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

"Into Thin Air" is a book that is hard to put down and, once it is put down, will be picked up again with much anticipation. It is a thrilling, scary, and tragic adventure of rival mountain climbing teams attempting to summit the highest mountain in the world in 1996. The disaster that transpired on May 10 produced the majority of casualties in the deadliest single year in the history of Mount Everest. Author Jon Krakauer was part of the New Zealand team lead by expert Everest guide Rob Hall. Krakauer was researching the commercialization of the world's tallest mountain for Outside Magazine. Although he had substantial climbing experience, he had never been near the altitude of even the base of Mt. Everest. His apprehension as he took Thai Air flight 311 to Kathmandu, Nepal was well-founded and; no doubt, the results turned out to be worse than expected.

Krakauer had a long history of mountain-climbing before joining Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants to tackle Everest. His childhood heroes were Willi Unsoeld and Tom Hornbein who summited Everest in 1963 via the hitherto unclimbed West Ridge. In his youth, his life revolved around his next climb. He, therefore, brought much technological understanding of the art of climbing to this book. As a member of the close-knit climbing community, he also explained the esteem many climbers gave to Everest which, surprisingly, was not very high due, in large part, to the number of less experienced climbers able to scale the 29,028 feet with the help of guides and Sherpas.

In addition to first and second hand accounts of the tragedy that unfolded in May 1996, Krakauer gives the reader some understanding of the Everest climbing culture and experience from the way of the life of the Sherpas to the effects suffered from high altitude. One disappointment is the lack of photos in this edition. There are only a handful at the front of the book and a color photo of the Adventure Consultants' crew on the back of the dust jacket with no names underneath. An illustrated issue of this book is available but it would have added much to this edition to have more photos included instead of the drawings that begin each chapter. Many times when reading about a climber or a section of the mountain did this reviewer wish there was a photo to which to refer. For those who do not know the story and do not wish to know what happens to the climbers beforehand, do not read the captions under the photos. Another important element missing from this book is an index.

The lack of additional photos and an index will not detract from the score, however, because "Into Thin Air" is one of the most spell-binding books this reader has read in a long time. It is extremely well written and, aside from the captions to the photos at the beginning of the book, does not give anything away so those (like this reviewer) who do not know the story beforehand, will probably feel some emotions when it is revealed who survives and who does not. This reader was surprised by some of the twists in the story. Anyone interested in real-life adventure and the struggle to survive will enjoy this book. The many one-star reviews mainly focus on Krakauer's critical assessment of Mountain Madness guide Anatoli Boukreev who, before his death in another mountain disaster, wrote "The Climb" to give his side of the 1996 tragedy. Boukreev is given praise for his acts of heroism in this book; however, the points about his decision not to take oxygen and to leave the summit before his clients seem fair. Actually, Krakauer is much harder on the leader of the South African team, Ian Woodall. Krakauer also expresses much guilt for not helping certain climbers. Only with hindsight is it known how close some of these climbers in distress were or what lay ahead for other climbers on their way down the mountain. Also, one should not forget the effects high altitude has on a person's physical and mental capacity. This reviewer highly recommends "Into Thin Air" so that readers can judge for themselves.

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

ISBN13: 9780385494786
Condition: New
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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster Overview

By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous! assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored, The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer re! counts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters-a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."

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

A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster. With more than 250 black-and-white photographs taken by various expedition members and an enlightening new postscript by the author, the Illustrated Edition shows readers what this tragic climb looked like and potentially provides closure for Krakauer and his detractors.

"I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in a postscript dated August 1998. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in a avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. Krakauer further buries the ice axe by donating his share of royalties from sales of The Illustrated Edition to the Everest '96 Memorial Fund, which aids various environmental and humanitarian charities. --Rob McDonald

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Customer Reviews

Excellent storytelling, but bad formatting on the Kindle Edition - Ruben Olsen - Alternating between Bergen, Norway & Los Gatos, California
It is a bit sad that this exceptionally good story is hampered by the bad formatting.

I really looked forward to re-read this book on my Kindle - in fact I decided that this book should be the first thing I read on my new K3.

The publisher has done a very bad job when converting the excellent paper editions (I have read both the paperback and the hardback) to a Kindle Edition.

For one, the pictures included in the book is of much lower quality than the Kindle screen can display. Also, the table of persons is less than stellar formatted.

However, the worst thing about the book is that every foot-note is just thrown in the middle of the text instead of doing the right e-book thing: Creating a hyperlink to the very foot-note. The foot-notes should also be kept together in a separate apendix at the back of the book.

There are also quite a few smaller annoyances through the book which really destroy the joy of reading this superb story.

As the Kindle Edition now stands - you could really just have read a text file!

If you really care to read this story - which you should do - avoid the Kindle Edition as all the formatting faults is getting in the way of enjoying the story.

Great adventure book. - S. Villarreal - San Antonio, TX
This is one of the best adventure books I have ever read. Krakauer knows how to illustrate in a very effective way taking the reader along for the ride all the way to the summitt.

Tragically Romantic - M. Reynolds - PA, USA
As someone who loved "Into the Wild", I equally enjoyed this deeply personal story of tragedy on Mt. Everest. Krakauer's investigative journalism is to be lauded, especially since this event was so personally painful to him. I am not an avid reader, but I tore through this book. Its vivid imagery of life and death on the mountain was amazing.

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Sunday, September 5, 2010