Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
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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 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."
DESCRIPTION:
Binding: Paperback
Brand: Liberty Mountain
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.522092
EAN: 9780385494786
Is Autographed: 0
ISBN: 0385494785
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 1999-10-19
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: 1999-10-19
Studio: Anchor
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thrilling, Shocking, Informing.... Seriously? This is one of the best books I've ever read.
Comment: This book is SUPER intense, but I loved every minute of it. If you've ever climbed, hiked, or done anything like that, this book will be really great. Really, I think this book will be great for anyone. If you've ever heard about this Everest tragedy, prepare to be WAY further informed. If you haven't heard of it, it'll be something for you to talk about afterward and sound smart about. John Krakauer goes into explicit detail about climbing the mountain, the background and condition of all the climbers on the expedition, and the events preceding the storm.
My favorite part about this book is how the tension builds up. In the beginning, it's hard to believe that the people who sounds so confident, loving, and skilled end up climbing to their doom in summer of 1996. Krakauer makes you feel like you know everyone, and makes everything sound okay in the beginning. Then, he leaves extremely unsubtle clues as to the doom waiting for them at the top of the world.
The other thing I love about this book is it makes you feel so knowledgable. He goes into such great detail about everything, and, trust me on this, you WILL feel smarter than anyone else when people are talking about Mt. Everest. Also, whenever you don't know what something is in the book, there is sure to be an explaination down at the bottom of the page. This proves extremely usefull.
If you want a new, exciting book, READ THIS ONE!!! I would advise that you buy it, too, because you'll want to read it again! (Also, if you talk about it in casual conversation, everyone will end up wanting to borrow it.)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: $6.00 Into Thin Air, gone forever.
Comment: Into Thin Air by Krakauer is on of the most boring adventure books I have ever read. It is 291 pages, but the story could have been told in less than 100. Instead of telling about exciting things that happened on the mountain, he spends much of the book talking about the climbers, their occupations, where they are from, their life before they decided to climb etc. Pages and pages have nothing to do with the climb. Also, the author quoted people all through the book, and these quotes had no bearing on the story. For example he records that someone once said, " My marriage fell apart....[blah, blah, blah]" There was no reason to include all of these things that people said. I felt like I was reading a court transcript. The author turned what should have been an exciting tale into a dull, long read by adding page after page of filler. Another example is: "I went out the door of my tent and said 'Hello Jim." Why were lines like this included? Just to stretch out the book I guess.
I was also turned off by the author's ego. He is a journalist, and not a world class climber, yet the way he tells it, he is supperman, and the other climbers were amatures. People in the climbing community can't believe this guy wrote a book about the climb. It would be like a high school football player writing about the Super Bowl
Last Krakauer's writing style is very wordy. He likes to use words that are not commonly used, especially by climbers. His style is also very dry and long winded. You wonder when he is going to get to the point, and often there is no point. Page after page of monotonous writing. He reminds me of the journalists in my local newspaper. They have a story that should be one paragraph, but stretch it into a full column with filler.
I was excited about reading this book and was very disappointed afterward that I had wasted $6.00 on it. Don't waste your money, avoid this book. It is one of the most boring books ever. I get the feeling that the people who gave it 5 stars, yet wrote very little except that it was a great book, are book sellers with a large inventory they need to get rid of. Don't let them sucker you in.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fear of Dying
Comment: I started out having this book read out aloud to me on the beach; it was so engrossing that by the time we were headed home I had commandeered it and didn't stop reading until eleven that night, when I had finished it.
Into Thin Air probes mountaineering pretty deeply, and gives an absorbing factual account of the disaster and the personalities that caused it. It's impossible to imagine that you won't enjoy and be gripped by this well written and emotionally charged book.
As someone who climbed a number of very easy 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado as a boy, though, it's surprising that Krakauer leaves virtuall undiscussed one of the most interesting and revealing aspects of climbing: the panic of the descent. Whereas summiting even a modest mountain is driven by dogged determination, descending from a high peak when conditions are worsening is driven by fear.
Of all the emotions explored in the book, Krakauer strangely fails to explore this one. Anyone who's ever been cold, hungry, and exposed on a high peak knows this fear. It's the fear of death, and it's translated into a mad scramble, or numbingly frozen unthinking stumble back to the safety of the tents. The climbers who were too physically wrecked to aid in the rescue attempts on Everest, including the Kazakh guide, were also terrified out of their minds at the prospect of dying. Their actions were driven by the panic and fear of being at the outside limit of human endurance and by the knowledge that choosing to help a companion could well result in their own demise. It was every man for himself.
In that context, the actions that people took to hurry down the hill and hole up in their tents was understandable and reasonable. When Shikegawa said that there's no place for morality over 8,000 meters, he was of course wrong--but he was near the mark, which Krakauer phrased beautifully by quoting Yeats: [at 8,000 meters]... things fall apart, the center cannot hold.
Understanding the fear of death and the panic that drove the climbers pell-mell down the hill and into the safety of their tents make the additional rescue efforts of Hutchison, Bedreev, and others even more heroic, not to mention Hall's decision to stay on top and die with his client. If Krakauer had delved more deeply into the fear perhaps it would have made the whole endeavor seem less crazy and pointless.
The other part that is discussed but not dealt with fully is the effect of Krakauer's presence on the decisionmaking of Hall and Fischer. They knew that their every move would be reported, they were in a battle for clients and publicity, and they had pride on the line. Almost nothing else explains why both leaders completely abandoned their turn-around deadlines, risking their clients' lives and ultimately costing them their own. This isn't Krakauer's fault, but like the terror of death and panicked descent, delving more deeply would have made the decisions easier to understand.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Into Thin Air vs The Climb
Comment: I've read all the accounts of the 1996 season, not just these two.
I've also climbed three mountains including Mt. Kilimanjaro to 19,340 feet.
At no time in any of my mountain experiences were my guides ever out of my sight if not roped directly to me.
Fisher's attitude was, "we have Big E wired" and it fueled Boukreev's oxygenless scamper to the summit and back. But Boukreev's "freshness" at the South Col couldn't save Fisher or the others. He later saved several lives but it didn't help Fisher.
I'm with Jon and others, guides should be with their clients and breathing O2.
Customer Rating:
Summary: First-person account of Mt. Everest tragedy
Comment: Jon Krakauer was asked to go along on a climb of Mt. Everest as a journalist who could report some problems which were arising as a result of too many inexperienced climbers being guided up the mountain by greedy companies who coveted the large fees paid by their clients. Instead he found himself in a life-and-death experience when a terrible storm struck shortly after he had reached the summit. Krakauer reports the dark side of Mt. Everest climbs such as the ecological damage which results from too many climbers, to the serious health threats which are posed by climbing above 25,000 feet. He writes of the greed of the host countries, as well as the companies which guide the expeditions. The book is like a climb up Everest, with the excitement and anticipation of the climb up, contrasted to the disappointment and disillusionment when things go terribly wrong and the participants are face with the disheartening climb down. The survivors of the expedition, including the author, are left with depression and survivor guilt which might lead one to question the wisdom of continuing the Mt. Everest climbs. Whether the expeditions should be stopped or more closely regulated is a good subject for debate, but Krakauer clearly illustrates the tremendous physical and mental risks which all climbers face. This is a close-up and suspenseful look at one of the most risky adventures that anyone could participate in on the planet.
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