ever read. Krakauer gives the story an extra touch of reality by reminding the reader that these people did have families, and that other climbers were also emotionally attached. The story begins when Krakauer reaches the summit of Mt. Everest. From there he takes you all the way back to when the first climbers discovered Everest. He describes past expeditions and climbers who successfully and unsuccessfully climbed Everest. From there he takes you from the beginning of his journey up Everest. From his home in Seattle to reaching the summit, and then the long and tragic journey down the massive mountain. The thing that I liked the most about this book was how Krakauer also gives in depth backgrounds of almost all the climbers on the mountain. Explaining their past climbing experience and their reason(s) for being on Everest. He tells the emotional states of each climber as he sees it, and as other climbers see it as the climb the 29,028 feet to the top of the world. The only thing I found difficult I found was the extreme vocabulary Krakauer used to describe some normal words. In the end, I found the best way to read this book is with a dictionary by my side. He also tells of the injuries and illnesses that people experienced on Everest. HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema), HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema), frostbite, and other illnesses climbers encountered on the way to the summit. He tells who got it, and how it affected them. Krakauer's story is truly inspiring. It is a great story of heroism, pain, suffering, loss of life, but at the same time human triumph. It shows the rescue efforts and what it felt like, which no other writer could do without being there and experiencing the sorrows, joys, and other emotions felt during the 1996 tragic expeditions. Krakauer delivers a powerful story, full of emotion and facts. He holds nothing back in writing Into Thin Air, he lets the true words people spoke and their true actions tell you what happened not just what he thought. He interviews other climbers about subjects into order to enhance the point he is making. His powerful words and descriptions help to make Into Thin Air as powerful as it is. I strongly recommend this book to everybody. It is a fantastic and accurate book about what happened on Everest. It is powerful and helps to remind you what is really important in life... life its self.
Everest Disaster
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer is a book that anyone could immerse themselves in. It was a wonderfully told story. The way Krakauer writes leaves you wondering what is going to happen next. It gives excellent insights into the sport of mountain climbing, and the consequences of mistakes made in such a hostile environment. This novel was about a Mt. Everest climbing disaster that happened in 1996. Krakauer was on this climb which would later be called one of the worst Everest disasters of all time. Krakauer was assigned to write an article for a magazine about the commercialization of Mt. Everest. To experience this first-hand, Krakauer would go meet one of the world's leading Everest guides, Rob Hall, and head out on the ill-fated quest to climb the mountain. Krakauer soon found that climbing Everest would prove to be a very difficult task that would wind up taking the lives of several of his companions including Rob Hall, their experienced guide. One would think that climbing the mountain in the spring when it is slightly warmer would be simple. In actuality it is just as dangerous at this time of year because of violent storms that arise with allmost no notice. At about 25,000 feet up the mountain there is a section called the "death zone" where bottled oxygen is required to stay alive due to the air being so thin. All of the natural problems were there but also you have to factor in the human error associated with making such a large ascent. Combine the human error with the killer storm that swept over this expedition, with ice and freezing temperatures and you have a deadly situation. Every decision that is made by every person during a climb is absolutely critical to the survival of the party. A decision to allow a climber to stay too long near the top cost the climber his life, the life of his potential rescuer, Rob Hall, and others. I do believe this was a very well written story that exposes truths about the tallest mountain ever climbed and how only total cooperation among the group will achieve success and save lives. Krakauer did a very good job of recounting the events of that harrowing day and opens the world's eyes to the dangers associated with trying to climb the world's tallest mountain.
Couldn't stop reading it...
This tale is Jon Krakauer's personal account of his attempt to summit Mt. Everest. Rob Hall is the leader, a guide with impeccable credentials who is also a man of caution...yet a daring individual, as anyone would have to be to climb Everest (especially time and time again). Rob leads the team up the mountain, and everything is going fairly well until that fateful day where everything seemingly went wrong. It's almost hard to read this book knowing there's a tragedy coming, but I couldn't put it down to find some heroism also involved in this story...the will to survive is amazing, and it is demonstrated clearly in this book. I highly recommend this book.
