Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster | 
| Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1475 reviews
Sales Rank: 609
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0385494785
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.522092
EAN: 9780385494786
ASIN: 0385494785
Publication Date: October 19, 1999
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Amazon.com
Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of a catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions.
Product Description
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.
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 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 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."
Download Description
When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mount Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds.Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed Outside journalist and author of the bestselling Into the Wild. Taking the reader step-by-step from Katmandu to the mountain's deadly pinnacle, Krakauer has us shaking on the edge of our seat. Beyond the terrors of this account, however, he also peers deeply into the myth of the world's tallest mountain. What is it about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense? Written with emotional clarity and supported by unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1470 more reviews...
 A Thoughtful, and Well Written Telling July 19, 2008
If you are interested in mountain climbing, and have not read this book, run right out and purchase it. The same is true, if you are a fan of non-fiction adventure stories where man is struggling for survival. This story tells of the disastrous events on Mount Everest in May of 1996, when eight people died in one storm while trying to summit. If you are thinking of reading only one book on this subject, then this is the book for you. The telling of the events that spelled out death for some, and life for others, is a first hand narration by Jon Krakauer, who was on the mountain to write a magazine article when the tragic events took place. You will not only learn about the events of 1996, but you will also learn how mountain climbing has become a profitable business, where clients pay large sums of money to have a chance to get to the top. In some case this guided climbing can help someone's dream that may have otherwise been impossible, come true. Still, in some cases there are clients who just shouldn't be attempting such a climb. I was surprised to come to an understanding that the mountain may actually become crowded, with lines of climbers waiting to traverse some tricky areas of the climb. Krakauer's analysis of the events, and his telling of the story reads like a novel. Although I knew basically how the story would end, even before beginning the book, I still found it to be a page-turner.
 Inside the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster July 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In May 1996, a rogue storm killed nine climbers on Mount Everest, several of them from an expedition led by Rob Hall of New Zealand, the others from an expedition led by American Scott Fischer. Hall and Fischer were themselves counted among the victims. One of the survivors from Hall's expedition was John Krakauer, a writer from Outside Magazine, who had volunteered to go on the expedition to research and write a story on the commercialization of Everest.
Krakauer was no inexperienced novice, having been a climber for over 30 years at the time of the expedition, and that is part of what makes his telling of the story particularly compelling. He had the background and personal experience necessary to write the story in a way that someone who had never climbed a mountain could not. And he was there when the disaster happened, observing with a writer's eye for details.
I have never had any desire to climb a mountain, nor any real knowledge of mountain climbing, despite living near some of the most-climbed peaks in the Pacific Northwest - Mount Rainier and Mount Hood. I didn't pay much attention to the Everest disaster at the time, and all I remembered hearing before reading Krakauer's book was that some guy was able to call his wife on the phone from the top of Everest right before he died. Perhaps it was my recent unexplained interest in disaster stories that led me to Into Thin Air a few weeks ago, twelve years after the Everest disaster.
In the author's note at the end of the book, Krakauer writes, "My intent ... was to tell what happened on the mountain as accurately and honestly as possible, and to do it in a sensitive and respectful manner." Krakauer succeeds in this admirably. There are no "bad guys" in this book, just real human beings who did the best they could in unexpected and calamitous circumstances. The book is not about blame, but about understanding what happened.
Albeit through Krakauer's eyes, we get to know many of the climbers from Hall's and Fischer's expeditions as they prepare to ascend the mountain: a postal worker making his second attempt at Everest, an attorney who had climbed six of the Seven Summits, a pathologist, a publisher who had attempted Everest three times, an anesthesiologist, a cardiologist, a 47-year old Japanese woman, a female "millionaire socialite-cum-climber," among others. Most of the climbers had had at least some high-altitude climbing experience. We also get to know the leaders and guides for both expeditions, most of whom were very experienced climbers. These were expeditions that should have succeeded.
The immediacy of Krakauer's writing, as he relives every day, every hour, and sometimes every minute of the experience, conveys the hard work involved in climbing to the peak of Everest and the desire that drove the climbers on, until a sudden turn in the weather left them struggling to stay alive in a hostile environment where they only had themselves to depend upon.
No one seemed aware of the approaching storm. Some bad decisions were made. Mistakes and more bad decisions were made by men and women weakened both physically and mentally by the elements. In the end, some of the most experienced people failed to survive, while other less experienced people miraculously did.
This is a true and tragic story that's not easily forgotten, especially by Krakauer, who ends his introduction to the book by confessing, "I was a party to the death of good people, which is something that is apt to remain on my conscience for a very long time." This is a story Krakauer had to tell in the way that only he could, and I for one am glad he shared it with us.
I couldn't put this book down! June 23, 2008
I saw the Frontline documentary "Storm over Everest" by David Brashears which features interviews with several of the individuals mentioned in the book. You definitely get two different perspectives when watching the documentary and reading this book, but both accounts are riveting. I found myself pulling for the characters throughout the book, and I was exhausted when I finished.
High altitude tragedy June 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Into Thin Air, the second of Krakauer's self-described three books to date on fringe elements of society, is about the mountaineering tragedy on Mt. Everest in May, 1996. He was with one of the teams on the mountain at the time for an article he was writing for Outside magazine.
In general, the story is about people who, for reasons known only to them, subject themselves to very extreme, sometimes-not-survivable weather and altitude conditions in the interets of having "climbed" the mountain (many truly climb, some of whom are able to summit; some pay significant amounts of money for what can perhaps best be called "taken," sometimes to the peak). More specifically, the book is about the numerous teams on the mountain at the time and the extraordinary difficulties encountered, some due to the limited training of paying customers, many due to the sheer number of people trying to get up and back down within the same period, all exacerbated by the weather conditions. A very tragic story ... several talented, courageous climbers died in the process and others had life-altering injuries.
Many books have been written on the events (Boukreev, Breashears, Viesturs, and others), but to my knowledge this was the first. It is well-written and, in many ways, reads like you would expect - by a talented professional writer who witnessed a truly devastating situation first-hand and who, at the time, wasn't anywhere near "over it." Highly recommended, whether or not you have any interest in mountain climbing.
I could not put this book down. Suspense and disaster. June 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a true story. As such, it is amazing that men and women still will try to climb this mountain to the peak. Dangerous conditions come from everywhere, lack of oxygen, weather, and the mountain itself. Plus I must mention the climbers, some of which, are not prepared for this ascent. Have some tissues handy.
This book is well written. It tells a story of triump and tragedy and of human error and its consequences. You must read it for yourself.
GREAT SUMMER READ, or anytime.
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